The City by the Bay

Being as it was sort of a landmark anniversary, Teag and I decided we were due for a little trip. We went to San Francisco for our honeymoon, and thought it might be nice to come back again. Before I get into the actual trip, however, I'd like to mention how sweet our kids were to us on the actual day of our anniversary. Teag and I left to play tennis, and when we got home, they had chilled some Cokes, cleaned up the living room, and provided snacks. We were now guests at the Bayly Hotel, which even included a foot massage, and this sweet note.

Two days later, we were on a plane bound for San Francisco! My mom and dad had graciously agreed to watch our kids, for which we were incredibly grateful.

We didn't arrive until about five on Thursday night, so we only had time to get our car, drop off our luggage, and then head to our dinner reservation. Teag and I always have the misfortune of picking the wrong restaurant when we travel, or perhaps the wrong item on the menu, so I got a lot of recommendations from people on where to eat. That night we ate at a place called Bluestem Brasserie, where Teag paid $$$ for a delicious steak, but was still hungry; I had chicken two ways, which was very good, and filling. Then we went and saw the new Hunger Games movie, and were ready to call it a night, but not before Teag had mistakenly led us across the Bay Bridge. A mistake that takes something like twenty minutes and a $7 toll to remedy. No U-turns on the bridge I'm afraid! The bridge itself was cool, and was also socked in by a serious fog, so all in all, it wasn't a bad detour.

The next day we drove to San Jose, and toured the Winchester Mystery House.

For anyone who's never heard of it, Google it, it's a crazy place! Apparently Sarah Winchester thought that she would be haunted by the ghosts of all those who fell to Winchester Rifles if she ever stopped construction, so she hired carpenters to build 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. There's all kinds of oddities in the construction too, like stairs that lead to nothing, windows in the floor, and cabinet doors with no cabinets behind them. They don't let you take pictures of the inside, but we found a few cool things on the grounds. Sarah Winchester was obsessed with the number 13, so some of the gardeners created this topiary for her.

Speaking of hauntings, While Teag and I were in the courtyard, there was this leaf hanging in mid air. I figured it was hanging from a spiderweb, but you couldn't see one anywhere. It must be haunted!

Don't we look scared?

Probably one of the most famous exterior shots is of this: The Door to Nowhere

It's a door that hangs about eight feet above the ground, no way to get down, and with a doorknob on the outside. Bizarre to say the least.

It rained a fair bit while were there, and by the time we got back to our hotel, my hair that had been straight when we left, looked like this:

I don't think I can do straight hair in San Francisco. That night, our reservation was to a place called Lolinda, with pretty amazing pork chops. We also swung into the highly recommended Tartine bakery, where we didn't escape until we'd bought a large coconut cream tart, a large banana cream tart, sweet rolls for the following days breakfast, and a bag of peanut brittle. All of it was really tasty, which makes it a good thing I don't live too close.

Our third day we decided to bike across the Golden Gate Bridge, renting bikes at Pier 39, and making our way over. Here is an outline of our completed ride.

See the tiny bridge icon?

Things started out pretty great; I loved my bike, and it felt good to be moving. The scenery was spectacular as well, as the path takes you right by the ocean.

Now, I'm in pretty good shape, but there were A LOT of hills to climb. Both of my bike tires were bald, which I'm sure complicated matters a fair bit, but I had to walk my bike up some of them, just because it was hill after hill with little break in between. When we made it to the bridge, again, we had some amazing views, but the traffic made it very noisy.

Teag said this was his favorite thing that we did, but I definitely struggled. I felt bad, because I probably took some of the wind out of his sails with all of my lagging.

We rode into Sausalito (more hills!), and then took the ferry back to Pier 39. While we cruised across the bay, Teag took a couple of awesome pictures of the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz.

That night, we drove back to Sausalito for dinner, at a cool restaurant called The Barrel House. We sat at a table outside that overlooked the whole bay, and it was incredibly serene. I'm afraid this picture really doesn't do it justice.

I tried another pork chop with apple slaw and Teag had a chimichurri chicken.

Both dinners were good, but what really stood out were the desserts we ordered. Pumpkin Creme Brulee, and a chocolate bread pudding with salted caramel ice cream. Between that and the amazing view, I could have died and gone to heaven.

We were departing the next day, but we had most of the morning and afternoon to wander, so we made our way around Pier 39, where we managed to get a new San Francisco ornament for our tree, as well as a TARDIS ornament, because we're Doctor Who fans. We ate at a restaurant near the pier where I had fried jumbo shrimp, and Teag ate fish and chips.

We also made our way to Ghiradelli square to buy some chocolates for our kids, and to get me some hot chocolate to ward off the chill of the day. Lastly, we wandered through Ripley's Believe it or Not! museum, gazing at some interesting collections and oddities. Then it was back to the airport, and our lives.

It was a really fun trip, and Teag and I both enjoyed the chance to get away, and to spend some quality time together. Which wouldn't have been possible without all the amazing people who pitched in and watched our kids while were gone, helping out my mom while she was at work, or while they were trying to pull off the ward Christmas party. We received many updates on our kids welfare while were were gone. There was Sara, who did Finny's hair when he saw Millie's getting done.

 And Finny got to snuggle with Uncle Kevy while Grandma and Grandpa were at choir practice.

Maisie got her hair curled by Grandma for church, no mean feat!

And they even managed to get everyone to church with plenty of time to spare!

Apparently Uncle Steve and Aunt Katie even took a turn with Finn, when Sara had a bit of an emergency and needed to go to a doctor. Also, Jan picked up Danyn to take her to see Avery in the Nutcracker, and then Tristin let Danyn sleep over that night. So many people jumped in to help while we were gone, and we're very grateful for their efforts on our behalf.

A memorable weekend to be sure!