Trip to California!

Last Wednesday morning Jake and I boarded a plane for San Francisco, California. We went there to see Jake's cousin Keith and his family and to have some time for just the two of us without Addy. That's not to say we didn't miss her like crazy every minute we were gone, but we really enjoyed our time. It was the first time that I have seen the ocean, so I was pretty excited.

Wednesday after we landed in San Francisco we went out for lunch and we had our first "baked Alaska." It's a dessert with chocolate cake for the "crust", ice cream with snickers pieces, reeses and heath bar that has been deep fried, and then chocolate mouse on top. Jake called it a "souped up" blizzard, it was very good. That night we had supper at their place and then played a game of Settlers of Catan. If I remember right Keith ended up winning......not surprising ;-).

Thursday Keith had to work in the morning so Jake and I took Kirsten's car (she works at home) and went to see the ocean and go out for lunch. It was very foggy, which made it hard to see a whole lot. The tide was also very high all morning so we were unable to actually go down on the beach. At one point Jake thought he might go down to the beach...then all of a sudden a big surge of water came crashing in. He would have been soaked! We walked along a trail that was up on a cliff but ran next to the shore. It was interesting to see all the different plant life.

Up on the cliff (safe from the water). It was also misting a little.

A very large snail without a shell....yucky!

It is pretty big as you can see the comparison to my finger.

A tree along the trail that had stuff hanging from it.

Us at the ocean.

The large waves.

We sat and watched the waves come in for quite awhile after lunch. It was very cool and relaxing, I had only seen waves like this in movies. For lunch we went to an Italian Cafe. It is a family owned business with some of them actually from Italy. They were very nice and helped us order. Both Jake and I got a turkey Panini (like a sandwich), the bread was so good. After our Paninis we each had an Affagato (scoop of gelato ice cream with a shot of espresso). It was very strong, I ate all of the gelato (yummy) but only finished part of the espresso part. Definitely something fun to try.

Later that afternoon we went with Keith and his daughter Julia to see the remains of the old Bath House and the Cliff House.

This is a windmill from Holland that was fairly close to the Bath House remains (as you can see it was still foggy). It made me think of home (we have wind "turbines" all around us ;-). I guess it has been repaired a couple times.

Bath House remains, some of the smaller pools.

This is the large pool in the Bath House. It was all completely enclosed. They would pump ocean water in for the pools. The Bath House burned down in the early 1900's. The Cliff House (which I didn't get a picture of) burned down several times. They never rebuilt the Bath House but they rebuilt the Cliff House six or so times. There is a Cliff House that still stands today and is being used for a gift shop and restaurants.

Keith, Julia and Jake as we were getting closer to the remains of the Bath House.

We walked through a tunnel where they would pump the water in for the Bath House. This picture is looking out one of the holes in the tunnel. It was kind of scary because if the tide had come up all of a sudden we would have been inundated with lots of water.

Jake and I in front of the Bath House.

Thursday evening we all (Keith, Kirsten, their daughters Julia and Anna, one of Anna's friends, Jake and I) went to a Thai restaurant for supper. It was very delicious! Jake was a little skeptical but he enjoyed it all and even had some hot tea! At all the restaurants we went to Keith would order all these different things and then we all would share everything. It was nice to try a little bit of everything. That night Julia got really sick, throwing up for an hour straight. We were all worried that it was the Thai food but none of the rest of us got sick. After a good nights rest she was feeling better Friday morning so she went to school.

Friday morning we went to a funeral for the dad of one of Keith's coworkers. Keith knew the family really well so he knew he should go. Jake and I were thinking about not going but it would have taken up a lot of time for them to go to San Francisco for the funeral, come back and get us and then go back to San Francisco ( they don't actually live in the city). After the funeral we got lunch and then toured around the pier.

Jake and I on the pier.

Golden Gate Bridge from a distance.

Alcatraz Prison

Sea lions taking over the dock. There used to be a marina for boats here but the sea lions came and took over the docks.

Coit Tower, the tallest point in San Francisco. The actual tower is only 20 some stories but it is located up on a hill.

At the top of the Coit Tower and looking down on the bay.

Bay bridge

Alcatraz from a distance.

Golden Gate Bridge

Jake and I (to prove we were up there ;-).

There was a very old water fountain in front of the Coit Tower entrance. Jake was demonstrating that it worked...... don't worry he didn't take a drink.

The city from a distance.

Closer to the Golden Gate Bridge.

We were there!

The Palace of Fine Arts. They built this as part of a "world tour" they were going to do. This is one of the last buildings standing that they built for that tour after the big earthquake occurred.

One side of the Palace.

Us again :-)

Friday night we went with Keith and Kirsten to a Peruvian restaurant called Limon. The food was very good. Jake and Keith both had Czech beers. After supper we drove to the Hyatt Hotel (36 stories high) for dessert and wine. The dessert was very yummy. I wanted to go there at night so we could see the city night lights. It was pretty but I sure am glad not to live in a city that big all the time.

Saturday we went to Napa Valley for wine tasting. Keith had originally planned it for Friday but because of the funeral we went on Saturday instead. I loved driving through all the vineyards, a very pretty sight. I would really like to see them when they are bushed out and full of grapes. Even so, Napa Valley was my favorite part of the trip.

First we went to a middle Eastern winery called Darioush. While we were wine tasting there was a dish of Turkish pistachios always filled. I don't normally like pistachios, but these were amazing! The wine here was really good (I only took teeny sips).

Here we are in the cellar at Darioush. These barrels are all full of wine (59 gallons). In the middle of the door way where you see the light shining down....that is actually the tables people were sitting at tasting wine. One of them we looked up at and you could see a wine glass sitting on the table with someone pouring wine into it, very cool.

For lunch we had a picnic at another winery called Rutherford's. This is a picture looking down on Napa Valley from our picnic spot. It was a beautiful day! The highlights of the picnic were fresh french bread sandwiches and fresh strawberries. I could have eaten the whole thing of strawberries.

Another picture from our picnic spot.

After lunch we went to Anderson's Conn Valley Vineyard/Winery. Here we are looking at some of the vineyards and the "cave", which is were all the wine is housed. We went to the cave to taste test the wine. We were even able to try an exclusive one called Ghost Horse. Part way through the wine tasting we moved out to a patio so the guys could smoke cigars (they were very good ones....I won't tell you HOW good). I walked around to stay away from the smoke. It was very quiet and siren.....reminded me of home. Maybe that's why I like Napa Valley so much.....quiet and not many people.

A closer picture of the "cave" right in the middle.

Looking down rows and rows of grape vines.

Us at Conn Valley Vineyard.

Us again.

Last Winery...... Castello di Amorosa. This is a real castle that was originally in Italy. The man who owns this winery had it shipped to Napa Valley stone by stone and then reassembled. It is cool looking.

Jake and I at the gate.

The chapel for the castle. Each castle has its own chapel.

Random picture from inside the courtyard.

Another random picture that Julia, Kirsten and Anna got in.

Julia and I.....look at that big tummy ;-).

Farther back.

Jake standing next to armor for a knight. I told Jake he was more studly looking than the knight :-).

Saturday night we went to an Indian restaurant called Lotus (name of a flower). That was probably the best food we had while in San Francisco. We had something called Nan bread.....oh was it good. I guess you can make it yourself pretty easily. I might just have to try making it sometime.

We would like to say a BIG thank you to Keith, Kirsten and their daughters for their wonderful hospitality! They were so nice to take us to all the sites and restaurants that we went to. Keith taught us quite a bit about wines too.

We would also like to thank my parents for taking care of Addy and Oakie while we were gone. We hope they enjoyed spending a couple days with their granddaughter. Also, thank you to Jared, Stacie, Katie and Thomas for collectively taking care of Addy for a day so my mom could go to work.

The baby was very active on the plane ride and during the whole trip. Anna said that the baby would like all sorts of foods because of all the different things we ate while in San Francisco.

We are happy to be home except that Jake left Monday for Bismarck for a week of training. He comes back Thursday, but that is not soon enough for me since I was with him every minute of the day for almost a week straight. Addy misses her daddy too. Last night while I was doing supper dishes she went to the entryway and pointed at the door like she expected him to come through it.

Jake snow blowed for the first time all winter on Sunday after we got back. There was only a couple inches but he just wanted to make sure the snow didn't build up too much while he was gone for the week. Such a nice husband!

(I just realized that I forgot to post the ultrasound pictures that we got in December. I will try to post them sometime this week. They are a couple months late...but hey the baby isn't born yet anyways :-)