Sunday, October 31, 2010

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

This is a special greeting from the Land of Oz.....Dorothy and the Cowardly Lion wish you and your family a safe and fun Halloween!






And here are a few pictures from a Halloween party Mike and I went to. Our friends' last names are "Adams" so they had a themed "Adam's Family" party...too fun! Check out some of the other costumes! Mike and I were the "Count and Countess".





Haha!!! Best costume of the night....he's wearing stilts and made the pants!!



Tuesday, October 26, 2010

First Visit to Beautiful Tahoe

We were very fortunate to be offered Mike's boss's mountain home for an extended weekend up in Tahoe. His home is in Truckee which is northwest of the lake and it is BEAUTIFUL in the woods! We headed to Truckee Thursday night after work and arrived after a short 3.5 hour drive. The next morning we ate breakfast at the Squeeze In...a hot spot known for their omelettes...it was even featured on the Food Network show "Throwdown with Bobby Flay". After stuffing ourselves with eggs, we went down to the lake and explored the area by hiking.

Our friends met up with us that evening and we had plans to hike the following day, but we woke up to snow!! The snow was not sticking, but it sure was cold outside. So rather than freeze our tails off in the woods, we headed to "The Biggest Little City in the World"...aka Reno. I'll refer to Reno from now on as "The DIRTIEST Little City in the West". :-) Let me just say that we enjoyed some fantastic people watching!

Below are some pictures of our Tahoe adventure. We definitely plan to go back!!




















































Tuesday, October 19, 2010

We have a visitor!!!

We welcomed our first out-of-state visitor to San Francisco last week...my mom! This was her first visit to the Bay Area and we spent a full five days exploring almost every inch of the city and surrounding area. Mike and I are becoming excellent tour guides...these pictures will give you an idea of what you can expect to see and do when you visit our fun town!

Day 1: Tour San Francisco (aka "The City")


We took a one-hour boat tour of the bay. The very windy ride included a whirl around Alcatraz and a close-up of the Golden Gate Bridge.


A classic experience is taking the cable car up the steep hills in SF. This was actually my first experience riding the trolley, too!


Day 2: Napa Valley

The first stop of the morning was the beautiful Beringer Brothers Estate.

Wow....I think this is the "Great Pumpkin" Charlie Brown awaits at Halloween! (Yes, I own and still watch Charlie Brown's The Great Pumpkin every year).


First tasting of the day...cheers!

One of the most picturesque views in Napa...the grand entrance to Sterling Vineyards. I felt like Anne of Green Gables.

After eating lunch and shopping in the quaint town of St. Helena, we visited the gorgeous Castello di Amerosa. It took 15 years to complete the castle and it's built with pieces from European castles that were destroyed and auctioned off.

The entrance to the winery.


Yum! It's interesting....my mom and I noticed how small wine grapes actually are. My mom tasted one right off the vine and said it wasn't too bad.

Day 3: Beach Day to Santa Cruz, Monterey Bay and the famous 17-mile drive to Pebble Beach
I was so excited to show my mom Santa Cruz. It has a great boardwalk, super long pier, great restaurants, and pretty views. Up until about 1 mile to the coast, it was 80 degrees and sunny....perfect beach weather. But as I've learned, the Bay Area fog can lurk at any time of the day anywhere. The fog decided to hover over Santa Cruz and not leave...boo!! So, we grabbed clam chowder and fried seafood from a lil' restaurant called Riva and watched the sufers catch some waves. The above picture was taken of us in Monterey. What a neat town! We walked along Cannery Row and stopped at a couple of scenic spots for pictures. We definitely plan to visit Monterey again.

What a great view!
My pretty mama posing for a shot in front of the rocky Cali coast. Notice at the top of the photo that the fog is rolling in.
...and the fog has arrived in Monterey. My mom took this photo along the 17-mile drive. You can't appreciate how high up she is when the photo was taken, but let me tell you...the California coast is extremely rocky with lots of cliffs. We thoroughly enjoyed driving this scenic route. In addition to gorgeous views of the Pacific, the drive leads you through Pebble Beach, part of the famous Pebble Beach Golf Course and the insanely sized mansions. Some of the mansions looked like hotels...I'm not kidding....they were larger than any home I ever saw in Beverly Hills!!

Day 4: Farmer's Market and Fillmore Street
I didn't post many pictures of day 4 although it was a busy one. We visited the Farmer's Market at the Ferry Building and purchased fresh fruit, cheese and bread for our dinner. We had lunch with a GREAT friend (Janie who was in town to run the Nike Women's Half Marathon - Go Janie!!) at the Elite Cafe on Fillmore Street. By the way, The Elite Cafe has the best strawberry butter and biscuits I've ever tasted. We did a little bit of shopping along Fillmore, and then hopped in the car to see the famous Haight-Ashbury district which is where the hippie revolution started. The day ended with a very cold stroll at Crissy Field with Toby and Bella.



Day 5: Half Moon Bay
We visited the Annual Pumpkin Festival at Half Moon Bay in the morning. Can you believe this was carved out of a pumpkin? Amazing!

More incredible pumpkin carvings! Fortunately for us, the rain held off until we were leaving the event. By the way, what is it with fog and rain the days we have a visitor and are taking her to the coast??? Despite the rain, we went to Sam's Chowder House for a delicious seafood meal before heading back to SF where we went to the theater to watch "Secretariat".

Mike and I had such a great time while my mom was in town. Thanks for coming out to visit!! I can't wait for you to return next year. We hope to have more of our families and friends visit SF...we promise to show you a great time...until then, we look forward to our trip home to Texas for the holidays!