San Francisco- trip report

While on our recent West Coast vacation, we spent a jam-packed day and a half in San Francisco. We had a wonderful time!

As we drove into San Francisco, we planned our route so we would be sure to drive over the Golden Gate Bridge (thank goodness for GPS!).

Driving over the Golden Gate

After arriving at the hotel, we took a cable car down to Fisherman's Wharf for lunch and sight-seeing.

View from the cable car

We at lunch at the wonderful Boudin's Bakery.

Making bread at Boudin's

Both Mike and I had a bread bowl filled with soup and Matthew had a pizza. Then Matthew had some of the tops of both Mike and I's bread bowls. The kid LOVED sourdough bread.

Matthew and sourdough bread

We continued our stroll along the Wharf and bought boat tickets for a boat tour through the bay. As soon as we bought the tickets, Matthew commented that he didn't feel so good. Turns out, he had a little too much sourdough bread. Let's just say, we now call it "Fisherman's Barf"... Luckily after that little episode he was fine.

We took a great boat ride through the bay and got to see the Golden Gate and Alcatraz.

Alcatraz from the Bay

View of the Golden Gate Bridge from the boat

After this, we walked around Pier 33 and did a little shopping. We then headed for dinner down at Ghiradelli Square and finished the night off with ice cream at Ghiradelli's.

The next morning, we walked down from our hotel and had a great breakfast. We then headed to Union Square on a cable car, and back to Lombard Street- the crookedest street in the country. It is a very crooked street, with some gorgeous views!

Lombard Street

After this, we went down to Pier 1 to check out their amazing Farmer's Market. We picked up cheese and bread for lunch and ate it while overlooking the bay.

We decided to take a bike ride from Fisherman's Wharf to the Golden Gate Bridge. It didn't look that far... Well, it is that far (about 3.5 miles each way!) and uphill on the way to the bridge. But that wasn't the worst part- crossing the bridge was COLD, windy, and foggy.

The view from ON the Golden Gate Bridge

After we crossed the bridge to the Sausalito side, we could either choose to continue into Sausalito and take a ferry back, or just bike back across the bridge and back to the Wharf. We opted to bike back across the bridge.

On the Sausalito side- warming up before crossing back to San Fran

We then returned the bikes and went for a yummy seafood dinner at Scoma's before calling it a night.

All in all, it was a great time in San Francisco...

Our West Coast Trip- the down and dirty

Well, we survived our 13 day, 1200+ mile trek down the West Coast. A full trip report will be coming later, but I just wanted to share a few of the highlights of the trip...

• Seeing my husband's family and Matthew getting to know his cousins. They quickly became the best of friends.

• Watching the changing landscape as we drove from Portland, Or. to Anaheim, Ca. We saw desert, mountains, cliffs, etc. It was quite impressive.

• Spending time with my grandmother, who I hadn't seen in 20 years and who had never met Matthew or Mike. I also got to see aunts and cousins I hadn't seen in many, many years.

• Our weekend in San Francisco: Thanks to Matthew we now refer to it as Fisherman's Barf, and we also biked across the (cold and windy) Golden Gate Bridge.

• Exploring Disneyland and California Adventure- and being lucky enough to see World of Color twice!

All in all it was a great trip!

Friends, revisted

A few months ago, I posted a blog post about the types of friends in this world, as I see it. Recently, the issue of friends has once again been weighing on mind for various reaason. Now, when I posted this originally in Feburary, there were some unforeseen repercussions. I know that I very well risk repercussions again after this post, I think this is important enough to repost. I ask that as you read this, please think not about your friends, but yourself, and the type of friend you are.

Lately, I have been thinking about friends quite a bit. And as I was thinking, it dawned on me that friends can be divided into three categories- Real, Virtual, and Imaginary. Of course, you're probably wondering what the heck I am talking about. Let me explain--

Real friends- These are people that are a friend through and through. They stick by you when the times are bad, they don't expect you to act perfect, they make sure you're OK when you aren't yourself. Real friends are a true find- when you find one (or many) you need to keep them.

Virtual friends- This is my term for the people that you meet online, that you haven't met in person. Many of us have lots of virtual friends- we know them online, and we may know a lot about them- but chances are, we wouldn't recognize them if they were behind us in a supermarket line.

Imaginary friends- These are people that can be either Real or Virtual friends, but what makes them imaginary is that they disappear. They may disappear from your life after a few days, or a few years. But, when things get tough or change, they don't stick around. You always won't know a friend is Imaginary- sometimes you think they're Real until they're gone.

Over the last couple of weeks, I have learned a lot about friends. I learned that, sometimes, when you meet Virtual friends, they instantly can become Real friends. And, I learned the hard way, that people you think are Real friends, are actually only Imaginary.

I was recently with a group of people who started out as Virtual friends- but what was amazing to me was how quickly we all became Real friends. And I miss each and everyone of them everyday. (And yes, I do think Virtual friends can be Real friends without ever meeting in person...)

Real friends are hard to find- and when you do find a Real friend, make sure that you are a Real friend to them, and that you keep them in your life in whatever way works for you.