San Francisco!

After an eight hour delayed flight ended up being cancelled, Dave and I finally arrived in San Fran on Tuesday afternoon. I was exhausted and starving from the long day, and it was raining pretty heavily. We decided to see what we could explore on foot around our hotel. The concierge gave us directions to a strip with lots of restaurants and shops, so we set out in the rain to explore. By the end of dinner (which we ate at 4:45 Cali time!) we were so tired we ended up back at the hotel, watching tv and going to be at 8:30.
An early night for us, though, was exactly what we needed, because on Wednesday we got up early, took our first adventure on the Muni bus system downtown, rented a car and drove to Carmel down Highway 1, The Pacific Coast Highway. This was one of my favorite parts of our trip. Despite the overcast day, viewing the scenery and beaches and ocean along the highway was so refreshing. It made it feel like we were really and truly on vacation. We stopped at numerous rest stops and took pictures along the coast, enjoyed amazing scenery and, despite a few traffic jams, spent a lovely three hours just enjoying one another’s company. Dave is a trooper and drove the whole time (not that he’d let me if I had wanted to) and when we got to Carmel, we had a blast walking on the beach, shopping, and eating at a fantastic Greek café. We took the 17 mile scenic drive and saw some of Pebble Beach and it’s famous golf course and Del Monte forest.

What a great, cloudy beach view!

28 weeks!

We got really good at the self portrait!

One of the Pebble Beach stops!

On the drive home we opted for the faster route and got home a little quicker. For dinner that night, we had our traditional soup in a sourdough bread bowl…Clam Chowder for Dave and Crab Corn Bisque for me.

The next morning we got just a bit later so that we could catch our ferry over to Alcatraz Island, the second highlight for me! I was fascinated by Alcatraz. Little did I know it was so much more than a jail. Before that, it had a long history of being a military fort, then after it’s prison days it became a crucial part in Native American history. When we got to the cell house, we took the audio tour which was narrated by former inmates and guards. We walked around all of the gardens and watched a Discovery channel video about the history of the island and the amazing plant and animal life that was there. Dave even let me splurge on a tshirt from the gift shop! We were there almost 4 hours, and by the time we got back on the Ferry to go back to the mainland, we were starving. We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening walking around Pier 39, Fisherman’s Wharf, Ghirardelli square, etc. We quickly figured out that most of these spots are just shops and restaurants, so after an hour or so, we ended up calling it a day and going home to rest before dinner.

The view of the island from the ferry

This is where I send Dave when he misbehaves

I loved all of the gardens and foliage that had grown in around the jail.

The view from the island

The Pier 39 sea lions

That night we ventured out to dinner to a restaurant recommended by a friend, The Stinking Rose. It specializes in garlic! We ate amazing food and came back pooped and ready for a good nights sleep.
On our last day, we woke up to rain, rain, and more rain. We had plans to do the Golden Gate Bridge and Park, Chinatown, Hate Ashbury (where hippies originated) and Union square that day, but the rain really prevented me from being comfortable. Pregnant, wet, and cold….not a good combination. We ended up taking the bus to Golden Gate Park, where we spent the afternoon in the California Academy of Science. We saw there vast aquarium, their indoor rain forest exhibit, and watched a movie about evolution and life on other planets in the planetarium (hahaha). In the late afternoon, the rain had calmed down, and so after a little rest at the hotel, we went down to Chinatown for a real Chinese food dinner.
By the time we left on Saturday, we were tired, sore (all those hills!), full of seafood and revealing in our new memories. I’m so glad we took the time to take this trip and make it a priority before Calvin is born. While Dave and I are perfectly happy just chilling at home, it’s important for us to experience new things together as a couple. We both agreed that this kind of thing needs to be a priority for us in the future. We live in a great city that has lots of opportunities for us to do things together, and we’re going to try and do some of the tourist type things that Dallas and Fort Worth have to offer. I know there are lots of things to do in Dallas that I don’t even know about, and if we don’t take advantage of that now, sooner or later our time will run out.
Thanks to everyone who prayed for us on our trip. Next week I’ll have a blog post all about our nursery. Dad comes tomorrow, and Calvin’s room is going to begin to take shape.