Hi! I really never thought I would say this, but I am so thankful to be back at work at my desk typing this post. Our vacation was wonderful and a much-needed break from reality, but getting back into a routine is just what I want right now. We got home from the airport around 6 p.m. last night, and I immediately was overcome with such a feeling of gratitude for our home. Not just for our home, but for our safe, cozy place to live, our cats, and just the general ease at which our lives have been operating. With all the crazy storms, natural disasters, and just overall “stuff” that has been going on in the world lately, I feel so lucky that none of it is directly affecting me. And I really want to remember how good I have it and to be so appreciative of that always – not just if it gets taken away.
Anyways, I just wanted to check in today with a quick little recap of the end of our time in California last week. I already talked about our travels there and our first day in San Francisco, hiking on Mt. Diablo and visiting the beach town of Sausalito, and going to Napa Valley to taste delicious wines for a couple days. Our last two days in California were total opposite – one super active and one where I barely took 3,000 steps all day.
Friday
Chris’s uncle is a master tour guide (in our opinion) and took us downtown San Francisco for the day on Friday to see the city his way, but to also incorporate the typical tourist things you want to see when visiting a new city. We began our day at Fisherman’s Wharf! Apparently this is a pretty famous spot, but I didn’t know that, but then again I am a little closed off from the world sometimes. If you are like me and have no clue what it is, it’s basically a pier on the water that has a bunch of shops and good seafood. We wandered around there for a bit, got some chowder for lunch, and moved on to our next spot.
Pier 39 was next. Another touristy spot, BUT we mainly went there to see the adorable sea lions! We originally thought they were seals, but I guess there is a difference? I mean it when I say that I could have sat there and watched them play with each other all day long. It was so amusing to watch them push each other in and out of the water and to try to figure out what they were doing – fighting or playing? It really didn’t matter, because we had such a fun time watching them, even if we had no idea what was going on.
While we were walking along the water after that, we got a great view of Alcatraz. Unfortunately, we decided not to do the actual tour of the place for a few reasons, but it was still cool to see it from a distance. I love all things horror and spooky, so I’m hoping to actually make it to the island one day in the future. Thinking of Alcatraz always reminds me of the movie Shutter Island….
Next we took a little drive to get some good views of the Golden Gate Bridge. It was very foggy the day we were there, but I think it made for some really cool pictures. This bridge is HUGE. Not necessarily super long, but just enormous when you get right up next to it. There were a bunch of people riding bikes over the bridge, which is definitely something I want to do on our next trip.
And as you can see, Chris and I had very different opinions about what the temperature was in San Francisco. I will say that I am almost always cold and he is almost always hot, but I was dressed for a cool fall day and he was still in summer-mode. It is amazing how much cooler it is right on the water than walking around the city.
It was almost time to wind down the tour to avoid driving home in terrible traffic, but we had two more quick stops to make. First was at Lombard Street. Again, apparently this a very famous street, known for it’s super windy, steep road and beautiful flowers all the way up, but I had never heard of it. We drove down the street and then hopped out of the car at the bottom to snap a picture of it, and it really is cool and worth seeing if you are in San Francisco.
Last we had to make a quick stop at Alamo Park, where the Full House credits were filmed! I have no idea which house is the actual one from the show, but they are all super cute and again, worth seeing if you are in the area.
We did get stuck in some traffic on the way back, but nothing unbearable. We made one last stop in the town of Walnut Creek for dinner at an awesome barbecue place called Sauced. We were all pretty hungry by that point, so we shared a few appetizers, had a couple drinks, and eventually ordered our main meals. I got a 1/2 roasted chicken with sides of macaroni and cheese and collard greens. It was super yummy, and more than enough for lunch the next day, too.
Saturday
Saturday was such an easy day. All we really did was:
Get a good morning workout in at the local gym. This is where I got literally all 3,000 of my steps for the whole day.
Watch a couple episodes of Desperate Housewives
Pay some bills and talk about a few wedding logistics
Lay out in/by the pool and read books
Play Rummikub
Eat dinner, dessert, and drink a lot of good Napa wine
A lovely last relaxing day in California. 🙂
Sunday
We woke up bright and early Sunday morning to go to the airport. Like I said, I loved our time away, but was so excited to go home. I am so thankful for the kind people who hosted us all week! Our day of travel was long, but fairly painless. I watched a weird movie called Split on the plane and read a bunch of my new book – Of Mess and Moxie.
I loved getting home with enough time to get ourselves together before work this morning. We managed to unpack everything, do all the laundry, go to the grocery store, meal prep a few lunches, and still manage to finish our last two episodes of Desperate Housewives (I am so sad we are done with it!) before going to bed and sleeping like literal rocks for 8 hours.
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I have got a crazy busy week ahead of me, but isn’t that always the case when coming home from vacation? It will be a quick jump back into reality and I might be saying I need another getaway by the end of the week…. 😉
Did you have a good weekend? What was your favorite thing you did?
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