San Francisco

For my 30th Birthday, we decided that we were going to take a trip. It started out as a girls trip but we soon decided that having our spouses come would be so much fun. So over labor day weekend, we were off to San Francisco with Ramie and Joe. Our flight left just after 8:00 in the morning on Thursday so we had to get up pretty early to get to the airport. Here we are waiting to board our plane and drinking burnt coffee..yum!

When we arrived in San Francisco, Ramie's mom Cathy and her husband Steve picked us up and took us to breakfast at the Cliffhouse. Eating right over the beach was a perfect way to start our trip.

From there we went walking on a trail to see some wonderful views. And also let the boys play a little..they were facinated with throwing rocks out into the water from the cliff.

After our walk it was off to the hotel...The Grosvenor Suites except Ramie likes to pronounce it Gros-Ven-Or




It was a cute little room that was perfect for all four of us...and one drunken man on one of our nights which you'll learn about further down.
After getting settled and changing, we were off to go see the famous Alcatraz.

After Alcatraz we went to a Thai Restaurant that was so yummy..Here's Joe with one of the fabulous dishes we shared...


FRIDAY...
This was our day to head to wine country.

With Ramie's family we all took a trip up to Napa and enjoyed the day tasting wines. We started off at Sterling Vineyards where we took an aerial tram up and over the vineyards. This is inside the tram


It was beautiful to see all of the vines below us and we were so excited to start tasting the different wines.

After our tour at Sterling, we went to a small vineyard and had a picnic lunch where we also tasted more wines, some cheese and chocolate. Some of us also had a little nap. From there we went to Beringer..My favorite wine!! We didn't get to do a tour but we tasted even more wine and shopped.
We also had a bit of fun trying on hats

After our very long day in wine counrty it was back to San Francisco to eat a wonderful meal made by Cathy and Steve. They had just been to Alaksa and caught salmon and halibut so that's what we had and it was so good. Greg's best friend JJ came to meet us and had dinner. It was fun to sit in the backyard and talk for a bit before heading out to the bar.




After dinner Chase wanted to take us out so we were off to the local bar. Lets just say we were all ready to have a good time. And as you can see...we did!

We all had so much fun that Ramie's little brother had to call us a cab and send us home. We don't remember much of getting home but apparently we tried to be friends with the cab driver, tried to get the hotel to turn on the sidewalk light, sat in the lobby for a bit, and then crawled into our room.

Some of us went straight to bed...others were cleaning up a certain someone's drunken mess!

SATURDAY...
It was a bit rough getting up after so much fun the night before. We were in much need of some greasy food. We met up with Joe's cousin Jenny and we walked down to the Saturday market where the streets are filled with vendors of all kinds. Plenty of perfect food to help us with our morning! We sat out at Pier 1 enjoyed our food and people watched..something that is very fun to do in San Francisco!



After getting some food and feeling better, we were off to Ghiradelli to have a yummy treat.





After that we were off to Peir 39 and Fisherman's Wharf where we had some shrimp and crab, walked through Boudin bread, watched the sea lions, filled jars with bath sea salts, shopped, ate some wonderful mini donuts, picked some strawberries for dinner and again people watched.

After a long day of walking, it was back to Cathy and Steve's to relax for dinner and watch Escape from Alcatraz.

SUNDAY...
This was a more laid back, enjoy the scenery type of day. We still got up early to head out to Steve and Cathy's boat where they took us out on the bay. It was breathtaking to be so close to the bridge and see dolphins and sea lions playing in the water.

After a little bit of riding around, we went over to Tiburon to have breakfast on the water.

From there, they dropped Greg and I off in Sausalito. Greg and I stopped by the candy store and got the kids some salt water taffy and then we stopped by a souviner shop to get them a few I love San Francisco shirts.

After our quiet stroll through town we took the ferry back to San Francisco and drove by our former AAA main office building.

From there we went over to Golden Gate Park where we walked through the botanical gardens, read our books on a park bench and then walked through the Japanese Tea Gardens.








After our fun day trip, it was back to the hotel to get ready for my big 30th Birthday dinner. On the way back we stopped by the local liquer store to get a few beverages to drink while we were getting ready.


The night before it was quite the debate as to where we should go to eat but we finally decided on a place called Luna Park..mainly because they had smore's that you could make at your table. We ended up having a table that was tucked back in the corner so we could have our privacy. The food was amazing and we all had a wonderful time.

On top of that, Ramie had made a book for my birthday. It is 30 things to love about me...and it includes letters from friends and my kids. I loved going through it to see all of the fun pictures and nice words from everyone.

That night we were supposed to go out again with Ramie's brother. We were all dressed up and everything but by the time that it was time to head out, Ramie and I were already asleep in our beds with all of our fancy clothes on...so we ended up not going out..I guess we are getting too old!

MONDAY...
What a bitter sweet day. I love San Francisco and I could stay there forever if I could however I had 3 little babies at home that had had enough of mom and dad being gone. My Grandma went into the hospital that day and at one point I had all three kids on the phone crying because they were overwhelmed, tired and wanted their parents. Before heading to the airport, we had one last final site seeing experience and we walked through China town. We shopped, laughed at the Chinese shop owners who were not impressed with us and visited the little factory that makes the fortune cookies. The old man was so funny and so excited that we were there. You have to pay fifty cents to take a picture and he was having so much fun helping us pose and get close to get the perfect shot. Thanks to Ramie, the man found out that it was my birthday and gave me a great big kiss on my cheek! Yikes!




We had an amazing time. I couldn't have asked for a better way to celebrate my 30th Birthday and I am so blessed to have such fun and amazing friends!

And the kids loved when we got home...because they wanted their gifts!