San Francisco

It was amazing, beautiful, thought provoking, and altogether wonderful! I cannot express how much I enjoyed this play! The vocals were impressive, so powerful. The story line was expertly written and it's depth surprising. The special effects were fun and amazing.










We rode the trolley to Fisherman's wharf. It was fun to see how the trollies went up and down those hills!









Here we are we are standing on the wharf with the bridge in the background. We ate some incredible clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl and some even better fried shrimp for lunch. Yummm!

We went to the aquarium and enjoyed walking through the underwater tubes to see all the marine life that can be found in the bay and further our in the deeper ocean. Then we were able to go to the touch tanks and touch small sharks, sea urchins, sting rays, starfish, and sea cucumbers.






Paul trying to be mates with the pirates!




After a fun filled day at Fisherman's Wharf, we went to a Chinese restaurant on Polk Street called Tai Chi's. It was a hole in the wall! I'm not kidding, there were literally holes in the walls! As we entered, we saw that they were sorting green beans on one of the tables out front. Paul pointed out that at least we knew they used fresh, good produce. Then came the food! We started with Spring Rolls and they were amazing! Then for a main dish we had beef with asparagus in black bean sauce. If you don't know how I feel about black beans, then you don't know me very well! The beef was so tender, the asparagus fresh and yummy, and the sauce to die for! I also loved that they gave the option of brown rice as well as white. It was enough to share, relatively inexpensive, and probably the best Chinese food I have had! We will be going back!!


We came home from San Francisco feeling ready to tackle our next challenge (more on that later) and very grateful for where we live. Once again, we have been proven Suburbians. Neither of us enjoy the fast city life. We enjoy our yard, friendly neighbors, clean streets, and driving our own cars. Let's just say we do NOT enjoy public transportation in a large city. I could go into detail but I won't. I want to savor the memories of a wonderful vacation with the man by which I am still smitten after more than 12 years.


I am a big believer in the need to get away as a couple for two reasons. The first and foremost being to keep your friendship alive and make sure that you still know the person you are married to. You know, behind the parent, job, calling, etc. The second reason being that I need to miss my kids every once in a while! Whenever I come home from being away from our kids, I find more patience, perspective and joy in the people they are becoming. Sometimes it is easy to get bogged down in the day to day problem solving and rush to keep my head above water. It is easy to miss my kids growing up before my eyes.

So, go plan a get away time. It can be as simple as a cheap motel down the street and a Redbox video. Just reconnect every once in a while! I do recommend getting away from the house with it's endless list of chores whispering in your ear while you sleep, and the "just gotta get this dones".