Wow, I did not expect this to be my favorite part of our trip north but it just may be. The sheer size of this park and its natural beauty is absolutely stunning. I had no clue how big it actually was until we got there and asked the lady at the entrance for directions to Bridalveil Falls and she said "turn left and you'll be there in about an hour." I guess I was picturing a place where you could ride your bike around for the afternoon and see pretty much everything. I was wrong. We drove all around and spent about five hours there and still did not even come close to seeing everything it has to offer. While there a quote by Jane Austen kept coming to mind, "What are men to rocks and mountains?" The enormous mountains and water falls around you really make you realize how small you are compared to mother nature and the thought gave me a great appreciation for the things I was looking at. A few of our favorite sites were Half Dome and Bridalveil Falls. I was looking forward to seeing Mirror Lake, which is supposed to have a great reflection of the trees in fall colors, but after an hour hike to get there we discovered that the lake was dry. Nevertheless, I highly recommend a trip to Yosemite because my pictures just do not do it justice. Napa Valley
San Francisco
Well we certainly visited at an exciting time, as the city was buzzing with all the success the San Francisco Giants are having. When we checked into our hotel and I realized they did not have central air I threw a small tantrum, but eventually got over it. It didn't help that the high temperature was only 60 degrees outside and I had left my favorite travel blanket in Napa. : / Our first day in the city we spent seeing the Golden Gate Bridge, Lombard Street (the "crookedest" street), rode a cable car, and of course the Full House house. This city is also broken down into different sections and one of our favorites was Fisherman's Wharf. A very touristy area, but that is what we are, right? A boardwalk right on the bay and lined with shops and restaurants. Also home of Bousin Bakery which has been making sourdough bread since 1849, impressive and smells amazing. North Beach is the "Little Italy" section of town and handmade pasta raviolis was one of my favorite meals. Another favorite place to eat was in Chinatown, which is the largest outside of Asia.
Charlie really liked Golden Gate Park where she got to meet lots of new friends. Our first observations of the people at the dog park were that the locals were insane. There was maybe 10 other people there but about 60 dogs. Do the math and that is A LOT of dogs per human. But then my genius husband realized they were dog walkers and not crazy at all, oops. The park is also where we got to see our first Redwood trees! And bison. That's right, at one end of the park they have a large fenced-in area with bison just walkin' around. Interesting to see, but a bit strange. We ended our trip the second night seeing Neal Brennan (co-creator of the Chappelle's Show) at a comedy club and had great laughs. We drove home along the Pacific Coast Highway which is just a really pretty drive on the edge of a cliff with the Pacific Ocean down below, which is a nice way to make the long drive back south fly by.
Homefront...
In case you have been wondering how stoop kid is doing I have an update. Justin has gotten very close to him and we found out that he was in a motorcycle accident a few years ago. He cracked his skull open and lost an eye and that is probably the reason he does not leave home much. It is a very sad story, especially considering how nice of a guy he is. He sold his tattoo shop to his employees and is moving to Colorado at the end of November to be closer to his grandchildren. Justin and I have gotten to love having him as a neighbor and are going to miss him, maybe we will follow him to Colorado. Who knows?
Keep you posted,
<3 L
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