I fell in love. . .

I have officially fallen in love with California! Left on Thursday and got home on Wednesday night. I had no idea that this enamoring state was so beautiful. Everywhere we went was a different picture of beauty. Everyone was so nice and had such a carefree spirit....some moreso than others. It's such a different world. More than once we looked at each other and stated, "WHAT are we doing living in Ga?" I'm still pondering that question...

To recap....On Thursday we got to the airport and got a cab to the Crowne Plaza in San Jose, CA. We got a rental car and drove out to Santa Cruz. We stopped on the way a few times and walked out to the coast. It was AMAZING. It was literally like something out of a movie. Overlooking the cliffs and standing on the edge looking down at the water and the rocks. It was a sight I hope to never forget. The airline lost my baggage so I had to buy some clothes to hang around in. We stopped and had lunch at a little restaraunt by the boardwalk overlooking the sand and sea. We then walked around Santa Cruz and enjoyed the gorgeous weather. We came back to the hotel late afternoon. Since I didn't have any clothes except the pants and t-shirt I bought we ventured down to the hotel lobby and made friends with our week long bartender, Tom. We met various people from various places all week long at the bar in the lobby. Of course EVERYONE made fun of my accent. Some moreso than others but I just took in stride. I know my accent is a little worse than some and it's just me. I can't help it and I talk the way I talk.

California is 3 hrs behind Ga time so we had a hard time getting adjusted (and now are having a hard time getting adjusted to Ga time). We'd wake up at 8:30 am and feel as if it were noon. Friday morning we got up and headed to the Golden Gate Bridge. We drove up a huge mountain and got out and walked around and enjoyed the scenery. It was VERY windy but, as with everything there, beautiful. We then ventured into San Francisco and enjoyed Fisherman's Wharf area and downtown. We ate at The Sea Lion Cafe and sat by a window overlooking all the sea lions. It was so neat and just relaxing. We walked around Fisherman's Wharf, then around downtown and saw all the street vendors. I got to sift through a bowl of oysters and pick out my own pearl. I had no idea what the pearl would look like but I picked a pretty good one and the pearl I got is really pretty. I'm going to have a ring or necklace made out of it eventually as a memoir of our wonderful trip. We had the best sourdough bread at Happy Hour that I've ever tasted. It was delicious! Sitting at an outside table we made friends with a homeless carefree spirit walking around who had a sign that said, "Need $$ for Alcohol Research." Mike and I both gave him $1 bec/ it was priceless. We talked to him for a while and we learned quite a lot. He was very interesting and had some interesting info to say about CA. Let's just say it's a great state for more reasons than 1. HAHA!

Saturday morning we got up early and went back to San Fran for a winery tour. We traveled to Nappa Valley and Sonoma Valley and ventured all over. We toured 3 wineries that were pretty neat. The first one was our favorite but it's been sold and is closing in 4 days. http://kirklandwinery.com/

We then traveled to Madonna Estates and toured that winery which was where they make all organic wines with no pesticides used. From there we traveled to Sonoma Valley. Mike and I got a sandwich and had lunch in the park. It was a beautiful day and we walked around downtown Sonoma until time to leave for the next winery. Our 3rd winery was Viansa Winery and it was also very pretty. The view and scenery was breathtaking! http://www.viansa.com/

By the time we got back to San Francisco we were pretty tired. Let's just say that I had to buy a 2nd suitcase to get home all the stuff I bought over the course of our stay. And some of it even had to go into Mike's suitcase as well. We came back and rested and then we had a nice night in the hot tub with all the wine we'd bought. We had a blast!!

On Sunday we slept until about 9 am (it felt like noon) and ventured over to Monterey Bay on the coast. We watched the surfer's, had a nice lunch and midday cocktails. We watched the sea lions again and sea otters and watched all the boats and sailers. We ventured around and I had my first taste of Clam Chowder. Every corner had someone standing offering samples of 'their specialty' clam chowder. It is a big thing out there and damn was it good. Some of the best stuff I've ever had. We got back to the room, ordered food and had a night in watching a movie.
I made a promise to myself that this trip I was going to venture out and order different things on the menus, try different things that I'd usually never try. I was/am so proud of myself bec/ I tried several things that I really enjoyed!

You can see all of our pictures from our trip at the link below!

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Monday morning my conference started and I didnt get out til 5. We went over to Dave & Buster's on Monday night and had a pretty good time! We laughed a lot that night and I enjoyed it! Heck we laughed a lot ALL 6 days!

Tuesday I had class again and Tuesday night we went out to a Mexican restaurant in the Milpitas area. It was by far the absolute BEST Mexican I have EVER had. And trust me I love some Mexican food. No Mexican I've ever had could ever compare with what I had. We drank Margaritas and then headed back to the hotel. We said our good byes at the hotel lobby with a few drinks and called it a night. We had to leave Wedn. morning at 10 am for our 11:35 am flight. Wednesday morning was very somber. We did NOT want to leave...either of us. All I wanted to do was come home, get Lora Kate and get on the next plane back to California!!

I got to Mom and Dad's around 8:30 pm and oh the sheer joy and excitement of seeing Lora Kate again. I missed her SO SO SO much!!! Now I'm not going to say it wasn't nice (and much needed) to get away bec/ it was. It was relaxing and rejuvenating to get away for a while. She grinned the biggest smile I've ever seen (literally). She was so happy and wouldn't let me out of her sight. She kept hugging and kissing me and crawling all over me all night. It was a good feeling to have such a great welcome home!

So here I am, back in GA, TRYING to get back into the groove of things. Much easier said than done but tomorrow is Friday so I have a little time over the weekend to readjust and get my mind out of vacation mode! All in all, the trip was AMAZING, the sights were great, the food and spirits were plentiful...as were ALL the memories made!