Determination

I have about eight blog posts that are all ready to go except for pictures. I WILL catch up. I WILL catch up. I WILL catch up. Even if it's just for my own sake. Be back in a bit...

Week Up North

With Roni's base assignment in Sacramento, the ladies of the Yadlin family (minus Colorado-captive Youval) headed up north for a week. Our mission: find Roni a place to live, furnish her new place, see some of the sights and enjoy the city by the bay. And that's what we did.
The drive up was loooooooong. And I get to do it again in a few weeks.... But we had a book to listen to, which was somewhat odd but helped pass the time, and good snacks to keep us going. Beale Air Force Base is in the middle of nowhere, but at least the surrounding area is pretty. Reminds me of spring in Idaho. The person who showed us around was very nice and we got checked into our base accommodations without any issue. I can't speak for the other food but the sandwiches we had from Charley's that night were absolutely delicious. Shiri and I spent the evening watching a lot of random hotel TV while Mom and Roni did some apartment/condo investigations.

I will say one thing for my sister. She wants things to get done as quickly as she possible can. So, once we determined that it would make more sense to go to an apartment complex, she got on finding a place pretty darn quickly. Shiri and I sat in the lobby for quite some time while she and mom did all the paperwork and setting up of utilities, etc., but by mid-Tuesday, she had a place to her name. It's really nice (nicer than she can take care of....) and very close to grocery stores and restaurants and such.

Because we had gotten the big thing taken care of, we headed into downtown Sacramento to wander around. We were right in the area where I was for History Day more than ten years ago. Lots of things were recognizable and familiar. The Capitol Building is beautiful (but I of course love the Boise one more) and the old downtown area, with buildings over 100 years old, was quaint and somewhat disconcerting, especially when an old building housed an Applebees.

The next day was a bit hellish. Honestly, my new definition of hell is 4 hours at Ikea. My saving grace was the hot dog and ice cream. Oh, and I did get a bed, so that was cool. But otherwise, it was just miserable. Shiri and I were defeated by 1 pm. Shiri and I did rock some pretty great moves though when we moved all of the boxes from the car into the house in less than 7 minutes. That gave us enough time to go buy Henry the Snail as a housewarming present. Hell is also putting together Ikea furniture. Roni and I stayed to get the job done while Shiri and Mom went out to have dinner with Debs. Luckily they brought us some pizza.

Thursday morning was spent putting together the rest of the furniture and setting up what we could of the house while Roni went to go get a tour of the base. We then said our temporary goodbyes and drove to Oakland to check into residence #2 for the next few days. Since it was on the later side, we didn't want to drive into SF so headed into the still familiar Berkeley. This time I wasn't sitting in on Judicial Board hearings and packing up the car with Sonya's stuff. Instead, we went to the Rose Gardens, which afforded us a beautiful view of SF and some great flowers (including Sexy Rexy!). Dinner that night was at Jupiter's, another pizza place. The outdoor seating area was pretty much a Hunger Games situation. If a table opened up, it was first come, first served. There were some people there just taking their sweet time (which seemed a little ridiculous in that kind of a situation) but luckily, with the three of us spread out (Secret Service style), we got a table after about 15 minutes. Wine was much needed and the pizza was delicious.

After four days of pretty much doing manual labour or sitting around, it was so nice to get outside and we could not have picked a more beautiful day. We spent most of it hiking around Mount Tamalpais and the Marin Headlands. The views were breathtaking. I'll let them speak for themselves. We also met up with Roni at Muir Woods (old-fashioned style, since there was NO cell phone service) and wandered through that beauty for awhile. I really wanted to go see the batteries on the headlands because of Laurie R King's "Art of Detection" and we had the most beautiful views of SF and the Golden Gate Bridge from Battery Spencer. We also got to stop at Battery Wallace, where Phillip Gilbert's body had been dumped. I love being able to see things that i read about in my favorite books. Dinner that night was a bit of an adventure, and not in a good way. We attempted to eat in Sausalito but couldn't even find parking because of some jazz festival so we bailed on that and decided to find a Chili's. By the time we got there, it was nearly 8:30. We didn't get to our seats until 9:00. We absolutely DEVOURED the chips and salsa, even before the waitress could come back with our guacamole. I don't know if I have ever been so hungry (or tired) before. Chili's has never tasted so good.

Saturday stands for San Francisco! Because Shiri had never been there, we hit up the big spots: Ghiradelli Square (for free chocolate samples), Fisherman's Wharf and the coastline, the huge farmer's market on the Embarcadero, Golden Gate Park, Alamo Square with the Full House houses, Coit Tower, Lombard Street and China town. Dinner that night was at a great little Chinese place that came highly recommended. Their system for getting people into the restaurant was a little fishy but the food made up for it. And our car didn't get towed while we ate. The only downside of the night was attempt to drive up Market Street while trying to figure out where each lane was and avoiding celebrating LGBT and friends. Other than that, though, the day was wonderful!

We had contemplated driving home along the coast but fearing Sunday traffic, we opted for a straight shot home. And it was well worth it. I was exhausted by the time we got there. But so happy it was such an enjoyable trip!

San Diego Father's Day

Because we were all over the place the day of and because Roni would be in town the following week, we decided to postpone Father's Day for a week. My sisters and I put our heads together and we eventually thought that a day in San Diego would be nice, especially if we could hit up one of the breweries that SD is known for.

The day began a little painfully since Roni, Shiri and I were all pretty sunburned. We powered through, though, because that's how we roll. We started out with a breakfast at Proud Mary's in Dana Point. We didn't have too long to wait and the breakfast was just delicious. Roni, Shiri and Mom got breakfast burritos and Abba and I got similar omelets. Man, it was so yummy!

From then, we braved what ended up being pretty normal traffic down to Stone Brewery in Escondido. There was a huge beer festival going on but we were still able to pop into the tour. The tour guide reminded me so much of one of my students but he was great- really personable and gave some great information. I probably would have appreciated it more if I were a beer drinker. The samples were all apparently really good and there were some beer glasses on sale so we picked up a few.

Because we didn't want to go all the way into San Diego, we decided to stay in the northern part of the town and go to Solano Beach. The first place we headed to was the Solano Beach Farmer's Market which was actually quite wonderful. All the free samples we got were perfect for holding us over until dinner and I loved the colors of all the fruits and vegetables. The beach itself was also wonderful. It was absolutely gorgeous and one of those beaches that you could just walk for miles and miles and miles. We luckily did not do that but the views were still stunning.

Dinner was at a burger place called Chiefs and, to continue with the trend of the day, the food was delicious. We were able to sit outside and although it was still sunny, the breezes from the ocean, which was about three blocks away, was just what we needed to keep temperate.

Happy Father's Day, Abba! You're the best dad in the whole wide world!

SJC Mission and More

 I haven't been down to San Juan Capistrano in years but when Niki was in town after England and Andrea and Shiri were free for a day, we all decided to trek down to SJC. The last time I legitimately recall being there was in 4th grade at the mission. That's a long time ago, guys. But the weather was beautiful and we were well-researched with things to do so we headed down the 5.

The day got off to a slightly bumpy start when the two places we were thinking about having breakfast were either full or SUPER expensive. Like ridiculously expensive. So we were resigned to go to Ruby's until we spotted a slightly classier yet still inexpensive place. The food was delicious (as were the mimosas) and they kept bringing us free stuff. The busboy assigned to us was just the sweetest. Definitely check out Sundried Tomatoes if you're ever in SJC.

Next we headed to the mission. It was really a glorious day and the gardens were so incredibly beautiful. I wasn't a huge fan of the audio guide- it just felt like with carrying a purse and trying to take pictures and hanging on to a big audio guide was just a little bit much. I would have been OK with just plaques or going along with a docent. I did appreciate the interviews with people who used to live at the mission and who had grown up wit th emission but at times, it seemed a bit repetitive. That certainly did not detract from the beauty though. I don't know if it's like that all the time but the gardens were just stunning. I hope it's always like that.

After the mission, we hit up the antique stores. There is a huge antique barn with rows and rows and rows of "stuff". It's amazing how the prices in California are jacked up so high. This is all the same stuff that you find in Idaho antique and thrift stores- just for a lot more money. And of course, there were the obligatory creepy clowns and dolls that are a MUST in any thrift store.

Downtown SJC is very cute, as Shiri would say. The buildings are all unique with tons of personality and there is so much history on the streets. I love how the train tracks run right through downtown, yet you're able to easily walk across, depending on whether there is a train or not.

 

We finished the afternoon up with a drive up PCH to Aliso Creek for some typically stunning views. As much as I love Idaho, it's always nice to have this place to come home and vacation at.... for free.