Here's some pictures to whet your appetite...

This was our motel we stayed at because that's all we could afford in CA.

The sign next to the girl on the rails says "Please keep off the rails".

ps. Just kidding about that being our motel...It was a really seedy motel we happened to pass by on our way out of Idaho. :)

From the Redwood Forest...

Today was the day we went to Muir Woods and scoped out some redwood trees. It was amazing to see those mammoth trees! Craziness! Oh and Dad, Kyle said that there was a sliver of redwood tree near the entrance of the trails with some labelling. I just didn't see it. I took so many pictures! Now I gotta sort through them and see which ones we like and then I'll post them.

After the woods, we left for Napa Valley. WINE COUNTRY!! We went to Beringer Estates and had some wine tasting experiences and a tour. The wine was great! Our tour guide apologized if he started slurring and stumbling because he'd already given 5 other tours that day. I asked him how he got home each day and he said that he sits in his car for about an hour or so and drinks like 9 liters of water (probably an exaggeration, but still a good story) in order to flush his system and hopes he doesn't get pulled over because he lives like an hour and a half away from the vineyards. hahahaha....Anyway, we ended up buying a gift set of wines (6 different wines) and we'll probably end up giving 2 bottles away to Rellis and Albert and Arjun and Prithvi.

Well, I better go because we want to get up early tomorrow to get an early start for going back home. I'll write some more trip wrap up stuff later probably if I can think of anything else. Night!

Second Full Day in S.F.

Today was full of more walking to and fro. We started out the morning with the Alcatraz tour. We walked to Pier 33 where the boat was to be loaded and on our way, we figured we oughta pick up some sunscreen since we both got really bad burns on our neck and parts of our face and arms (and my hands)! That's because of being outside all day yesterday. So, the boat ride was about 10 minutes long and we finally reached Alcatraz Island. The nickname is "The Rock". We went on a self-guided audio tour around the prison. We got to hear on the audio thing the different "voices" of prisoners that were once sentenced there, like Robert "the Bird Man" Stroud. Did you know he became a renowned ornithologist even though he only had a 3rd grade education? We ended up staying there for about 3 hours. It was a pretty great experience and now we can say we've been to Alcatraz.

We came back on the boat back to the mainland and walked to a restaurant called Fishermen's Grotto and we were very impressed. We couldn't quite describe this place except for the fact that it seemed a bit seedy and the food wasn't all that great. The food was pricey though. We both got the angel hair with prawns even though the "prawns" were just shrimp. The waiters weren't very friendly either--they were all middle to upper aged men in sea captain suits. I didn't even see one woman waitress there! Anyway, say what you will....We left for the motel and rested for a little while before heading to Chinatown. We rode the bus (not the streetcar because we thought they were out of service by then) to Chinatown and got off at a certain point to enjoy the sights of this little community. It certainly had all the asian knic-knacky stores that you would think of when picturing Chinatown. We went in several of them to see what things they sold--most stores sold just about the same things just in different displays. I didn't buy anything though because none of the stuff actually fit my style for my house. We ended up eating dinner there at a place called Brandy Ho's (recommended by the lady in our motel office). It was okay food--it kinda reminded me of an american diner with all the clacking pots and the sizzling of the kitchen because you could hear all that because the cooks were out there in the open for you to see them. I had shrimp with broccoli and Kyle had Brandy Ho's dinner, which consisted of several different meats and veggies all cooked together. I guess today wasn't a very good day for dining. Our food didn't really impress us there either. I'm sad to say that perhaps the food in this town had been overhyped for us but it's all about the sights of the town, we figured.

After dinner, we had made it a point to go back to Ghirardelli Square to have a special dessert. In fact, we did. I had a brownie sundae and Kyle had the Gold Rush (chocolate fudge and peanut butter and ice cream in a tall glass). I know you're thinking, now Jennifer, how are you able to eat all that?? Well, we've been walking constantly non-stop and I've got the toe blisters and sore legs to prove it. Besides, I haven't indulged like that in almost a year since we last went to DQ last June. Plus, how many times do you get to go to S.F. and have the actual Ghirardelli chocolate specialties? I guess you'd probably be glad to know that after I ate it, I felt a little ill but I'm glad we were able to experience it.

No more Ghirardelli sundaes for a good long while! We bought my friend, Rellis, a bag of chocolates from the gift shop as a thankyou gift for taking care of Tiger. Now it's time for us to get plenty of rest for our final full day here in the fog city, San Francisco.

First full day in San Francisco

Well, today was jam-packed full of physical activity. We started out walking to a breakfast place just down the street from our motel. The breakfast was delicious! After breakfast, we walked to Fort Mason, which is like a really beautiful recreational park for people to take their dogs and whatnot to play. It's also near the water and we could see the Golden Gate Bridge from there, although, not very closely. Oh, and I'm not posting pictures right now because the internet connection is very slow here so please check back later for picture postings once we get home, which will be on Wednesday evening. Anyway, after we took some pictures of the nice, green landscape and water areas, we headed down to the Fisherman's Wharf. We walked on this empty pier area for awhile to try and get better pictures of the distant GG bridge. I also got some pictures of boats in the marina. The first stop was Hyde St. Pier and that was just a bunch of Maritime stuff with souvenir shops with boats and books and things to collect and act like you're actually interested in boats. There were several boats that people could board and have a look around but not without the nominal fee of $5. We decided not to do that at that juncture. We continued into Fisherman's Wharf and smelled the exciting scents of fish and crab being prepared--mmm...sometimes. We walked in and out of knic-knacky stores and then walked some more. Without pictures, it's kinda hard to describe what we saw, except for a LOT of people and vendors trying to get people to buy things they didn't need. Another thing we noticed around this area was the number of homeless. It was sorta disgusting the way they just sat there and looked all gross and snored on the sides of the walkways. Aside from that, it was a very pleasant and busy place! After walking for hours, we settled in on a lunch establishment called Pompei's Grotto--very tasty, in deed! I had a crabmeat sandwich with a side salad and Kyle had the same except for a side cup of clam chowder--also extremely tasty!

Lunch ended and we decided we'd like to walk back to the motel and rest for a while, but NOT without walking through Ghirardelli Square! We went into one store and they gave us each a free Ghirardelli square of chocolate with carmelized almonds! MMMMMMM....we shall return later, for sure. We got back to the motel and took a nap for about an hour and then at about 3pm, went back to the Wharf area and decided to rent bikes for the afternoon. The self-guided tour would eventually take us across the GG bridge and into the little town of Sausalito. The day was perfect for a bike ride! It was sunny (as I have the red neck to prove it and also the red arms) and there was a breeze in the air! A perfect spring day. In total, we rode about 3.5 hours. The GG bridge pictures are quite amazing, if I do say so myself but you'll have to wait until later this week to see what I mean. Sorry. We made it over the bridge and rode for about 10-15 more minutes into Sausalito. Boy, you could tell this town was just brimming with money. The town wasn't that big though--just very...um, what's the word to describe it? I tried saying quaint, but Kyle said that wasn't a nice word to use...haha. It is a small community shoved into the hills along the waterfront and there are just beautiful homes that also kinda look like apartments--guess you could call them big condos or something. I can just imagine the type of people that live there. Penny loafers, sweaters tied around their necks or whatever...2 sports cars in the driveway (no, really, I did see that). I had read that Sausalito has a houseboat community but I didn't see any--maybe I wasn't looking in the right place? Anyway, b-e-a-utiful! I wanted some saltwater taffy, but we didn't have enough time--we had to catch a ferry to take us back to San Francisco so that we could return our bikes. We got on the ferry and it was about a 20 minute ride back. It was great. We got back to the ferry pier and had to take our bikes back to the garage and return them. By then, we were starving for dinner. We decided to eat at an italian restaurant. I looked like h-e-double hockey sticks and well, Kyle looked a little better than I did. Oh well. We ate at a place called Ciopino. I just wanted some salmon and Kyle also wanted some sort of fish. We ate, paid and then left promptly. We were sooooooo worn out from the day's exertion.

OOOOHHH! Totally forgot to tell you that we went to that famous steep and extra windy road that's been seen in all the movies! Lombard Street--where people literally wait in line in their cars for about 45 minutes or so to slowly wind downhill on this famous little strip of road. We decided to walk UP to it first. Talk about a 45 degree incline! I made it though. It wasn't too bad, I guess--if you like that sort of thing. We got to the top and there were all sorts of people watching the cars slowly wind down this street and cameras were flashing and people were just standing in awe...including us. Thankfully, we got to walk downhill then. I took a few pictures of that too.

We love being here. When we got into the great state of California, we noticed how at home we felt because of the lushness of vegetation and the TREES!!! It even had a moist, sweet, green smell like you smell in the summertime when people are cutting the grass and doing yardwork. *sigh* However, we probably won't ever move here to Cali because of the expensive housing and also because I don't feel like experiencing landslides and earthquakes.

So, we're now safely back in our motel and we're about to wrap it up for the night because tomorrow is another fun-filled day starting with the Alcatraz tour in the morning! Can't wait! Then we'll probably go to Chinatown and depending on how interesting it is, we may stay for the remainder of the day because it's a little further from our hotel than everything else and so we're gonna have to take a streetcar (ding, ding, the San Francisco treat)! Hope everyone had a very nice Easter today. I hope family get-togethers were filled with laughing, food and time with loved ones. We missed it this year (the family get-togethers and stuff). But I guess if you can't be with family, why not set out on an adventure for a new place that you haven't seen yet with your best friend for life?

ps. Have you ever been through an agricultural checkpoint? Well, let me tell you about our experience! We had just entered Cali and our greeting to the state was a checkpoint. I thought, "Hey, it doesn't really apply to us but then I remembered that we had fruit in our cooler. We stopped and the guy asked us,
"Are you all from the great state of Idaho?"
"Yes, we are."
"Do you have any fruits and/or vegetables with you?"
"Yes, we have pears, bananas and nectarines."
"May I take a look in your cooler?"
"Sure." (unlocked the door)
He stood there sifting through our food and picked up a pear, which previously I had taken all the stickers off of for ease of consumption. He looked and looked and looked at the pear as if to ask, "What kind is it?" So I answered his unasked question and said, "It's a D'Anjou pear."
The other guy said, "Idaho's okay--let 'em go."
I guess that pear could've been from anywhere but since I took off the stickers, he didn't know where they were from. I mean, come on...what were they gonna do? Confiscate our pears?

"If you're going to San Francisco..."

It'll take you about 11 hours from Boise if you leave at about 9am. It took us about 11 hours (probably including our stops--even though we really didn't dilly-dally too much). Sorry, we didn't take as many pictures going as we usually do on our little trips. I drove the first leg from Meridian to Reno, Nevada and then we finally switched. Alright, more tomorrow--HAPPY EASTER!

On a sidenote...

Das ist Christoph und Helena.

So recently, my host family from Germany started emailing me. They finally got their internet working and the mother has been keeping in touch with me within the past couple of weeks. The funny thing is that I really have to concentrate on the messages now and read them several times before I can truly understand what is going on. I haven't spoken much German in about a year now or so and it's kind of difficult. I still can kind of read for context if I don't know exactly what is going on in her emails. And of course, I must respond but now that is taking me a little longer than it used to in order to come up with appropriate responses. I'm starting to forget some of the simpler phrasiology and idioms and whatnot. Guess it's time for another trip to Deutschland! Pictured above are the two children of Marianne von Auer. The girl really got a kick out of having an American living with her. I overheard her one day when the doorbell rang when she said to her friend, "Do you want to play together or do you want to play with the American?" hahahaha.....too funny. She and I really ended up getting along quite well. It was hard at first because I wasn't used to hearing children speak German--they speak a lot faster and there's a lot more slang used when they speak. But eventually, she and I were able to work together and we started making up games together to play outside and stuff.

The boy was a bit shy though. He and I didn't interact as much. I offered him help in his English homework but he always said that he could do it. There's a man, for ya. ;) I think I did help him on some geography and other important landmarks dealing with the USA though. He would help me sometimes with my German grammar homework just to make sure my verbs and prepositions worked out correctly. The mother is originally from Belgium and so her first language was French but she's been in Germany for so long that she's starting to forget her French but at the same time, she's still not so sure in the German language either. It's kind of funny and so her son corrects her a lot of times, I guess. Anyway, just thought I'd share something totally different. I think it's cool that I'm still keeping in touch with the von Auers--I think I might be the only one who still talks to their host family 3 years down the road.

Sad news

I just heard the saddest story ever this morning...

A woman that had been subbing here at Garfield ES just lost her baby in February. The baby was due...in February. The principal said that she went into the hospital about a week early because she was feeling contractions but they couldn't get her dialate even with walking her around and stuff and so they sent her back home. A few days later, she realized when she woke up that the baby wasn't moving anymore. The umbilical cord had wrapped around the baby's neck and choked him. Can you imagine that? You're at full term with your baby and then it's taken away? I can't imagine the pain. We should keep Meredith Bloxham in our thoughts and prayers and hope that she and her family can stay strong through this tragedy. This was going to be her first child.