Mini vacation

We took a little mini vacation to Berkeley/San Fransisco for 5 days.  Neither one of us had ever been there and Skott has a cousin who lives in Berkeley whom he was very close with growing up. 

After dropping Confuscious off at the doggie-sitter, we drove to the Portland airport.  We arrived in Oakland and were greeted by sunshine and 75 degree temps.  Lovely!  We almost had a piece of our luggage stolen at baggage claim.  Luckily, we happened to be very near the people who picked it up.  They were going to leave with it until I said something to them.  They claimed it looked identical to theirs but hmmm, funny... when I saw the actual luggage that they left with, it looked NOTHING like ours.  Makes me wonder if they stole someone elses or if they were just crazy.  Anyways, I'm glad it didn't get taken because it happened to be the suitcase containing all of our shoes and toiletries (Yes, we are a bit obsessed with shoes, enough so that we had an entire suitcase devoted to them!).

Skotts cousin, Hap, made me a suprise cake.  It was amazing -rich and chocolatey!  He also made homemade pumpkin ice cream.  Yum! (I was especially grateful for the one candle on top of the cake! hahaha I'm only 29, right?!).

On Monday we walked around Berkeley, drove to some neat shopping districts, and visited Hap and Peters store -The Cactus Jungle.  We found a great coffee shop and enjoyed wonderful conversation and people watching:

 

Monday night we went out for pizza.  I wish I would have taken pictures -the pizzas were HUGE and very delicious!  I loved all the unique combinations of fresh, organic toppings available.

Tuesday we spent part of the day driving around with Hap.  He showed us some sights, and we drove out to the "country" a little bit.  It's amazing how compact the city is against the bay.  We only had to drive about 20 minutes before we were out in the middle of nowhere.  We saw a cool old C&H sugar factory and a couple oil refineries.  We had lunch at an authentic mexican cafe.  The food was all organic and there were a lot of fresh salsas to chose from.  We hit the grocery store on the way home and picked up a bunch of cheese and some breads to have for dinner.  Side note:  Acme bread company= Best bread I have ever had in my life!

Skott and Hap

Wednesday we decided would be the day we would go across the bay to San Fransisco.  Hap and Peter were both busy working their store that day so we went alone.  Our original plan was to drive to the Bart station (Bay Area Rapid Transit) and take the subway across the bay, and then just take busses and trains around the city (parking is a nightmare in this area).  We headed to the station and couldn't find parking.  Went across the street to their overflow lot and the car in front of us got THE LAST parking space.  We drove around both lots for awhile but nothing was opening up.  We drove across town to the other Bart station and the parking lot was full there too.  We were getting somewhat frustrated at this point, as time was wasting and we weren't even to San Fransisco yet.  We decided to drive over and park somewhere and still just bus our way around town.  We headed across the bay bridge and accidentally took the wrong exit to get to downtown.  We meandered our way through side streets and got where we needed to be.  Got the LAST parking space at the first lot we came upon, and decided to go for it.  It was a bit un-nerving as the cars were PACKED in this little tiny lot.  No rows, no aisles, nothing! You just drove in, got a ticket from the attendent, left your keys in the ignition, and that's it.  Once again, I should have taken a picture of how the cars were all packed in there.  No wonder they told you  you couldn't pick up your car until after a certain time... There would be no way to get your car out if you were in the middle of all that mess!  As we left the parking lot, we started seeing A LOT of Giants baseball fans.  Then we heard the music of bands warming up.  As we got closer to the main downtown area, we finally figured out that the day of the parade to celebrate the SF Giants winning the world series was that day!  No wonder it was so crazy!

We had a great time exploring the city that day!  Never enough time and there was SO MUCH more that we wanted to see.

loved all the old brick buildings built on the hill

coffee break

Neat graffitti art

We ended up in a hippie district around 3pm.  The crowds were starting to get a little "rough", as it was also Halloween.  We decided to take the connecting buses and subways back to the parking lot and try to beat rush hour traffic across the bridge.  I have never been on a subway before.  The ones in SF are very clean!  I expected worse.

We made it back, got our car, and made it back across the bay to Berkeley with no delay.  Later that evening as we watched the news, we realized just how lucky we got.
1.1 million people turned out for the celebration parade that day.
ALL of the freeway exits CLOSED just minutes after we took the wrong exit to downtown San Fransisco.  Had we kept on going, we would have been stuck sitting on the freeway, unable to exit at all until after the parade was over.  It was a blessing in disguise that we didn't find parking at the Bart station in Berkeley.  People were still waiting in line to get back across the bay at 8pm that night and they were packing them into the subway like sardines.  Not good for my claustrophobia.

One of the highlights of our day was stumbling upon a Biscoff coffee shop.  Biscoff spread is SO AMAZING!  I resisted the urge to buy the gigantic gallon size bucket of it :) and got a really neat coffee mug instead.

A truly amazing trip!  I really enjoyed all the talks with Hap and Peter.  Loved their adorable whippets -Benjamin and Jason.  Loved all the different plants.  Truly enjoyed exploring a new place with Skott and having time to relax and people watch together.  I was reminded of how much I am truly loved when I overheard two women talking on the bus back to the airport terminal.  One lady said to another "Oh girl, let me see!  How much does your husband love you?  Let me see the size of that ring!".  It really made me sick to my stomach -that people think the size of their diamond is somehow a measure of their love for eachother.  I'll take breakfast in bed, a wink across a crowded room, a hug, an opening of the door, or a simple note letting me know he's thinking of me ANY DAY over diamonds and jewels.

All in all, it was a great trip.  I'll leave you with a few more pictures...

Some succulents at Hap and Peters house: