Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
09 May 2012 Leave a Comment
April 30- May 4, 2012
It’s not often in this job that I get to go back to the same city. I visited Edmonton in January of this year and did the gigantic mall. The weather was a bit better this visit, but I kept pretty close to the hotel and the practice on this visit. I worked with a great doctor and staff this week, that always makes the week go better.
It’s a long day of travel when I head to Canada. On the way up I had to go south to Houston and then north to Edmonton. On the flight home I had to be up at 3:00 a.m and I had a very long layover in Denver. If it means I can dance on a Friday night, it’s worth getting up at dark 0′clock and heading to the airport.
One of the highlights of my visit to Edmonton was getting to have dinner with a long time friend Mark and his wife on Thursday night. Their first grandchild was born during my time in Edmonton and it was great to see photos of the new baby and to share in their excitement. I found my new favorite baby gift, a book – The Sand Bucket List. It’s a collection of 366 things to do with your kids before they grow up. I may need to review that book and see if there are some fun things that I can still do with my daughters even though they are grown up. We had a great dinner at milestones and the conversation was equally as good. When they dropped me off at the hotel I made them both get out of the car so I could give them a huggin’ the stuffin’ hug.
The milestones restaurant was in the area that I had stayed in when I was in Edmonton in January, I recognized a few landmarks. They looked much better not covered in snow.
While at the airport in Houston and navigating my way to the correct terminal I came across an elderly hispanic woman who was clearly lost. She asked me how to get to the train, I pointed up the escalator. As I rode up the escalator, I decided to latch onto the woman when she reached the top and to make sure she got to her correct gate. I could tell that she was clearly overwhelmed. When she stepped off of the escalator, I asked her what gate she was looking for. She was actually in the same terminal and just a few gates from where I was heading.
“I’ll make sure you get there.” I told her.
The look of relief on her face was priceless. When we arrived at the terminal, I motioned for her to join me. I slowed my walking pace down to match hers. She told me that she was heading back to New York, she had been spending the week with her daughter.
“I no like Texas.”
…as a Texas transplant and a BIG lover of Texas I cringed a bit.
“But, you like the people, right? We can be a very friendly sort in this part of the country.”
She nodded in agreement. I walked her to her gate and she thanked me and we each headed off in our own directions. It took very little time to do this small kindness. I remember those days not so long ago when I felt a little lost in a big airport..not so much these days, it’s just part of the weekly routine.
“Three things in human life are important:
the first is to be kind;
the second is to be kind;
and the third is to be kind.”
― Henry James
Jacksonville, Orange Park and St. Augustine, Florida
24 Apr 2012 Leave a Comment
April 14-20, 2012
Get your motor runnin’
Head out on the highway
Lookin’ for adventure
And whatever comes our way
Yep, just like that. I decided to rent a convertible for just a day to drive along the beach between Jacksonville and St. Augustine. Once upon a time in a life long ago I would head to Florida every October. I would rent a convertible for the week and drive all over the place with the top down. I forgot how much fun that was until I picked up this shiny black, engines roaring Mustang convertible at the airport. I’m still amazed that I didn’t get a ticket…because I loved the feeling of accelerating that car down the highway. Yee Haw! I’ve now promised myself that at least once a year I’ll rent a convertible and let the wind blow in my hair, and crank up the music and enjoy the freedom of the open road. What a rush!
Some of the highlights of my week? A walk along the ocean at Neptune Beach where I stopped periodically to doodle words and quotes in the sand. Small things, what ever popped into my head at the moment. I’ve never experienced a beach like that. Totally flat hard sand from the edge of the water to the dunes. It was the perfect beach to walk on and to write messages in the sand.
I had an amazing brunch at The Reef. The food was wonderful and I had a table secluded from the wind with a view of the ocean. It was so calming to just listen to the waves rolling in and to enjoy the view. The mimosas were pretty darn good too!
I walked around St. Augustine and visited the Fountain of Youth. They aren’t fooling me, the real fountain of youth is on a dance floor in Texas. But I humored them, you know just in case one can’t be too sure about such things. I enjoyed the fort and the old buildings in the area.
On my last night there I went to see Titanic in 3D at the IMAX theater. I’ve seen that movie dozens of times, but that was probably the best experience I have had. I didn’t leave my seat the entire time…so much fun, and something that I would love to repeat.
Mostly this week, I was happy to get home to Texas. I still love that feeling of landing at DFW, it never gets old, I never get tired of that happy I am home feeling.
Burnet, Llano, Ennis and Johnson City, Texas
09 Apr 2012 Leave a Comment
April 7-8, 2012
The Crazy Gals Bluebonnet Roundup
There are no words, there are not photos that can truly capture the beauty that surrounded me on this trip. I have posted photos below, and they are quite beautiful, but not as beautiful as being in the middle of these fields of wildflowers with the heavenly smell of the blossoms. It was impossible to capture in the photos the hundreds of butterflies that flitted around a person as they walked, and often who looked like they were leading the way. It brings tears to my eyes even now, the wonder and the beauty of Mother Nature, and this place that I call home. I fell in love with Texas all over again over the past two days.
In 2003, I made my first trip to the Texas Hill Country. That’s where I fell in love with with this state, the landscape, and the people, the feeling that is just Texas. Some people love it, some people think that I am totally crazy to live here. Their concept of the state, and my reality of this place can be at different ends of the spectrum it seems. I’m ok with that, it’s about me being happy—and I am.
The adventure started on Saturday morning. For the first time, I had a companion on this trip to the Hill Country. When I started to see the bluebonnets blooming in my corner of the world, I made a reservation at the Canyon of the Eagles. The cabin had two beds, so I posted on Facebook that I had an extra bed, would anyone like to go along. I was so surprised when Nancy, one of my dancing friends, said heck yeah. We loaded up my car, made a stop at the kolache bakery on the corner and started the adventure.
Our route to Burnet, Texas took us over to Fort Worth and down to the hill country. It’s a pretty drive, not the boring ugly Route 35 route. We saw patches of bluebonnets along the way, and when we saw a pretty good sized field, I put the brakes on and pulled off the road at a crazy angle to take the first photos of this adventure. Nancy was quickly introduced to Ann’s style of travel. If you see something that looks interesting, pull over, take a picture, savor the moment and hop back on the highway.
It was so much fun to have someone in the car to laugh and talk to. I think we came close to solving most of the world problems. Mostly we just talked about life…you know that filled up SEVERAL hours of conversation. It was such a great opportunity to get to know each other better, and I think we both found that we have even more in common than our love of dancing and our circle of dance friends.
We made a pit stop at the Kozy Kup to have a bathroom break, pick up a glass of sweet tea and to continue on our journey. They had GIANT pieces of pie that looked wonderful, and I saw some onion rings ready to be taken out to the diners that were nearly as big as my head. The restaurant was packed with people making the same trek as we were. The parking lot was filled with motorcycles, cars, and crazy bluebonnet hunters. Inside the diner, there was a hum of conversation and laughter.
Back on the road…the further we drove, the more bluebonnets and wildflowers we began to see. When I made this drive last year, there were very few flowers along the route. I was encouraged by the growing number of blooms we saw the closer we got to our destination. Contrary to popular believe, Texas is not a flat, dessert, dust bowl sort of place. The Texas hill country is breathtaking, and driving 70 miles an hour on these winding back roads was a rush. Of course it made those quick photo stops quite interesting. 
Seat belts always!
We were nearly in Burnet, and decided that we needed to take a lunch break. Lucy, my Garmin, and constant travel companion on our road trips had gotten us this far. We decided to search for restaurants on the Garmin list of options. There about halfway down was the Crazy Gals Cafe. Seriously, is that NOT the best name for a road trip for two friends? Ok, maybe not as good as Thelma & Louise, and we didn’t pick up a young Brad Pitt on the way, but go with me here we LOVED the name Crazy Gals. We pushed the directions on the Garmin and blondie–me—said add this to our route. That meant that the cafe was going to be at the end of our trip, that made no sense. So shortly after we realized that I had goofed up we decide that we needed to turn around.
But a wrong turn, turned out to be a spot that gave us an incredible photo opportunity. The edges of the road were covered with a rainbow assortment of wildflowers that made us stop the car and jump out with our phones/cameras to take pictures. That section of road alone was worth the drive. There were cows munching grass in the fields, as curious about us, as we were about them. They turned at time as if to pose for the camera.
…and there were butterflies….every where, all sizes, all colors swarming around us as if we were doing a dance together with the wildflowers. Through the entire weekend the butterflies were the accents to a background that was so awe inspiring. I’ve been to butterfly gardens in different parts of the world before, but this..this was beyond belief. It gave a whole new meaning to the phrase communing with nature.
Ok, photo op over, it was time to find this Crazy Gals Cafe–which ended up being 16 miles in the opposite direction of where we were headed. Hey, that’s part of the fun of these types of adventures, no rules, just going with the flow. The Crazy Gals Cafe, was not a terribly big place. The window was painted up with a for lease sign, and the other window gave their new address. We laughed, it made the place an even funnier lunch time option. We walked inside to a collection of mismatched chairs and tables, that just sort of worked. The ceiling was for the most part uncovered, I guess some people would have called it a dive, we decided that it had just the right amount of character.
Nancy opted for the burger on the jalapeño bun with onion rings. I had a BLT with handout fries. The food came out quickly, it was hot, and WOW just WOW good. We traded onion rings and fries and when I pulled out my camera to take a picture of my food, I know that Nancy thought I was a little bit crazier–she already knew that I was crazy. We had the waitress take a photo of us in front of the cafe and jumped back in the car, next stop the Willow City Loop.
When I went to the hill country on that first trip, I stumbled across a one lane road that circled around into farms in the area, and I was on a mission to try to rediscover that particular spot. I thought that the Willow City Loop might be the place. We passed a Visitor’s Center and stopped to pick up a bluebonnet map. While there, we encountered a gentleman that was wildly excited about the bluebonnet fields in Ennis, not far from Dallas. He went on and on about how great the bluebonnets were there, he had driven there from south of Houston. He said the trails were well marked, and I kinda felt sorry for the lady at the welcome center who was trying to help us…I’m sure that she thought her bluebonnets were the best.
As we drove to the Willow City Loop, old school, using the paper directions we received, the wildflowers continued to spread out before us. Every where you looked, was covered with some explosion of color. In some places the reds, yellows, blues and whites were mixed together. In some places, it would just be one particular wildflower. We turned onto the one lane road that was the start of the Willow City Loop and held onto our hats.
There are signs that clearly mark at the start of the loop that there is no stopping or parking on the road. It’s little more than a single lane in some places. Like that was going to happen? You can’t be in the middle of all of that and not find the need to stop the car, take a photo from the window, or to pull off the edge just a bit and get out of the car to capture the beauty of the flowers. Along the way, we say quite a few people taking family photos in the bluebonnets. We stopped for a mother that was taking a photo of her pre-teen daughter, husband and probably his parents, the wonder of the hill country and the wildflowers was the backdrop, but even from inside of the car, you could feel love there. We had just witnessed a beautiful family moment being captured in a photo. We saw families in white shirts jean, we even saw 4 beautiful black and white dogs having a *family photo* taken perched on a set of rocks.
The Willow City Loop drive was not my missing route, but it was close to being just as beautiful. It was more than just the trees and the flowers, the lay of the land with the hills, breathtaking. We quickly got past the no stopping rule, and just stopped when we saw something that looked photo worthy. The fields of poppies were so covered that they looked like snow. I have never seen the white poppies before and they were bursting and at their peak. At one of our photo stops we met some other people taking photos who said they had been coming to see the bluebonnets for 20 years, and this was the most they had ever seen–especially those white poppies. It was definitely an alignment of the weather, the stars and maybe the planets for us to have so many blooming flowers at one time. The weather was in the low 80′s a few clouds in the sky, and I’m glad I was wearing sunscreen.
We had mad a few inquiries at our stops along the way about places to dance. Everyone said Partners–well, we discovered it was Pardners, and from the view from the road it didn’t really look like a spot that two single women should be moseying into to dance alone so far from home. We opted to make our way to the Canyon of the Eagles and according to Lucy, we would arrive there pretty close to sunset. It’s a winding road up, and I was glad to be arriving in the daylight. At the hotel we found that there was to be a live band playing in the little common area. We found our cabin, that faced the lake. It was much better than the cabin I stayed in last year. On the small deck area, were two chairs and a table. A great little spot to just sit and to enjoy the wonder of all that was around us. We both laughed as we made our way out the door and the first song the entertainment was playing for the night was James Taylor’s Fire and Rain. I love James Taylor, love that song, and I just kind of have a way of attracting those types of things into my life.
We made our way down below the cabins to the lake to take a few photos before the sun was to set. This my friends is where I plan to have my ashes scattered…it’s in my will, it’s a place that is dear to me. It’s calm, peaceful, filled with the Mother Nature that I love to hug the stuffin’ out of, bluebonnets in the spring and it’s Texas. It’s my touchstone, where I go to reflect on my life, and the changes, the ups and downs and the twists and turns. I plan to keep visiting this place for a long long time…I am in no hurry to become a permanent resident.
We had dinner reservations at 6:30 but we quickly figured out after our big lunch at the Crazy Gals Cafe that we were going to be hard pressed to meed that deadline. I pulled out my smart phone and we called and changed our reservations to 9–the only time they had available later in the evening. We sat out on the patio listening to songs by Santana, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Buck Owens, Bonnie Raitt and a mixture of others. Just two people, playing, but songs that tugged at a lot of memories from the past for me. When they played “Act Naturally” by Buck Owens, I could feel my guardian angels dancing around me. It was such a relaxing way to spend the evening. The band took a 10 minute break, just as the sun was setting, so there were opportunities to take photos–sheesh either they think of everything, or good things just seem to naturally happen in my life.
I knew that dinner at the Canyon of the Eagles would be great. Nancy had the pulled pork enchilada, I had the small steak with fresh asparagus–and yes, I ate all of my asparagus. I snitched a bit of the enchilada, it was absolutely the most flavorful dish of that type I think I have ever had. We passed on dessert, headed to the cabin and settled in for the night. My…what a day.
I didn’t sleep too well on Saturday night. I had started a round of steroids before leaving on the trip, and suddenly I did not seem to require sleep–not a good thing. I woke up and posted some of the photos of the day to Facebook and received a text message from a friend that was coming in for the evening. You know, there are times, synchronicity it seems when I will be dealing with some sort of thoughts in my life and I will get a question out of the blue from someone else with the same *wondering* sort of thoughts on life. So from high above the Canyon of the Eagles at 4:00 am I was having a serious conversation about life, love and moving forward.
On Sunday I woke up early and found a text message from my daughter…a Happy Easter and an “I’m missing Grandma today.” Easter was my mom’s holiday. My mother was an excellent cook. Every year at Easter she would find a way to outdo the year before. Every year she would make homemade blue cheese dressing for my brother and I because she knew that we loved it and it was her favorite. Looking back, that is how she showed her lover for us, through cooking. I waddled away from those gatherings, and when my daughter said she wished she could have one more of those meals with grandma. I teared up, I tear up again just writing about it. But, instead of staying at home, being sad about her not being there to be with me on Easter, I was out celebrating life. I felt her with me, I know that she would be proud of me, proud of my life, and I told my daughter that I knew that my mom would be proud of her as well.
Life for me has become about being in the moment. I’ve had a few instances in the past year where people were part of my life, and through death, relocation, or just a change in life circumstances, they were no longer part of my world. So, I make the most of the time that I have with them when I am with them. I have some incredible memories in my mind and some even more incredible memories in my heart.
Back to the adventure…
Nancy and I formulated a plan to head back to Dallas via Ennis to see these amazing fields that we had heard about. There is a field there of 100 acres that is called the bluebonnet field of dreams, really, who could resist that? First, we took my favorite path, short hike down to another section of Lake Buchanan where I knew there were some big fields of bluebonnets. The butterflies were totally crazy there, they flitted along like little tour guides, taunting us to just TRY and take their photo. We ventured off the path to get into the middle of the bluebonnets. Nancy and I are scrambling and climbing over rocks like two 20 somethings and I think it struck us both in the same way. I’m not sure if it’s the dancing, being surrounded by such a close circle of friends, but I seem to feel younger every year. I never hesitated to crawl up on the rock and balance my way to the other side of the rocks to take a photo of the bluebonnets. The only moment of responsible adult hood reality that happened was when I dropped my phone and put a little knick in the front. FRAK! But now I look at that little knick, and it makes me remember that crazy rock climbing we did.
Look out Ennis, hear we come…no address, so Lucy was in a timeout. We did have a paper map, just in case, but we used Nancy’s iPhone to direct us towards Ennis. After our beautiful drive with wildflowers on the way down and all day on Saturday…the drive on 35 was pretty blah. I told Nancy that it was a way to cleanse our bluebonnet palette for what we would find in Ennis. The closer we got to Ennis, the more the clouds started to form..and the dark it got outside. Not a good sign at all. The crazy wild about Ennis guy told us that there were signs everywhere that would point us to the bluebonnets. Umm, not so much. At times it was raining so hard that we could not see out the window. We stopped at a gas station for directions, people thought we had two heads. Their are bluebonnets everywhere. So, smart phones out again, somehow we managed to get ourselves turned around and in the right direction and with a combination of Lucy, a web site and a whole lot of luck we found the first small sign that said Bluebonnet Trail. It was on Mach Road, it was the 100 acre field of dreams. Mach Road is a one lane, gravel mud filled with puddles sort of road. It was still raining, and blowing, and really nasty outside of the car.
I spent the majority of my life living in the middle of the cornfields on a 17 acre farm. I though that gave me a small concept of how much 100 acres would be, but I’m blonde, and really not all that good at math. So we based our perception on the field of dreams, that were maybe the fields of smaller dreams. I will never live down the moments when I would look at Nancy, say, that’s a great photo, get your camera ready, roll down the window and take that picture…there’s no whining in bluebonnet photography, it’s just a little rain moments.
We laughed..hysterically. Here we are, in the middle of nowhere with rain coming down so hard, blowing into the car and I’m still stopping to say hey we need to take a picture here. At one point in time, I turned the car sideways in the road so I could get a perfect shot of a small lake and some trees in the middle of the field that we finally found with the 100 acres of bluebonnets.
Then it was home to Dallas, home to dance with friends, home to recover and rest up for the next adventure.
Bluebonnets 2012 Hill Country and Ennis, Texas
09 Apr 2012 Leave a Comment
Bluebonnets 2012 Hill Country and Ennis, Texas, a set on Flickr.
San Francisco, Alameda, Oakland, San Mateo, Fairfield and Sonoma, California
03 Apr 2012 Leave a Comment
March 26 to April 1, 2012
It was a *pinch me* kind of adventure this week. Seriously? This is my life? The office that I trained this week was in the Union Square area of San Francisco. I decided to take the shuttle from the airport, and spend the week sans car. I had booked a room just a few blocks from the office I would be working at and I planned to walk to work every day.
When I arrived in San Francisco it was much colder than the weather in Texas. I had brought along a raincoat, and I put it and my umbrella both to good use during the course of the week. I located the office, had lunch, and settled into my hotel room. When my day ended at 5:30 EST I unpacked, ironed my shirts for the week and made my way out the door. I was a woman on a mission.
Growing up I can remember seeing movies and TV shows with charcters riding on a cable car. I’m not sure I gave much thought to actually riding on a cable car. I can’t say it’s something that was on my bucket list–that would make a much better story though.
I’ve been to San Francisco a few times before with my daughters. The line was always very long for the cable car, and there were other things to do. The Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, the Harbor tour. Those were all great adventures. This trip though, I was a woman on a mission. I wanted to ride a cable car.
My hotel is located in the Union Station area. A hopping, busy part of town, and I opted not to have a rental car. Parking is a hassle, driving is a challenge so I found a boutique hotel just 4 blocks (UPHILL) from where I will be working this week. The cable car starts at the bottom of the hill just 2 blocks from my hotel. How cool is that?
So I bought a two way ticket and hopped on the cable car to head up the hill. I sat in the enclosed section of the cable car, out of the weather, out of the wind. Yeah, the wussy way for sure. It was nice, a great experience, I could feel myself smiling. There were lots of stops, a longer pause at the top of Lombard Street. I was delighted that the cable car ride ended at Fisherman’s Wharf.
I walked around the familiar places, I found my postcards and magnet for the week and bought some fun souveniers for a friend. I was looking forward to my cable car ride home. The line drug on forever. While waiting in line there was a singer, playing, telling jokes, mostly to himself and I was chuckling. Almost as much as I chuckled at the homeless guy with the Mc Donald’s cup panhandling.
“My wife has been kidnapped, I need 25 cents to get her back.”
That struck me as so funny.
Finally I made my way to the front of the line. I had zipped up my raincoat against the wind. I had made up my mind that I was going to ride the cable car the way I had always imagined. Hanging onto the side for dear life. I made my way to the far side of the cable car, and there were people seated, but no one standing on the side yet. You know, I took that as a confirmation that I was meant to do this.
There were two ladies sitting down, I struck up a conversation with them. There was a chance I might be sitting on their laps before this ride was over. The one lady, probably late 20′s, early 30′s, was going to stand at the front and hold onto the side. A few people came up to take the spot and she waved them off, it was her spot.
Then….she chickened out and sat down. Two tiny Asian girls jumped up in her spot and she kept rationalizing that she had the front seat, she was happy with that. Me? I held on for dear life, but had such a fun time. I cracked up laughing when the two Asian girls yelled Yee Haw! as we raced down a hill. It was a moment that I will take with me as one of those…”Yeah I did that” kind of things. I was so proud of myself.
As we got toward the end of the ride it was flat for the last 3 blocks. No hills, no curves, so I encouraged the girl that chickened out to stand up, if only for a few blocks. Just so she could say that she had hung off the side of the cable car. She wasn’t sure at first, but finally gave into the pressure. She loved it.
What a rush…..
It was a great office, they worked hard and I believe it was a great experience for us all. When my week ended, I began to spend time with friends. On Thursday night I had dinner at The Franciscan, a touristy type restaurant at Fisherman’s Wharf, I had a great grilled shrimp menu, and proudly wore a bib to keep the butter from splashing all over my shirt. A red headed floozy–drink, with no food made the start to the dinner a bit giggly. Perhaps it was the company that brought out the giggles in me?
Friday morning I picked up my rental car and drove to Berkeley to connect with another friend. What fun it was to see his corner of the world and to have a tour of the preschool that he is a chef for. Kids are kids, and they made me smile, I loved their energy and enthusiasm. I was treated to a fabulous lunch cooked by my favorite chef, and we shared lots of huggin’ the stuffin’ hugs and I <3 you’s. While searching for a place to park, I found a great scrapbook store and picked up a few things. You know I have this whole art journal/doodle obsession happening right now. I got out of there as quickly as possible, with a bag full of new things to try.
Friday afternoon I headed to Oakland to spend some time with my oldest daughter. One of the plusses to this job that it sometimes puts me in a location to spend time with both family and friends. My daughter and I headed to a late lunch at the Grand Tavern. I opted for chocolate cake, I had already had lunch. Our next stop was Habana’s Cuban Cuisine in Alameda. Oh my word they had the BEST mojitos. I had a watermelon mojito and the bartender made a big deal out of telling me that *just for me* he was going to use Midori. I was feeling pretty *happy* at this point in the day and we headed to the Pacific Pinball Museum.
My visions of the Pinball Museum were that we would go there, look at some old pinball machines and that would be it. I was DELIGHTED to find out that we were going to be able to actually play pinball. They have rooms there, based on the age of the machines. They also have juke boxes in each section playing music from the times. What great fun it was and it was interesting to see the evolution of the pinball machine. In the early days, the scoring was much lower..as you moved through the decades, the scores became higher, and there was a bumper added between the flippers so you had more of a chance to not roll a pinball gutter ball. The $15 for the price of admission was really a small price to pay for so much fun.
For dinner that night we went to the Chop Bar and connected up with one of my daughter’s coworkers. The food was yummy and the next stop on the itinerary was the *slanty bar*, also known as Heinhold’s First and Last Chance. We call it the slanty bar because the bar slants down. We had a table in the corner, and it was great people watching. My business card was added to the collection of 100′s that adorned the walls of this tiny place. There was even some dance talk as my daughter’s friend and I talked East Coast Swing and dance lessons. One would think that would be enough excitement for the evening, but we had one more stop, the tiki bar. Oh my, the last time I was there—I was extremely happy. It’s a fun place, and there were lots of giggles involved. I was driven back to the hotel where I collapsed–waking up in the middle of the night to take a few Advil.
On Saturday, I woke up to pouring rain. It was going to be a soggy visit to Sonoma. Meh, no matter, it was about the company and the location, not the weather. I picked up my daughter and we headed to Lynn & Lu’s Excapade Cafe. It’s a tiny hole in the wall place, with not that many tables. We sat at a table next to another mother and daughter. Several times during breakfast, our conversations tangled up together and we laughed and had such a good time. At one point I had to stop myself when I started to say, “Giirrrrrrllllll, I know just what you mean!”
A trip to Piedmont Street would not be complete without a visit to the Oakland Mountain View Cemetery. Perhaps I should be unsettled that my daughter wants to take me to a cemetery when I visit. But it is an incredibly beautiful old cemetery, with all sorts of scenic vistas. The tulips were in full bloom. Next stop, the Jelly Belly Factory! I love Jelly Belly jelly beans. Juicy pear is my favorite jelly belly and to see the place where they are made was more fun than I anticipated. From the funny hat that we wore on the tour, to the samples of jelly beans that we had through the tour. The plant was not in operation since it was a Saturday, but it still was an cool experience.
The weather started to clear up a bit as we made our way north to Sonoma. We were going to do a few wine tastings and made a first stop at the Jacuzzi Winery and then the Cline Winery. It was great to sit on the front porch, sharing a bottle of wine and talking about life, the past, and the future. It’s for sure a memory that will forever stay with me. It was a little chilly, but we were out of the wind. The rain had stopped, it was a great view, and it just felt great to sit and experience the moment.
The final stop of the day was the Lagunitas Brewing Company. It was a noisy, fun environment and we had dinner there. I tried to wuss out and order a coke, my companions would have nothing of it and suggested the PILS IPA. I’m not much of a beer drinker, and somehow I managed to have the biggest glass of beer. They had baskets of peanuts in the shell and pretzels. We, ok I, thought that we were to toss the peanut shells on the floor. When we finished up the peanuts, the waitress picked up a can that was SUPPOSED to be for the shells and dumped it to find absolutely nothing there. We had quite a mess on the floor surrounding us, and it made us all giggle. The deep conversation from the front porch of the winery continued. We made our way back to Oakland, and I’m not sure about my companions, but I was smiling on the way home, and giggling at the continued conversation. It’s interesting how we remember things differently from the growing up years.
On Sunday I packed up and made my last stop of this trip and had lunch with two dear friends at the Hola Mexican Restaurant. Lots of laughter, lots of hugs, and lots of memories and plans for the next time we can find some time to get together. I also got to spend a little time with two of my favorite ear licking dogs who were delighted to see me again. I dropped off the rental car, made my way to the airport to make my way back to Dallas.
As I was walking to work along side the cable car track one day I looked around at the skyscrapers, and the view and was in awe of my life. Never would I have expected my life to be anything like it is today. It continues to evolve and to change, and I’m thankful for all of the wonderful things that are constantly being added to my life. Being with my daughter also reminded me of the wonderful years I had with them growing up. I was a good mom, they were great kids, and it makes me smile to see the adults that they have grown up to be.
I continue to be grateful for all that I have and I know that my life is filled with an abundance of so many wonderful friends, experiences, family and good things. A piece of my heart will forever be in San Francisco.
“No city invites the heart to come to life as San Francisco does. Arrival in San Francisco is an experience in living. “ (William Saroyan)
Arizona – Apache Trail & More
24 Mar 2012 Leave a Comment
Arizona – Apache Trail & More, a set on Flickr.
