San Francisco

As part of a yearly time-share thinga-mabob, Ryan's family invited us on a vacation to San Francisco. I'd never been outside that airport and since it would be over our 2nd anniversary, we thought it'd be a great excuse to get away for a week. To be honest, with the thought of leaving our 3-month-old, as well as subsequent days of crying spouts and thoughts of the most assured psychological harm I would be causing my son, (Obsessive worrying comes with the mantel of motherhood, right? :) ) I almost didn't go and even looked at plane tickets half way through the trip. But with enough reassurance from my loving husband and Grandma and Grandpa Herd who would tend our little son, I decided to go (stay :)) and try and have some fun...and we did!

I really do love Ryan...it was just really cold on the bay at night! :)

Ryan at UC Berkley. When I flew in later that day, I told him ironically what happened on the plane. The girl sitting next to me said I looked like I went to Berkley. Hmm, little did she know that I'm a regular listener of Rush Limba!

Six Flags: Even though the wait was an hour long, this ride was worth it!

Chinatown! This place is huge; we didn't even see half of it. But I did walk out with a sweet pot sticker press that my sweety bought me. :)

"Can I take your picha?"

Sea Lions at Pier 39. These guys' whole day consists of sleeping on the pier and literally fighting for the best spots. It was comical to watch these 800 lb blubbers push each other around and off into the water.

The famous Boudin Sourdough Bakery. They had this big window where you could watch the masters at work...I was in heaven!

Ghirardelli Square...Oh my goodness is all I can say. :)

Ry luvs long walks on the beach :)

One of the funnest things we did on our trip was to rent a tandem bike and peddle the Golden Gate Bridge and it's surrounding areas. Here we are with Alcatraz in the background.

ALCATRAZ! This was definitely a highlight of the trip. The tour was given by actual wardens and inmates of this once maximum-security prison.

JELLY BELLY FACTORY! I was seriously like a kid in a candy store. (I kinda was in a candy store now that I think about it :)) And for all of you kids, young and old who are fans of Harry Potter's Berty Botts every flavor beans: they've expanded their repertoire of vomit, grass, and dirt to flavors like rotten egg & skunk spray (and yes, I tried them both! blaaah!)


This artistic piece of "Aaaanold" (sorry about the glare) is made with 100% Jelly Belly's...crazy the time people have on their hands.

We took a day trip to the redwoods and WOW, HUUUUGGE! Yes, that's a single tree behind us. We were both looking at the top of the tree when the photo was shot but because of the lighting it looks like our own little sacred grove experience or something. (sorry, that was probably a little 'sacrilege') :)

Just to give you a sense at how big the redwoods are...this one was taken from inside the tree. There was a hole in the trunk large enough for us to crawl in. We were standing up straight and accompanied by five of Ryan's cousins as well.

Not only are they tall but these things are oooold as well. Ryan and I were joking around and figured that the timing works out, give or take, that Moroni could have planted some of these redwoods.

Our condo was actually located an hour north of San Francisco, in the middle of wine country. On our last day we decided to take a tour of the Korbel winery. (Don't worry, we had white grape juice normally reserved for the kids during the wine tasting portion of the tour. :))

Ryan's mom (on the left) and aunt Lyn acting a bit tipsy at the wine tasting :) I would be too if I just spent $800 on a bottle of sparkling champagne!