San Francisco Whirlwind

The weekend before Thanksgiving, Shark Bait and I took a whirlwind trip to San Francisco to see my brother T. He was going to drive to Phoenix for Thanksgiving and wanted a road trip buddy. I LOVE road trips, so he flew me up to see him for 36 hours, then the Monday before Thanksgiving we made the 12, turned 17, hour drive to my house. 

The flight to SF was uneventful. Shark Bait was a dream travel partner, as always. We were both excited to land and see T and meet his new puppy, a 10 week old Newfie named Horatio. Horatio and Shark Bait became fast friends and spent a lot of time together in the back seat of T's car over the next few days. 

When we first arrived, T told me he was going to take me to my favourite place. Having never been to SF before, I wasn't quite sure what he meant, so I jokingly said "the temple!". He grinned and told me that yes, he was going to take me to see the Oakland temple. We went by his work first so he could show me around and we could get a picture of Shark Bait in the Hyrule Kingdom (aka- Link) room. We then went out for real ramen. I have always equated ramen to the 10 cent noodle packs you buy at the grocery store. I was pleasantly surprised to find that actual ramen is much tastier. Then it was time for the temple! Shark Bait and I wandered the grounds and enjoyed the beautiful view of the city below. We touched the Oakland temple and took a picture to show the other kiddos. We then went to Alameda for some Tuckers ice cream. Eggnog for T and butter pecan for me, after which we headed to T's apartment where he spoiled Shark Bait with pressies from his recent trip to England and we binge watched iZombie. 

Sunday morning T walked Shark Bait and I to church where I really enjoyed the Sacrament service I attended. One speaker in particular really struck a cord with me. He talked about the importance of discipleship and how it is often said that we are the average of the 5 people we spend the most time with. I completely expected him to say that we need to be spending enough time with Heavenly Father and Jesus to include Them in that average. Instead, he talked about surrounding ourselves with good people who help lift us up. Definitely an important concept, but what I took away from the talk was the importance of spending as much time as possible with my Heavenly Father and His Son, so that I can be as much like them as possible. 

After church, T showed me around town. He took me to see the Golden Gate Bridge (which Shark Bait slept through!) and we had Gorilla Barbecue for lunch. It was amazing. The best barbecue I've ever had, and I make some pretty darn good barbecue myself. I'm dying to eat there again. Then we drove along the coast a bit and stopped in Half Moon Bay to watch the sun begin to set. We ran a couple of errands on the way home to be sure we were ready to leave the next day, then ate pizza for dinner and watched... you got it, more iZombie. And Shark Bait continued to be his usual, happy self the entire time. Especially when I let him sit up like a big boy in his stroller. 

Monday morning we set out on our epic road trip.  We said goodbye to T's cute street with all it's historic houses and got the boys comfy in the back seat. The drive should typically take about 12 hours, but we stretched it out to a nice 17. We stopped about an hour out and had lunch with some old friends of mine who had moved home to the Bay Area after living in Phoenix for several years for school. It was so nice to catch up with them a bit. Then we hit the LA traffic and stopped for dinner in Pasadena. Never mind all the stops for Horatio to go potty or Shark Bait to eat. Lesson learned- driving with a new puppy and a small infant really adds to the travel time! But regardless of all the stops, we had a great trip and I loved the chance to spend time with my brother and talk his ear off for 17 hours straight! I had an absolutely lovely visit with him and would do it again in a heart beat.