{I left my heart in .......}

Leaving SLC at 9:00 am, Saturday morning with the Big Red Dodge and our travel trailer full, WE WERE READY for a weeks worth of living.......

Our first stop:

RENO NEVADA BABY!!!!!!!

We were hoping to get there in enough time to experience the

"Hot August Nights" car show.

If you've never heard of it.....well, it's a big deal with classic car enthusiasts around the world.

We just happened to pull into town at the exact time and place to watch the street drag.

I mostly watched these people who were perched on their apartment balcony.

I'm pretty sure I witnessed a drug deal.

Regardless, the dude with the mullet was straight out of the 80's and the chick with the white glasses, had a visor with Winnie the Pooh on the brim.

Tweeky Tweeky!

This patriotic traffic controller took his job VERY seriously!!!

To the point that Randy and I would watch, hoping to see drivers go the wrong way.......this would get  "Uncle Sam's" flagpants a jumpin with anxiety!

We left the drags with an exhaust headache and wondering how we could bring the old Green Dodge Power-wagon to show off next year!

We lucked out to find a fabulous RV resort at the Grand Sierra Hotel and Casino.  We dropped the trailer and made our way into the heart of Reno and gave the kids a night of fun at Circus Circus.

4 hours, 29 games, a bag of stuffed animals and $100 later....

we called it a night.

Sunday, we took a day trip in to see Lake Tahoe

The boys immediately ran to the water and started making sand tunnels

River and Randy found that fishing for huge ass crawdads with hot dogs was super fun.

Jax found that fishing for girls was even more fun :)

The scenery is breath taking and more beautiful than I could have ever imagined.

Monday was what I was personally looking forward to.

San Francisco!!!!

The bay area

Frisco

San Fran

The Sco'

The Fog City

The city by the bay

San Franpsycho

The Golden Gate City

What ever you call it.....

This place truly holds my heart until my next return.

That was the agreement between me and my friend Frisco :)

The 3 pics above are taken as we were coming into the city from the freeway.

The San Francisco RV resort was very expensive @ $85/night.

I don't know if it was costly because it was California, or because we were right near the water.

I would have paid an extra $300 to get me some dry warm weather!!!!

The temps were on average, 52 degrees.

But with the mist from the ocean and wind gusts, I was shaking with goose eggs on my skin most of the time.

We stayed Monday and Tuesday night.  Our camping neighbors were friendly, liked to drink beer and had some great Canadian stories.

(They were freaking out by the cost of a case of Bud Light in the U.S. $18........Canada $45.

Let's just say they stocked up!)

We also walked for coffee and bagels each morning and in the evening we had fresh hand-dipped fish-n-chips and Newcastle beer from a small shop/shack around the corner.

Made me feel like a local :)

BTW:  This weather was only outside of the city....I think all of the skyscrapers block the winds to the inner streets.

The very helpful RV front office man recommended that we take the BART (subway) into the city.

Most parking garages in the city are $20+/day and the vehicle has to be 6'7" or under.

Big Red Dodge was NOT going to fit in SanFran!

Their public transportation system is smooth, cheap, and easy to figure out.

I can understand why most people don't even own a car!

The subway wasn't scary or stinky.....

I was pretty relaxed and enjoying the experience.

THAT IS UNTIL............

Randy had to hold up the front page of this paper for me to read!!!!!

Ok.....I started looking for my mace!

The BART let us off downtown in the heart of the City.

I was overwhelmed with palpitations and happy hands.

My eyes couldn't focus fast enough for all of the sights and information I was expecting them to take in.

These art-hearts were throughout the city....all decorated differently.

They are the appropriate symbol to describe what takes over your soul.

San Francisco truly is the city of love, acceptance, diversity, humanity and individuality.

If I could create a city from my own mind, soul, and hands......

This is what it would look like.

We took a coffee break and people watched for a bit.

The boys felt so grown up and sophisticated.....

just look at Jax's posed crossed legs! LOL!!!

China Town

We walked the ENTIRE length!

Up and down!

I needed about another 2 days just in C.T.

Loved the shops

Loved the people

Riv needed a picture with his genetic ancestors.

I see so much resemblance.

AHHHHHHH SOOOOOOOO!!!!

I think they called this the POO POO PLATTER!!

No really, it's some kind of mutant mushroom.

Bluhck!!!

When do you ever see these?!?!?!?!

Just so nostalgic cool!

These are recycle trucks.

California is BIG TIME into recycling

YO YO YO

((pumping fists))

Good for them!!!  We all should be!

The ironically awesome part, is that the trucks are recycled U-Haul trucks!!!!

 They ALL have graffiti on the sides as if the art was of purpose for the city.

Beautiful!!!!!

The famous Lombard Street.

Loooooong and narrow and very winding.

We made it to the Fisherman's Wharf.

Starting on pier 39.

That is Alcatraz that you see behind us.

The tickets to get on the tour of Alcatraz was 3 weeks booked out.

FYI: Plan that one wayyyyyy in advance!

Jax was amuzed throughout the entire wharf-walk by feeding the birds pieces of cracker and bread.

I'm pretty sure we had a trail of pigeons and seagulls that followed us all the way back to the BART!!!

We were able to watch the bakers make the famous sour dough bread.

Clam chowder in a sour dough bread bowl is a popular treat for $5.

The street performers were the best I've seen.

The boys were drawn to the "Indiana Jones" character.

River's trip would NOT have been complete without a stop at the Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum.

We bought the combo pass which also got us into the mirror maze.

I Highly recommend the mirror maze for children.

Highly NOT recommended for adults or anyone who gets motion sickness, or claustrophobic, or fear of being lost forever.

We finally found Randy's long lost Aunt Lipper....originally from Holland, now residing on the wharf near the ducks.

hee hee!

This unknown creature was in the museum under 

"LOUDEST MOUTH BREATHER SLEEPER SNORER"

And this Ripley's mold was probably my favorite piece.....

I can't put my finger on why it was my fav, but i'm pretty sure this guy has big hands and feet too ;)

Randy so badly wanted to buy me one of these shirts.

I said no.

Then I found this one and said yes :)

Wednesday morning we had a couple of hours before we needed to get the trailer out of the resort, so we drove to the Golden Gate Bridge.

#2 on my "best part of vacation" list

(BTW: San Francisco...the City, #1)

A-MAZ-ING!!!!!!!

Yes, it was as cold as it looked!!!

We walked about 80% of it.

Driving it wouldn't have been as majestic or memorable.

We watched dolphins jump, sea lions dive and a dumb ass on a jet ski ride in shark infested freezing water.

There is something very eerie/weird/non real about seeing these signs throughout the bridge's beams.

Then you see this sign next to it......

Isn't life so beautifully twisted???

Bye, bye my Frisco love.....

I will be back to fetch my heart.

We had heard great things about Napa from friends and the "Sex and the City" episodes.

We pulled in to the quaint small town.

Had a good lunch, walked the entire town, and found that this wasn't a place for us to plant our hitch for the night.

Not kid friendly and really unless you are a major wine connoisseur, there isn't much here.

I was disappointed.......

I did enjoy seeing the beautiful vineyards for miles....

and they had great advertising!

Picture was in a jewelery store window.

It says:

Because every woman deserves studs.

We drove into Vacaville and stayed at a nice RV camp Wednesday eve.  This is where we realized that the sea salt air in San Fran had rusted all of the metal on our trailer and all of the bolts and chains on our beaten* bikes.

*Our poor bikes rode the entire way on the back of the trailer sitting on a bike rack.  The movements and bouncing from driving made the straps rub paint off and scarred up the metal :(

On Thursday, our morning adventure was planned for the Jelly Belly Factory located in Fairfield which is about 15 miles from Vacaville.

The kids were bouncing in the truck with excitement.

You would have thought they had already swallowed hand fulls of sugar and were going to see some kind of national treasure.

I guess to a kid......this factory is a treasure!

The 40 minute tour had a "wait" line of 3 hours!!!!

Who knew that this was so popular???!?

We opted NOT to do the tour, but to let the boys roam as they pleased through the mass store and get what ever kind of jelly belly's they wanted.

I was relieved that they didn't pick the flavors:

booger

canned dog food

grass

pencil shavings

barf

skunk spray

YUCK!!!!!!

We had been given a brochure about the "Old Town" of Sacramento.

Between the nostalgic feel and the train museum, we knew this was a stopping place.

The drawbridge was different....

It didn't split and open freely to the water in the middle.

It raised up and down according to the height of the boat passing under.

We had the best lunch near the water at a place called the Rio Diner........I was already falling for Sacramento!

The town was historic and pioneer like with wood planked walks, old time creameries, and bulk candy stores.

Our last stop through the town was to the Railroad Museum.

This holds all of the history regarding the Trans-Continental Railway.

This was extremely fun and educational.  They had a variety of  trains that you could walk through and see the inner workings.  My favorite was the dining car.  It had all of the railway china used from every decade along with the menus and prices.

That night (Thursday) we headed back to stay at our favorite  RV Resort in Reno.

(River 6 months old) 

AND....

Since my baby's 12th birthday was on that Friday the 13th,

 We let him decide what the events of that day would be.

He chose to spend his birthday at the beach!!!!!

The fantastically fun swim pool at the resort.

They have cabanas and sand and volleyball courts and a tiki hut full of refreshing drinks!!! YUM!

Jax spent his own money to buy Riv this dolphin to play with.

They tortured this sad porpoise for hours!

Using him as a tornado bullet launching through the sky....

trying to ride him double.....

trying to sink him to the bottom....

and many other wild and crazy things boys can think of in the name of destruction!

For lunch, we ordered in a pizza.

Riv went to the Tiki Hut to get a pitcher of water and ended up making friends with the employees...next thing I know, there are Tiki workers all over walking around wishing him a Happy Birthday!!!!

He's so damn cute like that!

And of course, who can say no to these overpriced HUGE snow cones when you've got faces like this staring at you????

I had to experience the dolphin for myself......

somethin' about riding dolphins in my flippy floppy's that sends chills up my spine!!!!!

Yee haw my little bottle nose!!!!

The waitress for Riv's birthday dinner was an Asian Spit-fire!!!!

Her first words were, "Hey babies, what can I get ya?" with a wink to close the question.

Once we told her it was Riv's birthday, she did a squeal and had a gittyup in her step.

After dinner she came out with this piece of "to-die-for" carrot cake with the candle lit.

She brought the restaurant to attention by yelling,

"Hey everyone!!!  It's this young man's birthday today.  You all ARE going to wish him a Happy Birthday by singing with us!"

Everyone laughed and cheered......

and then we sang.......

I sang with a frog in my throat and tears streaming down the corner of my eyes.

Feeling so much love for my family...

Feeling so much love from strangers.

We ended the evening with many buckets of balls being whacked to mini islands in a man made pond.

Riv said he couldn't have asked for anything more.

~~~~~~~~~~

Saturday morning we started our ride back home.  It was a long day and we made it home around 9:30 pm.

Isn't always nice to be back in your bed, shower in your shower, have the familiar surroundings?

That's what I have thought prior to this trip.

I could have gone another week without a homesick bone in my body.......it was THAT good!

It helped that I didn't feel the need to put a tire iron through Jax's head :)

And that my young menz are still child like enough to want a balloon from the chick in a bear costume at the breakfast place!!!!!

I just want to wrap them, this trip, and these moments in cocoon and

secretly revisit the feeling frequently.

I hope you too have a summer that you can say that about.

Life is short......Live it Large

xoxo