3 posts tagged “fun”

Ok, so I would hope that many of us DO have friends like this!  Afterall, Christians are referred to as a "peculiar people."  I just LOVE this video

Thanks to my friend Agent Adam... this guy never ceases to amaze me.  I got a copy of this off of his blog. 

He he... I just had to try this, as I was influenced to do so by my sister-in-law's blog. 

Anniversary Kiss 2.JPG

1 comment

Hello All,

In a previous post, I mentioned that my wife and I just celebrated out Anniversary with a short trip to San Francisco.  Since it was such a good time, I thought I'd go ahead and share about it here. 

We were married on Saturday, May 19th, 2001, and so this past May 19th was our 6th Anniversary.  We really weren't sure what we were going to do, right up to the night before our trip.  It was Thursday night, and just before going to bed, we decided to get on Priceline.com and see if we could find a good deal in San Francisco for a hotel room.  Charlotte had been trying different places for around $50 (San Fran, Foothills, Tahoe, anything cool), but wasn't having any luck.  Well, as it turns out, we upped the ante and went to $70 and landed a room at a Boutique Hotel in San Francisco.  It was small, but it was pretty!  We stayed at the Harbor Court Hotel off of the Embarcadero.  Very nice. 

Anyway, I left work early on Friday (the 18th) we packed up and headed out.  Yes, we got babysitters.  Thank God for the Grandparents!!!  Charlotte read "The Silmarillion" outloud in the car as we drove.  We also listened to some new worship music that I bought her as an anniversary gift.  She was quite happy with the selections.  :)  As we started approaching the City, I got my typical "This place is the embodiment of The Scarlet Woman in Revelations" feeling and began musing on that.  But, my wife pointed out that I always do that when we go there, and that she didn't want to have negative feelings while we were on our trip.  I quickly shifted my thoughts and decided this wasn't the time to dwell on the negative aspects of humanity.  For goodness sake, it's our Anniversary.  I could deal with those feelings another time.  So, anyway, we continued on our way.  We passed through the toll booth and then crossed the Bay Bridge (that's always fun for me) and just relished the views coming into the City.  I love the tall buildings.  I think it's a guy thing, I don't know. 

Surprisingly enough, we found the hotel without TOO many U-Turns and city-block circlings.  We arrived and they kindly parked our car for us for our stay at their hotel.  Of course, as we walked inside, we then saw the sign that mentioned a $38 Valet Parking fee.  It felt more like a parking TICKET than a Valet.  But, we then found out that we were able to leave it overnight, and that we could leave it there all day the next day while we did what we wanted.  Ok, so the car was parked safely and we didn't have to worry about the whole parking thing for the rest of our trip.  We decided to feel that would be acceptable (even though the fee was about 1/2 of the whole ROOM cost!  Sheesh).

Snuggling Time.JPG

We got into our room, got changed into warmer clothes and then hit the pavement.  We walked all the way up The Embarcadero from Pier 1 to Pier 39 and then Fisherman's Wharf.  We got to see a lot of beautiful buildings along the way, lots of well-dressed "city" people going out for the evening, and of course just the fun of San Francisco in general.  We looked in shops and for different places to eat.  We finally landed at Boudin off of Fisherman's Wharf.  I had a clam chowder in a breadbowl with a sandwich, and Charlotte did a similar plate, but with chili (she hates all seafood except canned tuna).

Boudin Bakery Shelves.JPG

We then walked around a bit more, and then decided to get dessert at The Hard Rock Cafe on Pier 39.  THAT was yummy.  We had a peanut butter crunch with ice cream sorta thing.  AND Charlotte had her first alcoholic drink in 5 years.  Child-bearing years can put a hold on consumption of any alcoholic beverages.  She ordered a Khalua Colada, and it was yummy.  Yes, I had to taste it!  After that, we walked back to the hotel, taking our time and enjoying the night views.  It was a wonderful evening

Mike views Financial District.JPG

Next morning, Charlotte went swimming at the pool while I got ready.  Then, while she was getting ready, I went and got a few breakfast sandwiches and coffee from a nearby Starbucks.  I used my handy-dandy sling pack for the day, to carry the few things we needed (digital camera, water bottles, extra layers of clothing if needed, etc.).  Charlotte and I had bought a couple of sling packs right after we got married, but we rarely used them after that first year of marriage.  However, I noticed that many S.F.'ers used either sling packs or messenger bags while walking around the city.  With that much of a pedestrian culture, it only made sense.  Therefore, I felt like a local, walking all over town utilizing the handiness of my sling pack.  I felt so Metro. 

*Update 06-06-07*

Financial District Building 3.JPG

Sorry, it's taken so long for me to finish this post!  Anyway, we walked all over, enjoying the city and checking on little bits of history here and there.  We mostly walked around the Financial district, the Union Square area,

Steps of Rome - Charlotte.jpg

through China Town (I don't care for it much), and then North Beach.  We had lunch at "The Steps of Rome", which was yummy.  I had a cup of caramel macchiato.  This was NOT the Starbucks version:  it was a small cup of double-shot espresso with caramel and cream.  Intense and yummy. 

Then we got some incredible pastries in North Beach andfinished our walk over to the Wharf and then Ghirardelli Square.  We got ourselves a couple of Ghirardelli Mochas, had them with our pastries (SHHHHHHUGAAAAAH!), and then mosied down to the beach.  Charlotte had some fun playing on the beach while I just sat up on the concrete 'stadium' overlooking the bay and took photos.  Then we went back to the Embarcadero and had dinner at our favorite:  Il Fornaio.  It was a lovely dinner and we just enjoyed musing over our time in San Francisco.  After dinner, we drove home... and had a little Starbucks on the way (of course).

And now you know... the REST of the story.  :)  Here are a few more photos of our trip...