What’s up Dude??

Last week we loaded up and headed south for a trip to see my parents who were in Napa, CA for a business trip for my dad. We left Tuesday midmorning and did the whole 14 hr trip in one shot. The girls were awesome the whole way!

We explored Napa our first day there and enjoyed the absolutely beautiful country. It was relaxing just to look around and see the huge sky, mountains and beautiful fields and vineyards. We even did a little bit of wine tasting that first night and we learned a lot about the process and flavors!  I have a new appreciation for it, especially since I thought all red wines tasted like I sucked on the dry stuff of a banana peel and then threw pepper into the back of my throat. I even found some reds that I really LIKED, not tolerated. And I even got to celebrate my birthday with my folks since we won’t be going home for Thanksgiving this year.

Napa and the surrounding area is full of cute little towns with amazing little delicatessens and shops, so we enjoyed exploring. We hit Sausalito, which is a town on the water that has a lot of house boats. Not houseboats, but houses that float. That was really neat to see as well. Of course we enjoyed the amazing Inn and Out Burgers (Hannah Gray can DOWN a thick milkshake like it’s no one’s business, so you have to protect your shake or it could be gone. Then she gives you these little puppy dog eyes and says, “pahlease?” Too stinkin’ cute).

Then on Friday we drove to San Francisco to spend the day. We did the whole thing- rode a trolley car (which Hannah Gray kept calling a train) and she LOVED it. We even had those great seats on the outside up near the front. We went to the wharf and saw lots of HUGE sea lions that were very active which HG thought was hilarious. There was a little boardwalk type of area that an old fashioned carousel complete with seals to ride on. We did that and she didn’t understand that when it stopped moving we had to get off. This was the first carousel ride that she really, really liked and didn’t get scared of. Mimi and Grandpa bought HG a little sea lion that barks that she named Frisco and has slept with her every night since. We just had a great time all around. The girls loved the time with Mimi and Grandpa and HG is still talking about our time together. In fact, she keeps picking up the phone to call either Mimi or Grandpa and talks about our trip together.

Thanks so much for inviting us down to join you on your trip. We had a blast!