This visit deserves it's own post it was so awesome.
She was here for 5 days and with out my California native husband in town I actually pulled off getting around to the beach and around San Fran to see the sites.
Day 1- San Jose: Went to the mission Church in Santa Clara, Mission Field Nasa Center, and walked Luka to local lake park. Stayed on the alkaline diet I had been doing prior to her visit for most of the day, but indulged in some frozen yogurt. I love love love self serve frozen yogurt and swear Cali has more of them then coffee places. There are at least 6 within 1.5 miles of me and the one just next door is my favorite. It's called "Sweet Sundaes" and they have a great selection of toppings with good quality fruit and the best cookie dough. We also ate tofu tacos and sea bass in olive oil sauce with broccoli.
Day 2 - Monterey, Carmel, and Moss Landing. Made waffles for breakfast, drove to Monterey for the aquarium and went to Ghiradelli chocolate. Then we headed down to Carmel to see the beautiful coast, have snack on the beach, saw the pretty architecture in that town, and that mission as well which we got into for free because it was Sunday! We stopped in Moss Landing per a great family friend's recommendation for a place called Phil's Fish Market and had some great clam chowder before heading up highway 1 and home.
At the Monterey Bay Aquarium
Carmel Beach
Day 3- Santa Cruz- I had a half day of work followed by us driving out to Santa Cruz (with some In and Out on the way!) and doing a whirlwind there too. From seeing the surfers and a rather tiny surf museum to Natural Bridges state beach, to a coast hike (and getting caught with Luka on a path she was NOT allowed on by a very nice ranger thank goodness), to kayaking on the open ocean where we saw sea lions, sea otters, and surfers in their natural habitat. We also made a new friend named Dave at the kayak place. He gave us the family discount for the kayaks, which was lucky because it's normally expensive and thanks to me being paranoid about the meter on the car we didn't get to stay out for long. We also wore these fabulous smurf outfits to stay dry. We tried to go on the boardwalk but it must have been closed for the season so we headed downtown where we did not find many gift shops as hoped, but I found an awesome olive oil shop and got some great Cali Olive Oil. Mischa made fun of my for calling it's flavor "sassy". The ladies at the shop called said "oh you like the spicy kind", and um, I definitely wouldn't call it spicy, sassy describes it better, come over and taste it and I'll prove it.
Natural Bridges
Kayaking off the wharf
Day 4 San Francisco- We headed out early with some Jamba Juice to see my adorable and wonderful Aunt Biff in her place in San Fran. Took in her beautiful artwork and the roof view then headed out to the Golden Gate Bridge and Marin Headlands. After this we were starving and picked up Biff for some Sushi (mmmmm!). We then drove through some neat neighborhoods, down a super steep hill, past the windiest road - Lombardi Street, and headed to Pier 39 for a while. After wards we drove through little Italy area, Chinatown, downtown, and ended the day by checking out the ferry building before heading home and making tofu tuna burgers!
Day 5 Exhausted in San Jose- Um, we wore ourselves out! So we slept, walked, painted outside, and got more frozen yogurt before Mischa headed back to Denver and I had to stop playing hookie from work. ):
It was a week jam packed of stuff to do! Mischa and I also played plenty of our favorite card game together (like two old ladies and she kicked my butt), enjoyed some movies, fashion/gossip magazines, and had some really great girl time and catching up! Miss her and can't wait to visit her in Denver this summer!
