Long overdue post...

Hey everyone,

I know it has been a really long time since I posted last. I have promised to tell you all about our "mystery trip". Some time ago, I set up a vacation for us to celebrate Dwaine's 50th birthday. He knew that we were going but he had no idea where we were going. I even packed his suitcase for him. We got up to leave very early on the morning of Nov. 8 and headed to Kansas City to the airport. When we checked our bags, the lady at the ticket counter asked us where we were going and of course I had to tell her. That's when Dwaine found out that we were headed to San Francisco. I had planned on staying there a couple of days and then driving up to Napa valley to stay at a B&B there. We rented a car also and my brother let me borrow his GPS. Let me just make a side note here. That thing is the best device EVER created for mankind!!! I LOVE IT!!


Anyway, we stayed at the Holiday Inn at Fisherman's Wharf. It was a great hotel and right on the wharf. San Francisco is small enough that you can walk pretty much anywhere which is what we did. The first day we wandered around the wharf and went to Ghiradelli Square. We walked through Little Italy and up to China Town. We walked all the way through China town to the main gate.

Notice the street signs are even written in Chinese.

The next day we had a tour scheduled that would show us the sights of San Francisco. First stop was the Golden Gate Bridge.

That was the main highlight of course. We also saw China Town again and got some history behind the cable cars and the street cars they use for transportation still. The cable cars are of course infamous but the street cars are antique and from all different parts of the world. One street car we saw was from Italy, another from Philadelphia and another from Switzerland. We saw the "painted ladies" which are a row of Victorian style homes that you see in just about every postcard. They were also featured in the television series "Full House". We saw the house where some members of the band "The Grateful Dead" lived and made some of their music. We went up to the highest point of San Francisco which is called Twin Peaks and saw the entire city from there.

After our tour, we did a little sight seeing on our own. We strolled back through China town and got some lunch. We had our first experience eating dim sum. This is a type of Chinese dish that is like a dumpling filled with different things. For example, we had some that was filled with shrimp, rice and vegetables. Another was filled with salmon and another was filled with pork and vegetables. Very, very tasty.

Dwaine has become quite the expert with chopsticks!

After lunch, we went to ride on a cable car. We first went through the cable car barn where all of the cable cars are kept and where the cables all come together under the street. It is a very interesting operation. Here is a picture of the huge wheels that power the cable cars.

That evening, we met my aunt and uncle and my little cousin who live in San Francisco and they took us out for a wonderful dinner at a place called Tadich's. It is supposedly the oldest restaurant in San Francisco. It was a great time and my aunt baked an apple pie for Dwaine to help celebrate his birthday. We visited with them at their house for awhile and had a lovely time.

The next morning we were off to Napa Valley. It was raining all day and after we reached our destination that afternoon, we checked into our beautiful B&B, had a little champagne and wine and cheese and went to sleep around 7:30 that evening. It was sooooo wonderful to sleep so much! Of course, after a glass of champagne, I was ready to fall asleep anyway.

The next day we did a little exploring around the valley by ourselves. It was very crowded because it was a holiday weekend (Veteran's Day). We did not know exactly where to go or what to do but we enjoyed the day none-the-less. The next day we had a tour planned that took us through the valley and to 8 different wineries where we tasted and bought a few bottles of wine to bring home. That was a great day because it was organized and we didn't have to worry about driving and tasting wine that day. The weather was glorious. All in all, it was an extremely enjoyable day.

Here are a couple of pictures from Napa.

We had a really great time. We are trying to do as much travelling as we can before our daughter joins us. We have quite a bit of time to do those things. I like to try to stay focused on the times that we have alone together because they are priceless! I can't wait until our daughter comes but for now I am trying to enjoy as much time as I can alone with my husband.

That's it for now. I will try to post more often because it has really been too long since my last post. Hope you are all doing well.

Kelley & Dwaine