San Francisco - Final post - Boats and crab

I also really like boats...I've read a lot of books that take place on clippers and schooners and stuff like that and love the history behind these beauties. We took a tour of this schooner that was in service for 50 years! From sailing around South America to England, to Australia for lumber shipping, and to Alaska for a salmon cannery, this boat has some great history and once again I was blown away by the excellence of the displays, information, and videos. National Parks Service rocks!

The schooner, Balclutha


View from Balclutha


Oh, it's NOT naptime?


A mockup of supplies in the middeck hold thingy place (yeah...that's nautical terminology for you...)


I'm a natural, dontcha think? :)

I was told I couldn't come to San Francisco and not partake in a Dungeness Crab dinner...so who am I to argue with San Franciscan expectations?

Dinner: before


Dinner: After

It was so incredibly tasty! And we wrapped up dinner by swinging by Ghirardelli's again, where I got a caramel-sea salt hot chocolate...and then preceded to enter a sugar -I never-want-to-eat-chocolate-again-coma after drinking only HALF of a SMALL size. I never thought I would be bested by chocolate ::hangs head::

As you can see, it was a FUN trip and I really enjoyed the city. Hope I get a chance to visit again and see more of the sites/museums/theaters.

San Francisco - Part 3, Aquarium, Fisherman's Wharf, GHIRARDELLI'S!!!!

We pretty much spent part of every day somewhere on the Wharf, but here are some actual pictures...

Tima's sister, Katrina, her aunt, and her mom excited for the Aquarium


Beautiful jellyfish



More jellyfish...totally unrelated to the jellyfish in the aquarium, I recently ate a raw jellyfish as part of a scavenger hunt "Survivor-esque" gross food eating challenge. It was...different.


Fisherman's Wharf


Lunch from the walkabouts...2/3 meals per day were seafood. Pretty sure I've hit my mercury limits for the year :). SOOO worth it.


Source of my shrimp cocktail


Seriously folks, this was the highlight of the trip for me. I LOVE GHIRARDELLI CHOCOLATE. Especially their dark chocolate peppermint bark that comes out during the holidays (hint hint to anyone reading this blog who sees me around the holidays...just sayin')


I think this picture is missing something...shouldn't there be an Oompa-Loompa standing around stirring?

San Francisco part 2 - Alcatraz and Lombard Street

Of course, Alcatraz was a must-touristy-thing-to-do for our trip, so after Golden Gate Park, we hopped on the boat for Alcatraz

Bay Bridge from the back of the boat


The city


Alcatraz!


Father and son bonding time...in jail...


Not quite a 5-star hotel...


Checking out solitary confinement. The audio tour they have set up is very impressive. It was informative, not boring, and the perfect length. Well done National Park people.


The view from Alcatraz to the shore...roughly the end point for the Alcatraz Triathlon (different from the Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon since you don't have to qualify for it, anyone can sign up). You jump off the back of a ferry at Alcatraz and swim to shore for the swim portion of the tri. I hope to swim this some day...and not drown...or panic...or freeze...or get eaten by a shark ( I KNOW they are there, despite what marine biologists might say).


Driving down Lombard street. Crazy amount of tourists here...and it was 8 in the morning! There was no way to get a really good shot without getting out of the car (not an option at the time) so I bought a postcard...an old postcard apparently based on the circa 1985 cars driving down Lombard :)

San Francisco Part 1 - Sonoma and Golden Gate Park

A year ago, my best friend and her hubby visited me and we decided that we should take a trip to San Francisco...a year later, with their 9 month old cutie, Aiden, her Mom, aunt, and sister, we ACTUALLY took the trip (seriously, how many times have you told someone "oh we should really do this/that and nothing comes of it? So thankful this worked out).

It was a great, albeit short, trip. I am too lazy to create an album, so enjoy scrolling :)

It was an orange streetcar...of COURSE I took a picture.


Inside the Ferry Building


Pics of the Farmer's Market inside the Ferry Building ( I love how funky Heritage tomatoes look)


This sign just made me laugh. Way to just tell it like it is :)


Part of the Bay Bridge as we waited for our Wine Country Tour shuttle


We drove over the Golden Gate Bridge and stopped for a brief (very brief) photo op...only day the fog cleared to see the top of the bridge.


First official wine-tasting experience in Sonoma


Grapes...er..vineyards...


Aiden was a trooper the entire trip, I was amazed by how well he handled all the time in his carseat/stroller


Although, sometimes, you just gotta play in the grass!


Oldest vineyard in Sonoma


Hello foggy San Franciscan hills


Palace of Fine Arts - leftover from the 1915 Exposition (kinda like a World's Fair...after reading about the Chicago World's Fair, I've become a bit nerdy regarding Fairs of these type...I love how intricate the buildings are - amazing that this was built for a FAIR. )


Bundled up to enjoy the Children's Park at Golden Gate Park.


I HAD to take a picture of this. I am a huge fan of Doctor Who and fortunately, so is Tima's husband, Mark, so he joined in my enthusiasm for finding this "police box" in the park. Tima patiently waited while Mark and I took several shots of this. Yes, we are true fans :)

Needles

After almost a month of some serious fever-running, poor-sleeping, joint-swelling, flaring, I decided to try out acupuncture while my doc and I are waiting for some labs to come back. I did my second session yesterday.

And there has been improvement :)

Since the first session last week, I have slept all the way through the night (yay for no more waking up hurting!) and even though I am still running a fever a couple of times during the day, I am no longer CONSTANTLY running a fever, and the temp is lower. So yay for progress!

I am going to do one more session next week - we are hoping that my joint pain starts to go away too. If it doesn't, next week's session will be more localized on the joints causing the most pain.

I'm going to a different acupuncture place than I did for The Back and I like this place much better. Acupuncture doesn't hurt, but it can have its uncomfortable moments (like realizing you have 24 needles stuck in your feet, legs, hands, arms, stomach, and collarbone), you do feel the prick of the needle, especially since she is using a larger gauge needle for me (I think it's because of how much inflammation I have...), but after the needles are in, I get to lie in a spa-ish room with nice music for about 45 minutes. I totally nap :). For the most part, I don't feel the removal of the needles, but I do bleed a bit for some of them, and I have had two small bruises form. All in all, I don't mind acupuncture, and I am thankful that it is working!

One interesting tidbit, with my flares, my appetite goes all weird, as in, I don't have one. So when I saw her yesterday, it was already past lunch time and I hadn't eaten yet since I wasn't hungry. She pushed on a spot on my inner ankle and asked, is this tender? Oh, it was. JAB. Needle in. And my stomach started growling!!! Apparently, that particular spot is connected to my spleen and my stomach. Who knew!? And when she put in the one in my stomach, more growling! (granted, my appetite is back to its lowness state today, but don't worry, I am making sure I eat enough :) ). Anyhow, I just found that interesting.

Living room updates

Two more living room projects tackled: a new ceiling fan and adding the additional pops of color to compliment my Soviet propaganda poster that I mentioned here. However, the ceiling fan project isn't quite finished. Turns out, I have a defective ceiling fan - the motor grinds something awful, so it will soon come down and be shipped back for a replacement. However, I do LOVE it and glad I took so much time to find the right one for the space.

Before


After!
Notice the pops of blue and yellow? (Big thanks to Erin W. for the pillow recommendations from CB2!).


Close up of the fan (Please note, I didn't mean to match the fan to the propellers of the B-36 on the wall...but, apparently I subconsciously did exactly that!)

Kiddos

In July, I went back to AZ to meet my friend Lynn's new little addition, Brooklyn, and I also got to spend time my my bestie, Tima, and her little guy Aiden. I grabbed some pictures from their pages (since I didn't take any, how bad of an auntie am I!?) It is so much fun watch your dear friends become and be mommies :)

Brooklyn


Lynn's kiddos - Roman and Brooklyn

Aiden giving kisses


Me and Aiden


Practicing what Aiden's learned at swim class


This picture just makes me laugh a lot. It may become my new desktop.


Beautiful family. And I have this EXACT same picture - but with me and my parents :) (with cactus in the background too!)