Vacation Delights and Seeing the Sights

My husband surprised me when he conspired with his parents and set up an amazing vacation to San Francisco. The weather was divine. The views spectacular. The company quite humorous. Our hotel location was ideal. Our flights were flawless and even arrived early.

A trip to the Golden Gate Bridge was paramount. We examined it and determined it was sturdy and impressive. We walked on the bridge and considered the joys of leaping to a death in the icy waves 700 feet below. Not very tempting.

We enjoyed all of the tourists who were tricked into taking a jaunt over the bridge aboard the first bicycle they'd seen in decades. Watching these people weaving through the masses of discourteous amateur photographers, aboard 2 wobbly wheels, with a 65 year old bum 3 times the seat size, nope not my idea of a pleasure cruise!!

I did a silly jog on the beach. My hair caught some serious height with the blowing wind. Bob Marley would be impressed. The water was insanely cold, however this did not keep me from getting my feet wet. We spent the 4th of July celebrating the Independences we appreciate.

On this occasion, we celebrated the Independence known only by parents that left their children home so that a REAL vacation could be enjoyed. No diapers. No tantrums. No sippy cups. No sudden onset of inopportune colds. No bedtime routines to ignore and suffer the consequences. Even more exciting were: no embarrassing moments on the airplane, no crying children, no diaper bag, no strollers, no scrutinizing glances from passersby, and restaurant dining at its finest!We decided to check out Bubba Gump's Restaurant. Of course, we had every variety of shrimp and spoke about each type while exceeding the human capacity of lower lip extensions. The movie Forrest Gump plays from multiple screens throughout the restaurant to create ambiance. The shrimp was quite delicious, I highly recommend it, but I discourage the faint of wallet, as it was pricey!
We took a cruise over to Alcatraz Island. I found it interesting that we spent Independence Day exploring Alcatraz prison. Who understood the loss of freedom like those who threw away their independence when they abused their civil liberties. I've never spent much time thinking about it from that perspective. Can you imagine how painful it would be to have a view this beautiful, through iron bars, when you are trapped in a place like this? The prisoners could even hear laughter that carried across the bay.

It was fun to visit Alcatraz and say, "Welcome to the Rock," with our best efforts at a Sean Connery impression. We sat at the front of the cruise and enjoyed the cool San Francisco breeze. Just prior to returning to the Arizona Desert we tried our hand at crab fishing. Brian was the real fisherman catching 4 big crabs. We even captured a handicapped crab with just one pincher. It was fascinating that the muscles attached to this claw were huge! Way to adapt, go Mr. Crabby. My in laws caught a crab and set it down just long enough for a greedy seagull to steal one of his eyeballs. Now that's one hungry bird. As we were leaving we set 5 chicken drum sticks on the pier. Watching the seagulls gulp them down whole was impressive and appalling.

We wouldn't have enjoyed such an amazing trip without our tour guides. Brian's parents knew exactly where we needed to go and ensured that we did not miss out on any of the fine opportunities afforded in this cool and beautiful city. Brian even managed to not acted completely tortured while I enjoyed every little shop and street vendor. Now that is true love!

Even Super Heroes Have Bad Days

Brian went to a Football Camp at Mountain View High School. It was quite awkward to see my child wearing a Toro shirt. I ran into a kindred spirit, a pure Westwood Warrior, and she recommended a shirt burning party.

Brian determined football is not in his blood. He tried to fly like superman into the tackle dummy. He managed to ram into the thing while doing a dive roll. He does not recommend this maneuver, nor is he interested in attending further football camps.

On a positive note, the children loved the Mt. View bleachers and wasted no time exploring. They climbed the metal "Web-like beams under the bleachers and happily journeyed to the top.

I think it is safe to say we could have climbed the bleachers for free and held on to our $25!

Much to my relief, my oldest son is not quite ready to join the ranks of the Toro, Dive Tackling, Football players. He complained of back pain for almost a day. As his mother I hope he may possibly have learned that even super heroes must exercise caution while leaping!

He may not be embracing his inner linebacker after this activity, but he certainly looked adorable trying. I hold this truth to be self evident!

War Eagle, Tear 'Em up Westwood!!!