Back to Life...Back to Reality

Well, we are home from our trip to California. I guess you can say we are rested and ready to get back to our normal routine. We had a wonderful time celebrating our 10 years of marriage. Our anniversary vacation started off by spending three days in San Francisco. Wow, what a beautiful city! Our first evening after arriving was spent on a sunset cruise around the Bay. The weather was pretty chilly (around 55 degrees) however the view was spectacular! The next day we enjoyed a jaunt around the city. We did a lot of walking around Union Square, North Beach including a visit to Coit tower. We even trecked uphill on Lombard Street "the crookedest street in the world". Our final day in the city was spent enjoying Fisherman's Wharf, including visiting one of the biggest tourist attractions and one of the most know federal penitentaries in the United States - Alcatraz. The second leg of our vacation was spent in the beautiful countrysides of Napa Valley. It began with a 2 hour train ride on the Napa Valley Wine Train, seeing the beautiful vineyards of Napa Valley. Afterward, we drove to our private lodge at the Calistoga Ranch. This was to be our relaxing part of our vacation...and it was! We lounged around in our private lodge way up on the hillside of the Ranch and were pampered by the staff like we have never been before. In the two days we were there, we played chess, watched movies, enjoyed a horseback ride in the wooded state park nearby and dined at a couple of first class restaurants. One of these restaruants was an interesting adventure for us. For two Kansans who aren't accustom to this type of dining, it was somewhat difficult to order from a menu that utilizes big descriptive words to depict what delicious entree you are about to choose. Our big surprise came with the second course. When ordering Beef Carpaccio with Truffle Aïoli, crushed Himalayan Truffles, Arugula Salad and Fried Potatoes, we received quite a different dish than we expected. When it first arrived, it looked like a red jelly-like spread on the plate with a white (sour cream looking) sauce drizzled over it and topped with some tiny leafy greens and what looked like potato crumbs. It was served with a flat spoon. When I looked at it, I wondered how I was supposed to eat it - it was so thin, it looked as if it was to be spread on a cracker. I spooned a small amount on my plate a took a bite. It was a little strange tasting, but what was mostly different was that it was slimly in texture. Chris looked at me and asked how it was. I, of course, didn't like it, but didn't want him to know or he wouldn't have even tried it, so I responded, "It's pretty good!". He then decided to try it himself and didn't care for it either; however, he didn't want the waitress to know that we didn't like it so he choked down three forths of the plate (I ate no more - YUCK). The best part came when the waitress asked us what we thought. Inquisitive me had to ask what the bottom portion of the dish was. She responded that it was the beef. I then, or course, couldn't leave it at that. I had to ask her how on earth they sliced the beef so very, very thin. She then responded that it was "RAW". Yes, you read it correctly - RAW!!! Needless to say, neither Chris nor I had much of an appetite after that. I then became extremely nervous about the next course to arrive (which turned out to be okay) but was mostly ready for the dinner to be over. My stomach was turning thinking about the raw meat we had just ate. Chris was sickened more since he had eaten most of it. Well, other than that, our experience in Wine Country was enjoyable and tranquil. One of the best parts was our couples massage. Wow, it was so wonderful and relaxing! A great way to spend some quality time together. Lastly, Chris and I drove to our final destination for our trip - Monterey Bay. It took us about 3 1/2 hours to drive south to Monterey. We spent about a day shopping and dining on the Bay. The best part was driving the "17-mile" drive along the Pacific Coast. It was beautiful seeing the waves crash along the rocky beaches. Chris even got me to put my feet in the water - brrrr... much colder than the Atlantic for sure!!! Well, as you can see, we had a wonderful time visiting a part of the country that we had not seen before as well as enjoying some relaxing time together - WITHOUT children. However, we missed them imensely. I think I talked to the girls a minimum of two times a day! It was good to get away, but it feels good to be back with our girls. Hopefully, we won't have any surprises this time like we did after celebrating our 5th anniversary (Ashlyn) Here are some of our vacation pics!