Bike Ride from Fisherman's Wharf to Sausalito

The weather was beautiful so it was a perfect opportunity to try the bike ride from Fisherman's Wharf to Sausalito. The ride started out near Hyde Street Pier which houses old boats.

Then, for an unexpected turn of events there was an anti-abortion parade going on that was right in the middle of our bike path. I rang my bike bell but they didn't seem to want to move out of our way! So, we had to walk our bikes past them.

But, once they were out of our way we got to enjoy views like these!

The bike ride up to the bridge is a little steep and we had to walk our bikes a few times but it's worth it. The bridge is also surprisingly long.

On the other side of the bridge it's a short (mostly downhill) ride to Sausalito. There were a few difficult uphill parts that we walked our bikes up. Here's Sausalito...

We spent a short time in Sausalito and then boarded the ferry to get back to SF. It was perfect timing because we got to catch the sunset.

This is one of my favorite pics because it reminds me of an illustration that brent did. Click here to see.

This was one of my favorite activities we've done so far! The bike rentals were a little pricey ($92 total....for four hours and two ferry tickets) and the ride was difficult in spots. The ride was about 8 miles....probably not for kids. But, totally worth it to me!

Day Trip to Santa Cruz & Monterrey

We had really been missing the warm weather and beach scenery of Hawaii after the cold and overcast months of November and December in San Francisco. So, FINALLY last Saturday the weather was perfect for a day trip. We were really excited about taking day trips when we moved here but every weekend has been so overcast. So, last minute we decided to drive out to Santa Cruz and enjoy the coast. It only took about a 20 minute drive to start getting these amazing views (of course their not as good with the window up but you get the idea).

We stopped at this beautiful light house.

We strolled the Santa Cruz boardwalk, enjoying the sun and warmer weather and this shooting game.

We only had about an hour in Monterrey before sunset so I didn't get any pics but it was really pretty too.

The best part of the trip was the amazing views along the drive. I was a little disappointed by the food and our guidebook wasn't that great in my opinion. But, the trip was great and we can't wait to take another day trip! The weather's supposed to be nice this weekend too. I was thinking of a bike ride from Fisherman's Wharf, across the Golden Gate Bridge, and to Sausalito (a little town across the bridge). I'll let you know what we decide.....

You Should Make This....

We were really missing Tex Mex and love eating Chalupas (a recipe from the Couchman's)...so I got brave and tried a new green rice recipe to go with the Chalupas. This is always risky because my friend B***t doesn't always do well with new recipes. It was SUPER good (even B***t liked it) and you need to try it ASAP! What's not to like about rice with butter, oil, milk....and you can even feel good about it because it has 1 cup of spinach in it. It would go really good with tacos or any mexican dish. You can find the recipe here.

A White Christmas

Christmas was so amazing that I've been thinking for a month about what to write about it....actually I've just been a bit lazy. But, it was amazing! Brent's new job gave all the employees two whole weeks off for Christmas!! So, we got to spend four days with my family in Winter Park, and four days with Brent's family in Boerne. The house we stayed in at Winter Park was pretty cool. I think it had eleven queen beds....four sets of queen bunk beds. Here's a view from a window in the living room and a view of the main living area.

Brent and I aren't big skiers but the majority of the family spent most of their time skiing. I'm terrified of going uncontrollably fast and prefer to do things well. So, I mastered the bunny slope...and got brave and skied all the way to the bottom instead of taking the ski lift down (I've been known to take the lift down a few times...there's just too much going on towards the bottom). In my defense the ski lift provides lots of scenic views that you would never get to experience when you only go up.

In fact, I'm not much of a cold weather person. It's not unusual to see me dressed like this in the cold.

But, we had a great time with the family and even some of our extended family who live in the area stopped by to say hi. My favorite activity was tubing which was an unexpected adrenaline rush. It was crazy like skiing, but I figured the worst I could do was break something as opposed to flying off a mountain and killing myself skiing. Mom loves pictures by the Christmas tree....so this one was for mom.

We were also super excited to spend time in Boerne where we got to eat mexican food, exchange gifts, see a movie, and take a family shopping trip...and most importantly enjoy our time with the Couchman's. We had really been missing Texas and were sad when it was time to leave.