What's Up With The Wheelers: If You're Going to San Francisco...

To quote Britney Spears, "Oops, I did it again." (Never thought I'd quote Britney, but I'm a bit tired of Taylor, so there.)

Oops, did what? Stop blogging, to the point where catching up feels totally oppressive. Perhaps catching up will happen some day, perhaps it won't. In the meantime, let me share something happy that feels fun in the moment.

San Francisco with Brooklyn!

Our cute gal is now a collegiate athlete, playing on BYU's Womens Ultimate Frisbee Team. Go Chi! She was a bit surprised to make the team since they are really good, but she is working hard and learning so much. Early morning Ultimate keep her super disciplined as she joins the team for 6am weight training and more. She's making great friends, gaining skills on defense, and learning to trust in her own abilities, especially the throws that she's worked so hard to cultivate over the years. Here she is at a very windy game played against the University of Utah, just a mile or so from our home. Chi won, but the gusts kept either team from playing the way they would have liked.

Given the fact that Brooklyn is crazy busy living her best life and preparing for a mission, I jumped at the chance when she invited me to join her in California for the Stanford invitational. I need all the moments with my girl that I can get. We found cheap plane tickets and decided to have an adventure, leaving Thursday night and not coming home until late Monday.

Our flight was delayed by hours on Thursday due to rain in San Francisco, so it was well after midnight before we arrived. But hey, at least we didn't miss a connecting flight: so many others missed flights to Taiwan, Singapore, and elsewhere. By the time we got there, the airport shuttle was no longer running, so we had to take an Uber. At least breakfast in the morning was tasty!

Our hotel was close enough to the airport to literally run and pick up our rental car. I ended up paying for an upgrade because the car they had reserved was completely electric. I'm all about electric vehicles, but Brooklyn's tourney was two hours away in the middle of nowhere. Not a great spot to be fussing about finding a place to charge your car. After getting our vehicle, we went for a Target run to get goodies for the tournament, then set out to explore some state parks along the California coast. In case you can't tell, the weather was quite rainy and chilly.

Brooklyn is the cutest!

Our next stop was Pigeon Point Lighthouse, currently under construction. We learned that the fresnel lens inside was shipped to California all the way from Cape Hatteras in North Carolina following the Civil War.

The place is named Pigeon Point after a clipper ship named the Carrier Pigeon crashed into the rocks and sank there.

Continuing on our journey, we decided to pull off at Año Nuevo State Park. We'd read online about the elephant seals that hang out there, but also discovered that you could only see them via guided tour this time of year. We knew that all of the tours were sold out, but hoped they might be able to squeeze us on a tour anyway. And hey! Good luck. We arrived fifteen minutes before the final tour of the day, and there was plenty of room.

The tour takes three hours and includes several miles of hiking, but is absolutely worth it. There were seals EVERYWHERE! It was easy to understand why you needed to be a docent to guide you safely through.

I'm in love with the big eyes of the seal pups.

Cuddle party!

The grown males are so funny with their ponderous trunks. Also, they are HUGE! An alpha male can weigh around 5000 pounds.

All in all, our spontaneous adventure was a delightful treat. On the way back, the rain storms even gave way to a beautiful rainbow.

Knowing that Brooklyn was playing in the Stanford Invitational, I booked a cute little room at the Creekside Inn in Palo Alto, assuming that the fields would be somewhere close to campus. Boy was I wrong! Instead, we drove two hours inland into a tiny town called Stevinson, surrounded by beautiful farmland. It was actually really fun to get out and see all of the cows, sheep, and groves. When you think of California, it's easy to just picture San Francisco and L.A., forgetting how much the state is rooted in agriculture. Plus, it was exciting to arrive and discover the fields covered with college students from all over the West. Here's Chi gathered for a pre-game huddle.

And here's Brooklyn!

You may have noticed that she's not the only #12 on the team. In fact, there are four!

Chi played really well, winning their first two games. Their final game against Colorado was super close too. They came from behind and tied the score, but then Colorado won on a Universe point. All in all, it was really fun to watch Ultimate played at such a great level. You know that the competition is getting more fierce when the game has official "Observers." Players make their own calls in Ultimate, but with high-stake games, an Observer helps keep time and can offer an outside opinion if players disagree and want extra input on a difficult call.

Go Chi!

Most of the team went out to IHOP for dinner, but Brooklyn and I took off so that we could make it to our AirBnB in San Francisco before dark. Driving in San Francisco was easier than I expected, probably because it was the weekend. Still, the drivers seemed less aggressive than they do in Utah.

Once we found street parking, we decided to just leave our car and take public transit until the car had to be moved on Monday morning. Luckily there was a bus stop just a block away that took us directly into Chinatown.

Brooklyn found us this great place to eat! We did an impressive job polishing off most of the food, especially considering it was just the two of us. If it hadn't been for the spice level, we might have managed it all.

The next morning Brooklyn and I left our AirBnB fairly early to get to nine o-clock church. While well-located, our accommodations consisted of a single room with a shared bathroom in an old Victorian in dire need of a remodel and deep clean. It worked well-enough, but certainly wasn't a place where you'd want to hang out during the day.

We found a small congregation meeting in a beautiful old building with views of the bay. Getting off the bus, we met this sweet woman from Mongolia who showed us the rest of the way to church. She didn't speak any English, but thanks to Google Translate we had a great conversation.

After church we ventured onto our first trolley car. They are so fun! And slightly scary. You really do have to hope and pray that the brakes won't fail on the hilly San Francisco streets.

Our destination? Dim Sum for breakfast. Brooklyn had researched this bakery that was AMAZING! Five-star, tell-all-your-friends, must-go-back delicious. We knew it would be god when we saw the line outside. We left with an outrageous quantity of sesame rolls, pork buns, egg yolk buns, and siu mai, all for a total of $13.70. Plus, they didn't even ask for a tip. Just saying.

The face of joy.

Enjoying a pork bun the size of your face at Fisherman's Wharf.

Afterward, we checked out the Musée Mécanique--an antique penny arcade that was highly amusing. Except for gigantic Laffing Sal. She was just terrifying.

Afterward, we made our way to the Golden Gate Bridge. Still cold, windy and rainy!

But hey, that made our tomato bisque from the Roundhouse Cafe even more cozy and satisfying.

A few more views of the bridge as we headed to Fort Point, located directly beneath.

The ocean is so powerful! The spray along the waterfront was intense, even in the bay.

Fort Point was fascinating. Soldiers were quartered here all through the Civil War and beyond, drilling every day but never seeing any action. I imagine it was cold, damp, and boring. The fort was saved when the Golden Gate Bridge was constructed, largely because the architect valued its fine masonry work. This meant that constructing the pillar for the bridge was much more difficult because it had to be done underwater.

This cannon came all the way from Lima, Peru. Plus, you think inflation is bad today? Check out the price of a single egg in California during the Gold Rush.

After the fort, we hopped on a bus not knowing exactly where it would go. When we saw Ghirardelli Square, we suddenly recognized and hopped off to admire the chocolate. Stuffed with dim sum from breakfast, we didn't actually consume any, but still enjoyed the ambiance.

Arriving home late, we stumbled across an Indian restaurant a block away from our rental. The appetizer was seriously one of the most delicious things I've ever eaten in my life. Fried spinach leaves with mint, tamarind, and yogurt. The only downside was that after indulging, Brooklyn and I had little room left for the equally delicious goat curry. Not to worry--it turns out that goat makes for great leftovers, even eaten cold in the car for breakfast.

On our final morning, I went for an early run through the Presidio, located just two blocks from our AirBnB. I could have jogged to the Golden Gate bridge again, but headed to the National Cemetery instead where the Buffalo soldiers are buried.

Seeing the beautiful calla lilies growing wild reminded me of my hubby and our wedding day.

Farewell, San Francisco! Until next time.

We left the city around 9:00 am, not wanting to figure out parking on a weekday. Instead, we headed to Muir Woods National Monument, just thirty minutes North of San Francisco.

Brooklyn is putting on a brave face, but this poor girl did NOT feel well. Longest two mile walk on a boardwalk ever.

Still, the Redwoods were majestic, particularly the Cathedral section. This is where members of the United Nations gathered to commemorate Franklin Delano Roosevelt's life on May 19, 1945, making it a "Temple of Peace."

After a nap and some ibuprofen, Brooklyn felt better so we continued on to our final destination: The Jelly Belly Factory!

Tucked away in Fairfield, California, this factory was SO FUN! Our only complaint was that we'd packed in backpacks, so we had no room to take home souvenirs.

This was my first introduction to Jelly Belly art.

Apparently the connection between Jelly Belly and Ronald Reagan is strong. When trying to quit smoking, Jelly Belly's were his go-to snack, and he always had a jar in his office.