Glorious= San Francisco

Okay so Andrew and I are pretty different in so many many ways- which for us is a good thing. Andrew would love to live on a ranch with acres of land around us and neighbors no closer than a couple miles away.....I LOVE LOVE LOVE cities and people watching (is that bad?) This love is so profound that I am dedicating an entire post to one activity from our two week Christmas vacation- our beautiful trip to San Francisco. Grandma Joani was so nice to take all the three grandkiddies so we could walk around without worrying about losing one of them.

I think I am usually a pretty low-key type person that doesn't get too excited or riled up about much, but I seriously was giddy with butterflies in my stomach and everything driving into San Francisco. If I didn't have children I would move there tomorrow.

First stop of gloriousness- Fisherman's Wharf

I really took this picture for Ethan thinking he would be impressed with the pirate- we've been reading a bunch of books about pirates recently and all he said was "that's not Luke Skywalker" hmmm exactly like Andrew again- did any of my genetic material make it into that child? I did carry him for 9 months!

Glorious

The customary Jones family seagull picture- I don't know why but we always have to get a picture of a seagull- he does look more content than a San Diego seagull though I think

Alcatraz- wanted to go, but we thought it would take up too much time and keep me from all the other gloriousness (unfortunately yes the word glorious will be used in this post several times in several different and probably completely incorrect and absurd forms)

Andrew not sure why I am so giddy and thinking everything is glorious- you can just barely see the sign for Ghiradelli Square behind him-free chocolate and two Ghiradelli stores in close proximity- brilliant! I mean glorious! Some random young guys taking far too many pictures of the nakie mermaid fountain in the middle of the square- not glorious!

I really hope in heaven there is something like what they had rigged up in Boudin here- it was a wonderful roller coaster type thing that carried baskets and baskets of bread all around the room. I had to fight the urge to try and grab one of the baskets down and snatch the bread. Sourdough bread- yes yes yes glorious glorious glorious. All I could think of was the scene in Ratatouille where Collete says that you can only tell the best bread not by the smell, not by the look, but by the sound it makes when you break it apart. Ahhhh the sound......

Next stop: The Golden Gate Bridge (of course)

I do not think this picture even begins to show how gloriously amazing the view was

Then: Japantown

Looked and smelled just like all the shopping centers in the subway stations in Tokyo- Ahhhhh Nihon ai shite imasu! Gloriousteki? Hai!

Then just to be balanced: Chinatown- which I was a little disappointed to find was about 4 times the size of Japantown

Red paper lanterns hanging across the street? yes please. We actually even saw missionaries in Chinatown- that must mean that I am meant to live in San Francisco someday right?

Lastly, but not leastly: Downtown

Ice skating rink in middle of dowtown- yes you guessed it- glorious

And to top off the night- Cheesecake Factory on the 8th floor of the Macys building. I know Andrew, Ryan, Steph will laugh when I write this, but it was as if the city loved me back that night. All I wanted was to be able to sit in the outdoor seating overlooking the city, but we were hungry enough that we said we would sit at the first available table they had-indoor or outdoor. There was a lot more indoor seating so I had 45 minutes of waiting thinking we would have to sit inside and I would be separated from my gloriousity for dinner, but when our host took us to our table- lo and behold an outdoor table was there to welcome me. Andrew was embarrassed that I wanted to take pictures during dinner so I tried to take these on the sly and they came out horrible, but it really was an amazing view.

Now I should admit here that I love all cities- not just San Francisco.....Chicago yes yes I love the green river that runs through it......Tokyo I love the subways and hyakuyen stores......San Diego I love the carefree feeling about it all......I am such a geek, but I think I love them so much because there is so much diversity, so much activity and vibrancy, so much happening all the time, so much modge podge of cultures and people and buildings and ideas that I feel more alive just by walking the streets.....weird I know, but I think that is why I so desperately want to travel everywhere........someday....for now I will have lean on my the uber-gloriousness of my most recent city trip *sigh*

More on Christmas and Hudson's birthday in coming posts-if I can find a moment of free time sometime!