I Left My Heart (Parents) in San Francisco...

Out of all the places we've been and all the places we've seen, San Francisco is the only city we have semi-seriously considered moving to. It is the coolest city inside the US that I have ever been to.  I love walking through Chinatown and Littly Italy and hearing the different languages being spoken.  It felt very foreign, and yet, we didn't have to fly 13 hours to get anywhere.

My parents came out and met us, and I think they fell in love with the city as much as we did.  One could easily spend weeks here (and a serious amount of cash) and not even touch the tip of the iceberg on all this city has going on.  It's fabulous!  

We hit the hop-on/hop-off bus tour of the city, saw some fog...a lot of fog, ate some seriously great food, walked through Pier 39, Fisherman's Wharf, the Market.  Drove Lombard street (the crookedest street in the world), drove through the Golden Gate Park (bigger than Central Park), drove over the Golden Gate Bridge, saw Alcatraz (from a distance) saw the Presidio, Hayes Valley, Haight-Ashbury, Chinatown, North Beach, had a hot fudge brownie Sundae at Ghirradelli Square, had some AMAZING food in Chinatown.

All of this and our campsite overlooked the ocean.  We were 30 feet from an ocean bluff, and had a totally unobstructed view.  A few years back the view would have been obstructed by other RV's from our campsite, but, thanks to some erosion, RV's are no longer permitted to park there...at least it would be a little risky with it falling into the ocean and all.  Not for the faint of heart.  

I was able to look out onto the ocean from our kitchen table, and I truly love the ocean.  The waves.  The serenity.  The sun glistening off of the water in a million different directions.  Very peaceful.  We even had a pelican that visited us often while here.

We have family, ocean views, and wine.  What more could one ask for?  Not much.  Not much at all.  

God's grace has blessed us once again, and He is good.  He is very, very good. 

Californ-I-A

California.  Not what I expect.  Mt. Shasta was a lovely surprise.

TONS, and I do mean TONS of Agriculture, is happening here. Should California 'fall in to the ocean' (as we have all long suspected) :) then our produce will be diminished for a very, very long time. We were camped out near both the 'artichoke capitol of the world' and the 'garlic capital of the world'.  In totally different, though nearby, cities.  We camped ON the San Andrea's fault for two weeks.  Kind of gives you a warm, tingly feeling doesn't it?  We have seen so many variations of crops it's unimaginable.  Really.  We've seen grapes, strawberries, tomatoes, lettuce, limes, cherries, garlic, artichoke, peppers, almonds and many 'random' plants we are still trying to figure out.  We saw Brussell sprouts growing on a stalk...and tried them...much to my dismay...but they were surprisingly delicious with my wonderful husbands preparation of them.  Who knew Brussell sprouts tasted GOOD?  And artichokes.  Weird stuff.  But if you cut it right, and dip it in butter, I suppose anything tastes delicious!  We ARE having fun here though with all of the fresh produce.  Coming from Indiana, if you want fresh local produce are choices are pretty much corn.  Or tomatoes.  Or corn.  Or GREEN tomatoes.  Or a melon. Or corn.  Or tomatoes. Or zucchini, zucchini, zucchini in mass quantities for 5 weeks a year (so much so that you won't WANT any until your crop is ready NEXT year).

California is much different then I imagined.  Monterey was great.  Carmel by the Sea was fabulous!  And the rest...only 50 miles 'inland' is pretty much desert.  We have seen a few bobcats though.  That's pretty cool.  Even a bobcat 'kitten'.  We are starting to like California.  Maybe not so much the time difference, but California is fun.  Different.  Glad to see it, but don't want to stay, fun.

We still have a week or so left here.  I will desperately miss all of the fresh, cheap, and local produce.  I doubt our next stop (Vegas) is growing too many veggies.

Gerber Recalls Machetes Due to Laceration Hazard

If you look at the link it's not nearly as funny...but being a mom, 'Gerber' is a household name...hence the irony here...the title was what struck me as funny on the recall list...and then to see the 'Gerber' item...

http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml12/12248.html