Dreaming of San Francisco

I just spent a week in San Fransisco with Hannah and we had the greatest time. First we spent 4 days with Nicole with her beautiful family in Novato. Gabe and Claire were our favorite parts of that part of the trip! Going to Six Flags with 4 year olds is so much fun. We saw the world through their cotton-candy covered faces. Hannah and I rode on three of the craziest roller coasters I've ever been on. Just imagine paying money to have someone drop you from a skyscraper and then pull your guts out through your throat. Yah. That good. I felt like I was going to puke all day long.

We got to see Gabe spar in his Tai Kwon Doe lessons, Claire dance in her gymnastics clothes, but perhaps the best was watching Nicole as Primary President. I'd pay to see that again. Imagine little 4 year old Rocco with his mohawk on the front row, lean under his chair midway through singing to find a sucker taped to the bottom (they weren't supposed to get tipped off til the end of opening exercises). "Hey EVERYONE...theres a SUCKER my chair!!!! Then he looks again and exclaims in utter amazement, "HEY!!!! THERE's A SUCKER UNDER EVERYONE'S CHAIR!!! EVERYONE LOOK!!! " It was mass pandemonium. Snicker, snicker. You needed that experience Nicole.
My favorite was our lunch at the Mediterranean restaurant. We ordered a sampler with 10 different types of food to try. Ahhh, the Hummus. Then the next day on the toilet-- AUGGH. The Hummus.

Then on to see Aubs in the heart of San Fran. She and Blake were wonderful hosts. We ate Riccotta Pancankes with Lemon Curd and Raspberry Sauce at Zazzies. We played tennis in the park. We shopped for vintage clothes at the secondhand store. We went to the candy store and tried one of everything. We played the 70's classic boardgame "Hearththrob". We went to Sushi. Life was good.

Hannah made for wonderful company and a very memorable trip. I left my heart in San Fran!

VACAYSHUN Report

Well...it doesn't get any better. 8 days of hiking, fishing, waterfalls, mountains. I can breathe again. The vacation was complete with dead bodies, big fish and lots of bruises and bumps.

First off, our hike was cut short because they found the body of a drowned missing person just as we got there. We waited for about 40 minutes while divers in helmets traversed against the raging water, but finally gave up and went back down the mountain. Kind of takes the fun out of it to run across a dead body.

Our subsequent hikes proved more successful as there were no dead bodies, only injured ones as we boulder climbed through raging waters and mountain crevasses--whatever it took to find our fish. In the process, we both ended up with bruises and cuts from the knees down--pants and waders didn't seem to shield us. And as per the usual, I was looking at the water and ran into a tree. I assure you it won the fight. My left cheek doesn't look so good. But that is the price you pay to catch the biggest fish.

Yes, I said it. I caught the biggest fish. The kingpin of the river dropped his guard for just a moment, and my professional fishing skills kicked in. Before he knew what hit him, he had taken a gulp of that delicious looking red brassie nymph.
Irresistable.

We fished through the tailwaters of a high mountain lake in this boulder field covered with crystal clear water. We must have seen a hundred fish a day. You got ONE cast and that's all before they figured it out. But we outwitted those wily creatures.

Each day we hiked about 9 miles roundtrip to get to our holes and we were the only fisherman there--my only competition was Kevin ( and honestly, what kind of competition is THAT?) ...and beating the rainclouds to the next downpour. This year we were smart enough to bring raincoats, a change of clothes and an umbrella. The rain didn't make us miserable--just cold and damp and seeing mirages of hot tubs in the distance.

One day we went to my favorite town--Boulder (that's where my peeps live) --and had caramel apples and ate at the local restaurants. We purposely skipped fireworks and the parade on the 4th so we could get some hot tub time without germy kids with snotty noses and BBQ sauce smeared on their faces.

We went to bed each night feeling like a Mack truck ran over us, but with a smile on our faces.