For the last leg of our trip, we drove from San Francisco to Tahoe, with a brief stop in Folsom to visit one of my oldest friends Kelley. Sadly, I was having such a good time visiting, that I forgot to take one single picture while we were at her house. 
You’ll just have to take my word for it – her house and family are just beautiful, and our visit was too short – wished we lived closer to each other.
The next day, after a brief sleep over in Auburn, we headed up the mountain to Northstar. What a hair raising trip! We had lots of wintry weather, and at one point there were at least 50 semis pulled over in the emergency lane AND the right hand lane of I-80 so they could put their chains on their wheels. We took it very slowly and had absolutely no problems (thank you 4-wheel drive!). When we arrived at Northstar, Jason took off to ski in the rain while B and I toodled around the village in the rain. Yeah, it wasn’t nearly as much fun as it sounds. That afternoon, Jason and I traded off so I could go to my ski lesson (no skiing in 4 years makes for a nervous first trip down the slope). By that time it was snowing, and interestingly, conditions were perfect for me – the slush was just fast enough to get me going, but not fast enough for me to be uncomfortable. My instructor gave me all kinds of wonderful advice and I was on a blue run in no time. Uhhhh….she forgot to tell me she was taking me on a blue run…an ungroomed blue run…with nearly white out conditions…. It was definitely a challenge, but I came down o.k. without falling once!
O.k., so the first day was a little rough, but the next two were perfect! We took B to Minor’s Camp the next morning so we could ski together. Once she saw all the toys and movies and super fun things to do, she barely looked back at us to say goodbye! It was just beautiful on the mountain that day (this is the only picture I got, however)!
After we exhausted ourselves, we picked up B for some fun play in the snow, followed by pizza for dinner (seriously, the pizza is the only reason she agreed to stop playing in the snow)! This is HER mountain, and she scaled it beautifully! Up and down – this child does not get tired…
The next day, we skied some more – here was our view at the summit. The lake in the distance in the second picture is Lake Tahoe.
Of course, we picked up B early again so we could play in the snow again. This time we took her on the gondola and went up by the skiers. She declared that next year she will ski too (yay!), and then she scaled an even BIGGER “mountain”
After dinner at The Chocolate Bar (yes, you read that correctly), we headed back to San Jose to catch our flight home the next day. I have some videos of all the fun we had – I’ll try to get those sent out soon.
After her marathon nap, we took her on the cable cars, just like I promised we would. Unfortunately, by the time we were able to do that, it was dark, so we didn’t take any pictures. But the next morning, we stopped by the cable cars again and took these.
I thought about taking her on them again, but we didn’t really have time – we were taking the bus to Golden Gate park for the day (THAT walk was just a little too long…). She was great on the bus, which was full of commuters and tight on space. She was very focused – I had told her they had a playground at the park, and she would do ANYTHING to get there. 
After we got off the bus we checked a little bit of the park and ran around as we worked our way to the playground.
She was reasonably patient – only asking me about once a minute when we were going to the playground. Then, we arrived. This playground has got to be the mother of all playgrounds! It is huge, and even has a carousel that runs on the weekend (thankfully it was disguised and B never noticed it since it was not running while we were there). She climbed and spinned and swung and ran and generally had a great time for about 90 minutes.
The spinner.
Surf’s up!
My beautiful girl.
We looked briefly at the Academy of Sciences while we ate lunch, but that place really needs a day of its own. As B constantly says these days: Maybe next time! After lunch I handed her the bink, put the seat back on her stroller, gave her kitty bla bla and her blanket, told her to go to sleep, and held my breath as I walked around the park some more. Within 20 minutes she was out and sucking hard on that pacifier – AMAZING!!
I have seen other parents with kids sleeping in strollers, on shoulders, etc., but B has NEVER been one to do that. On the rare occasion she has fallen asleep, it generally only lasts 20 minutes or so. This time she slept for over 2 hours!! Meanwhile, I toured the Japanese Tea Garden…
After catching the bus back into the city, we headed back to our hotel. On our way, we noticed a Dr. Seuss gallery! Look Mommy – Sam I Am!
After loading up the car and picking up Jason, we headed out of town. Next stop – Tahoe!
After arriving in San Francisco and checking into our hotel, we walked through China Town on our way to the Stinking Rose for dinner. Love, love, love that restaurant! And, I am pretty sure we ate at least Brianna’s weight in garlic. It is a good thing we all partook. Brianna even tried mussels…and she LOVED them (at least the ones at The Stinking Rose). My pasta was made with black linguine, which did not phase my little noodle lover one bit!
The next day Jason headed over to the convention center for his conference, so B and I headed out to explore the city. First we headed towards Coit Tower. Yes, I pushed her up this hill, and more like them…
We did not make it all the way to Coit Tower – my lovely map was not really pedestrian friendly, and by the time I figured out how to actually get a stroller up to Coit Tower (without having to climb any stairs), I really didn’t feel like it anymore. So, here is the view from the base of the road that goes up to Coit Tower (that is the Bay Bridge in the distance)…
At this point, B had fixated on my promise of chocolate at Fisherman’s Wharf, so off we went. Going down those hills was much less exhausting, but much more nerve-wracking. I got a hand cramp from holding onto that stroller so tightly!
After satisfying both of our chocolate fixations at Ghirardeli, and getting a little treat (she actually chose strawberry ice cream over chocolate, but I got a FANTASTIC hot chocolate), we spent a little time relaxing and enjoying this fountain. B just thought these “fish” mommies were fascinating.
The tiny little beach by the wharf had this lovely view of Golden Gate Bridge (the picture doesn’t really do it justice).
Then it was back to the main part of the wharf so she could better explore the “boat parking lot” we passed on the way to Ghirardeli. Seriously, if you want some cheap entertainment for B, just take her to a marina and she will be quite content for hours! Here she is posing by the two boats she declared were hers.
Next stop – Boudin’s! On our way to Ghirardeli, we stopped to watch them make the bread in the window, and they had all kinds of rolls made into all kinds of different shapes (aligator, turtle, crab, etc.). She wanted the crab, but it was HUGE, so she settled for a small turtle to eat and a medium turtle to “play with”.
We finished our morning outing by heading over to Lombard Street so B could see it. She was fascinated! I, of course, had forgotten that the pedestrian part of Lombard Street is all stairs. No worries – she climbed up everyone of them (~250 steps) all by herself!
Anyone surprised that when we finally made it back to our hotel she took a 4 hour nap??
We had a wonderful trip to California – B is quite the little traveler. She generally takes things in stride, and that attitude served her well on our trip (especially since we did not actually arrive in CA until roughly SIX hours past her bedtime – no biggie since she slept on the plane).
After resting a bit, we left San Jose for Monterey and a trip to the world famous Monterey Bay Aquarium. We got up early and ran her all over the place in the hopes she would take a nap in the car on the way down. It worked! And she loved the Aquarium (though to our chagrin, she is talking about the fabulous candy store we took her to afterward more than than the Aquarium).
Look Mommy – Dory and Nemo!
She wasn’t too sure what she thought of these lovely creatures…
They had a couple of really cool play areas for kids to explore and learn about ocean creatures. Of course, the Nemo costume was a big hit!
Just a tad smaller than a whale…
They have this fun waterfall that is beautiful from the outside, and falls over glass so you can watch it from the inside. What do you think Kitty?
Of all the beautiful things to see, her favorite part about the Aquarium was this 30 second video on a permanent loop that shows a diver viewing and being careful with some coral. Yeah, we saw him quite a bit…
A trip to the candy store (yummy salt water taffy!) and dinner at Fisherman’s Grotto completed our day. You would be right in thinking we all slept well that night!
The next day we had a leisurely morning before heading out to meander up to San Francisco, with a stop in Santa Cruz. We had a wonderful time walking around Surf City, USA, and B was particularly fond of all the dogs running around on the beach playing frisbee.
Can you hear her roar?
So pretty Daddy!
Woah, Daddy – that’s a big tree!
She wasn’t happy about leaving, not one little bit. But, after she settled down and we handed over her bink, she went right to sleep and took another excellent car nap – amazing!
Next stop: San Francisco!
