day 3, June 14th, Giants game day

IWith our early bedtime the day before Max was up at 545 West coast time. So we took the opportunity to get a move on it early. Robb made some egg mcmuffins and I feed Max and got packed up for our trip back to SF and then on to Napa. It was a bright, sunny day! We had some beautiful vista and stopped along the way for some pictures of the surroundings. We found some 'happy cows" from CA and sheepies. The trip was much more enjoyable for all of us. We got into San Fran a little early and drove past the finish line for the Escape to Alcatraz triathalon. What a fabulous day for it! I think is was in the mid 70's when we got in. We parked in a pier just down from AT &T stadium. What a awesome stadium. Seriously, I just kept thinking, wow this is great! Outdoors, on a great day with a beer and some baseball! The Giants were playing their across bay rivals the Oakland A's. I think we knew more A's names than Giants but we still rooted for the home team. Robb prepared us ahead of time by buying me a jersey with Akerson 2 on the back ( my number, same as my vikings jersey =)), Robb got a hat and Max got a little Giants hoodie! We had so much fun, I am so glad we made the trip back down and we were able to make it to a game! Max fell fell asleep on the way out so we took aour time getting back to the car. We recieved a B&B gift card from our wedding and decided to cash it in on a B&B in Napa Valley. So, we headed up to Napa after the game. It was a relatively short drive. Napa was different than I had suspected. The B&B was great. Very nice and fun. I don't think they get many babies though. I think we got a few looks. By the time we got in it had been a long day and we just wanted to unwind. Lotsa driving and sitting through the game and getting out of the parking lot and driving again. We needed a simple dinner so we got some take in and got comfy. I set up my new laptop we bought at costco and we googled. On the drive into SF I saw a target and we made a stop. Can't pass up a target, no way! right next door was Costco, so we took a look. We had been talking this last year about getting me a new computer, so we just did it. yay!

Anyway, we looked at the map and planned out our day in Napa and the route back to Point Arena.

Say Hey, I love you

Day 2, June 13th, Adventure Day

We started the day nice and early! Our first adventure to look around the place, since we arrived in the dark! Next, we went into the town to the north to find some grub! We rung up quite a large tab! California is EXPENSIVE! But, he had groceries. We headed home with our loot and made it back in time for an informational meeting with other late arrivals. By the time I got back from learning about the lay for the land and local to-do's Robb had made a pancake, egg and bacon breakfast! Yummy!!

Then, we piled back into the car to see the local working fishing pier. We got to see lotsa doggies and one fisherman's catches of the day. Rockfish are the fish in the area. After that, we drove up into Anchor bay briefly and into Gualala. There are many little restaurants and "hippy shops" as Robb calls them. On the drive back, Max feel asleep so we thought we'd drive around to get familiar with the area and let him sleep for awhile. We decided to head to a town inland for a winery there. It felt like time for some wine! Little did we know that the road went up into mountains and was very windy. I pretty much sat white knuckled while Robb navigated. Just a little uneasy to look out and see nothing because the bottom is no where to be seen. Our 27 mile ride took a little over an hour but we found the Anderson Valley Vineyards! It was pretty neat to get to do a wine tasting. We both had never done one so we had lots to learn about. Our first stop was at Zina Hyde Cunningham tasting room. We had the classic flight. mmmm wine! We bought a bottle of Riesling and moved on. We found Anderson Valley Brewery for Robb. Robb did a taste testing while Max got his fill. By now it was 4pm with most vineyards closing at 5pm so we picked one more and got movin. Meyers Family Cellars was our pick. It was just another tasting room but they had a cute little playground area outside so all three of us got to have a little fun. After the taste test we took Max to the swing and had a little fun. We were the only ones there and taste just two of their best the Cabernet Savignon and Port. We learned a bunch about wine and the area. We bought a bottle of port and then headed home. I was just as nervous driving back. Its hard to think about one slip and we are doing a thelma and lousie ending. One positive, I loaded my ipod before we left full of travelin' music and we found a song that would be "our" trip song. It was "say hey, I love you" by Michael Franti and Spearhead. Great song! Alas, we made it back unscathed! We made a noodle hotdish ( you can take us out of MN, but not the MN out of us!) and we were all so tired from our big day of adventure ( and wine!) that we retired early. I think 9pm CA time. Probably good with our exciting day back to San Fran tomorrow!

California Cruisin

Day 1, June 12th, travel day

We left the house around 9am to get a brueggers breakfast and then head to granpa ray's for a lift to the airport. We got to the airport with plenty of time for our 1145 flight to San Francisco. We were in the last row on the plane and it was packed. Max did awesome! He never cried; he did let out a few excited squeals though. Robb got to play his Nintendo DS and Max was very interested in learning. We got to the airport doing well. The rental car line however, was a nuisance. 2 hours we sat inline to get our car. Since we used frequent flyer miles on our airline tickets and got the timeshare from my mom we thought we'd go all out on the car. We got a black mustang convertible for our coast cruisin'. We also rented a GPS and carseat. Let me just say the GPS is neat and has come in handy, but I wish we would have brought our own carseat. I haven't looked but I think the carseat is really old.

So, after we got out to the car and jenga-ed our luggage into the car we set sail. Well until we hit the hwy at 5pm on a friday. Lets just say rush hour stinks in CA. Sure was neat to see some new sights though. Max did well for most of the trip. It took us about 4.5 hours to get to our timeshare, up the CA coast. Thats with a few pit stops. We drove HWy 1 along the coast for a few miles which is SO beautiful, but very windy and slow driving. Lots of mountains, too, which means equalizing the pressure in your ears which is hard to explain to a baby.

We got to our cute little cabin about 930pm. It is a single wide modular home, that had been a campground previously. It is perfect for our needs though. There is a full kitchen and bathroom, one bedroom and a pullout couch. The kitchen even has granite counter! All of about 5 feet of countertop, but its granite! So I got us all unpacked and settled. Then we took a snooze to energize for a nice day of exploring. ( we made a make-shift bed for Max in our big suitcase with pillows and the extra blanket!)