I've been to the Bay Area many times before, but this was my first plus baby trip. Don't worry I don't think because I'm plus baby everything is new, but let me tell you travel with a baby is very different than I'm used to. I've enjoyed a solo lifestyle of jet setting and hotels with bars. Now my travel is all about me & the boys, car trips, and hotels with kitchens. The beginning of the trip was all work (no play) for me. We stayed in Newark in a Homewood Suites. I was a fan of the Homewood Suites before, but now I'm obsessed, they are perfect for family/business travel. This is where I left my boys while I drove all over the Bay Area. My first stop was in Santa Rosa, a decent trek from Newark, after a conference call with me sitting in a gas station parking lot and many hours in traffic, I finally made it there by 10 AM, and by 11 I had only made 4 stops. Not a good pace since I had 6 more to go and a lot more ground to cover. So when I made it to my #1 of my 100 places I was not pleased. Well Skippy died on my last year (that's what we named the GPS my parents gave my sisters & I for Christmas several years ago. The GPS had to have a name so when he failed us we had a name to curse at). Since Skippy died on me I've been using google maps in my iPhone, which is awesome if you can read a map, but I'm challenged in this department. So this brought me to my first of 100. I would have just turned around if I wasn't in this competition. But I ended up in Howarth Park , this place is beautiful and made me want to move to Santa Rosa. I got out of the car in my work clothes and felt totally out of place right away. Folk
s were on bikes, had their running shoes, or getting ready to rent canoes for the day. The smell of Eucalyptus was strong and there was an energy in the air that made me want to work out. For a short time I dreamed about living there and taking my baby to one of their many parks or strolling with him in the jogger down the shaded path, and then I was pulled back to reality when a biker passed me in his tight shorts and looked at me strangely. It's not often a guy in tight shorts make me feel out of place, but remember I was in my work clothes. Here's the picture to note my first place.The same day I made the wrong turn into Howarth Park, I also traveled from Santa Rosa to Napa on Highway 12. Now normally I wouldn't try to pull off a highway as a destination/ new place, but the drive is breathtaking from Santa Rosa to Sonoma especially. While I was driving I was thinking, I love that my job takes me to such beautiful places. There are times when I'm driving alone that I'm overcome with gratefulness for my boy, my husband, my family, my life. Today the view struck the "I love my life" cord. Maybe it was the rolling hills, or the grape veins, or the blue sky, I don't know exactly what it was, but it was one of those times I wish I could bottle the feeling.
After passing through the heart of Sonoma I stopped for lunch at Pizzeria Capri right by train town. I had homemade soup & caprise salad at the charming family owned restaurant. So I snapped the photo for my number 2 place in front of train town and hwy 12, but it seriously doesn't do the place justice and I feel pretty ridiculous in this photo.For a proper explanation on the significance of the number 3 place I think I'll post in a separate blog. But I'll post here the photo and the story of how we arrived to Sweet Joanna's. Me and the boys moved ourselves out of Newark to San Fransisco after a couple days. We were convinced by my mother to stay with the rest of the family in the city. All the family was in town for Danielle and Kevin's wedding, what a fun wedding weekend! It was well worth the move. The weather was beautiful in the city and made me want to walk for coffee in the morning, even though we had our own Starbucks in our hotel. So I made the boys and Lib walk too, with promises of coffee only blocks away. Well here again, I didn't read my Google maps properly and I got us a little lost.
We finally found another Starbucks, and after getting properly caffeinated we stumbled on a breakfast/lunch place called Sweet Joanna's. Lib and I decided we wanted to come back, maybe for lunch? Once we got back from coffee we met our parents, who had just picked up Kris and David from SFO, and we all decided to walk to Union Square. After our touristy walk around the square we were getting hungry and Lib and I had to pull for Sweet Joanna's over Quiznos. It was a bit of a power struggle to get there and the whole time in my head I was praying for it to be worth it. Thank goodness it was; Thank you Sweet Joanna!The power struggle for Sweet Joanna's put us in bit of a time crunch to get dolled up for Danielle and Kevin's wedding. We had been looking forward to this wedding for months, and it was everything and more than we had hoped for.
It really was a weekend wedding extravaganza starting with the Giants game on Friday night, where 95 guests attended the game with the bride and groom; where Lou the Seal gave them a ride around the field! The wedding ceremony was beautiful in an old catholic church in downtown San Fransisco. Such a gorgeous place for wedding! And the picked the best view of the city for their reception: Treasure Island (my #4 place).It's seriously the only place I know of that you can see the Bay Bridge, the Golden Gate and the view of San Fransisco all in one panorama.
And oh my, I kept being surprised by the fun things at the wedding: photo booth, espresso bar, fire pits for smores, and they ordered best weather I've ever experienced in San Fransisco. I think it was a high of 75. The wedding was a blast and for a seriously great couple. Danielle and Kevin are so genuine. It felt like it was such a privilege to share the day with them, thanks for making it so fun!The next morning in San Fransisco we got to celebrate my Dad's birthday over breakfast at Mel's, of course it was delicious! Krissy says it didn't count as a place because we had all been to one before. Krissy has the best memory of our bunch so I trusted her, but had to take a photo in front of "my" place anyways.
When deciding to leave the city we decided to go South on 101 until it's met 152; a much more beautiful drive than 580. But it's probably not the most efficient. Since we were headed this way I convinced Justin to stop at Casa de Fruita. 
I had never been before so this would be my #5 place; and Jensen needed a diaper change and a full belly before we went much further. This place was hilarious, Casa de hilarious! Everything is named Casa de blank: Casa de Sweets, Casa de Wine, Casa de RV, Casa de Gas, etc.; but my favorite Casa de Choo Choo. The whole time we were there it reminded me of Casa Bonita in Colorado (totally different place, but hits the same high score on the corny scale).
So my family does this thing we call High/lows. It started when we visited Krissy while she was an exchange student there during college. We traveled every day to many different places and at the end of the day over dinner, or in the car we'd recap on our best part of the day (high) and worst part of the day (low). We resisted My Mom's attempt at forced family fun, but we now totally embrace and force anyone at dinner with our family to partake in high/lows. Most say they hate it, but we know they love it, try it! It's actually a really great way to hear everyone's perspective on the day, trip, weekend, or whatever.
So here's my high/low of the trip:
Low: Is that I did a fist bump that wasn't even cool in the 80's at the Giants game. The giants had just had a great play and the crowd went wild and someone sitting next to me (much younger and cooler than I) fist bumped me and I hit his fist high and low, like some lame person. It was so bad it took him out of the excitement of the play, the moment, and he has asked me only to do fist bumps like that on Friday. Ugh, I'm old and too embrassing to take out!
High: It's hard to pick because it was a stellar trip! But my baby boy pulled out his party pants for the night of the wedding and was a great kid until 9:30, way past his bedtime. He allowed us to hang out, dance, make smores; while he got passed around from person to person. I'm really so lucky Jensen is mine! I think that will be my high in life.
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