Hawaii, Reno, and San Francisco

Recently I have been to Hawaii, Reno, San Francisco and back!  Okay, maybe I didn't physically go to Hawaii, but I sure felt like I was there as I walked through the office.  On the 31st of August we had a luau work party where people decorated their cubicles and office space.  Some got a little crazy so you really did feel like you were walking into a different place.  Thanks to Desiree, a friend of mine, I was able to participate in the festivities.   

Yes, this is where I spend 8-12 hours a day!

I won 1st place in the "Best Use of Fish" Category!

Over Labor Day weekend I really did go to Reno and San Franciso and spent the weekend with my good friend Ashlee Carter.  It was awesome! I flew in to Reno on Thursday evening and we caught up over dinner at Red Robins.

Friday morning we got in the car and road-tripped it to San Francisco.  It was a 4 hour drive, but time goes quickly when you have good company.  Ater we checked into our hotel room suite we got adventurous and decided to brave public transportation.  That was definitely interesting.  We headed across town to the Picasso exhibit. 

Funny story...we met a guy on the bus who was also going to the exhibit so he stayed with us the entire time.  His name is Luis, he is 33 years old, and he is from Costa Rica.  He had some great stories, not to mention he was pretty cute! He owns a restaurant in Costa Rica and was in town for a wedding.  Picasso is not my favorite, but as a good supportive friend, I went.  With Luis around though it did add to the experience! We parted ways and Ashlee and I wondered if we would ever see or hear of Luis again.  Turns out with the little we knew of him we were able to stock him and eventually found him on Facebook.  Ashlee has befriended him in FB... its such a small world!

Outside the Picasso Exhibit... we never got a picture with Luis (sad day!)

It was a true girls weekend, because the rest of Friday was spent being doing what else? Shopping of course! We went to H&M which was great! We also, for the fun of it, went into a Tiffany's and found the rings we eventually want to wear on our left hand! Good times!

Saturday morning we headed out pretty early and spent the day at Fisherman's Warf.  Who would have thought it would be so difficult to find a breakfast place there? After wondering for about 30 minutes we eventually asked the Marriot valet people where they recommend we go for breakfast.  Definitely a good idea since we were directed to this little cafe type place which was packed.  It was a pretty chilly morning on the coast, so we found a Starbucks and Ashlee got hot chocolate and I got a cup of hot water which was delightful to carry around. 

After breakfast we went on the Bay Cruise.  Tourse of Alcatrz were sold out until like September 17th... who knew it was so popular? Anyway, we went on the Bay Cruise which was great.  We didn't get to go on the island of Alcatraz, but we did get a great tour which took us out to the golden gate bridge and around Alcatraz.  It was very well done and I highly recommend you do this if you go to San Francisco, especially if you only have about an hour to spare instead of the 3 hours the Alcatraz tour would take.

Ready to board the ship

On the boat looking back towards San Francisco

Alcatraz

 Golden Gate Bridge

Once the Bay cruise concluded, we headed right to the submarine docked at Fisherman's Warf and went on a tour.  The audio made the tour awesome, it was fun to hear the stroies, facts and details of the boat.  I would never have thought it possible that 70+ men could be in that little of space for a 6 month time.  Crazy! 

Pretty tight quarters!

They got a shower about every 10 days... yuck!



We wondered around Fisherman's Warf for a little while longer before getting on the road to head back to Reno.  Don't worry, we didn't leave before we got our free piece of ghirardelli chocolate. :^)

The trip back to Reno took about 6 hours since there was so much traffic.  I don't think I could ever live in California.  It's a good thing we weren't in a hurry to get back for anything and the company was still just as great, so the drive, though long, was good.

Saturday night we saw a bit of Reno since we went to dinner and then went to a movie.  The next morning we had a lovely drive up the mountain to see Tahoe Lake.  It's amazing that the ski resort is seriously only 20 minutes away from the city.  Nice! The view was awesome and it was such a pretty day! 

Sunday afternoon Ashlee invited a few friends over for a fabulous dinner and a fun evening of great conversation.  It's nice to know that no matter where you are there are good people! We were having so much fun that they didn't leave until 11:30pm and Ashlee and I had to be out of the house by 4:00am to make it to the airport.  I got a 2 hour nap that night... needless to say I was struggling to keep my eyes open when my lack of sleep caught up to me on Tuesday!

Ashlee flew out Monday morning at 6:30am  and since it was an international flight we had to be at the airport mighty early.  I didn't wait but 30 minutes after she left before my flight started boarding.  Good timeing!

Thanks Ashlee for the great trip! It really was awesome to spend time with a great friend!

Last story... last night I went to a fireside where Sister Sheri Dew and Sister Wendy Nelson spoke.  They were amazing!! I love Sheri Dew, she is one of my hero's! I even got to shake their hands and thank them for coming.  It was great!