California cruzin'

What a weekend! Brian, Isabeau, Fruzsi and I went to a wedding in Chico, CA this weekend. We also took our business partner, Ken, along with us. What a ride!! 14 hours one way, at night (mostly), in the cramped back seat of a pick-up truck. Wow. We survived!!!!
We spent one day in San Francisco. We met up with my Mom at Pier 39. She drove up from Monterey where she had been visiting at Glen and Elizabeth's. We walked along the Embarcadero, looked in shops, bought stuff and finally took a tour in an old-fashioned car (Mr. Toad's tours or something like that). The tour guide was amazing!! He took us under the Golden Gate Bridge, through most of the Presidio, around some of the neighborhoods along the bay, to the top of Lombard Street (the really crooked part), and then met us at the bottom (he's not allowed to take the car down it). He had so much great information and was a lot of fun. We wish we had more time in SF but we headed out in the late afternoon to head north.
We spent the night in Paradise, CA, which is about 15 minutes from Chico. There was some sort of event going on and all the hotels in Chico were booked by the time our hosts tried to get reservations. Paradise is a nice little town. The town itself reminds me of Gold Beach although it's a very different surrounding.
On Saturday, we enjoyed driving around Chico a bit, visiting with our friends and setting up for the wedding. Brian and Ken did the sound system for the ceremony and reception so they had that to keep them busy. I took a lot of the "before" photos of the bride and wedding party. Brian and I took all of their photos. I got a new camera several weeks ago and the photos turned out fabulous!!! I am very pleased with the capabilities of my camera!!
The ceremony was short and very nice. It was held in the groom's parent's backyard (they have 6 acres so it's not a small place!). Being California, the flowers are all blooming and it was a beautiful setting. There was a wonderful dinner after the ceremony and we enjoyed visiting until late in the evening. We were all exhausted by the time we got back to the hotel around midnight.
On Sunday, we loaded up the truck and headed home. We were able to stop at my Uncle Bob and Aunt Faith's home to visit with them on our way. I don't remember the last time I was at their home!! I always see them other places. Uncle Bob thinks that I was very young (under 5) the last time I was there. It was probably when we lived in Sacramento.
We didn't head out of the city until almost 5:30pm which got us home right around 5:30am the next morning!!! We slept in late and the boys got to school about an hour late. They were okay with that. :-) They had spent the weekend at Grandma and Grandpa's here in town. Grandpa brought them home on Sunday evening. Brandon is old enough to take care of them and did a great job of getting them to bed and to sleep so they could go to school the next morning.
Our next trip to California will be in June! But we are flying, not driving!! Thank heaven!!!!!! We'll be going to Disneyland and the whole family will be going this time!! I love visiting California and I am always glad to get home and know that I live here and not there!