More about Cali

OK now that I have gotten the photos out I can tell you a little bit more about our trip.

We spent the first 2 nights at the Hotel Stratford near Union Square in SF. Union Square is an area of San Fran designed to drain your bank account in exchange for worldly goods and feelings of inadequacy. Chain stores, department stores, boutiques, and icons abound. Mike and I popped in Niketown, Barneys, and the Apple Store, to name a few. All we could do in Barneys was look at how expensive things were and say "no way!" I mean check out the prices on these men's shoes.

In Niketown, Mike recognized the atheletic director for MSU, who was there for the Saturday game vs. Cal Berkeley. MSU lost their game on Saturday, but we got to meet Mark Hollis in person. Whooo- hooo?!

Thursday evening Mike and I did the tourist thing and rode the cable car to Chinatown. Afterward, we hit North Beach for some Italian cuisine for dinner. We lucked out and got some cheaps eats that were really tasty. Around 7 pm I was ready for bed so we headed back to the hotel. I know, what a loser! Cut me some slack, I had only gotten a few hours of sleep the night before and was still on east coast time.

Friday morning we headed to Fort Mason to get a good view of Alcatraz, the Golden Gate Bridge, and the neighborhood in Pac Heights where I used to nanny. We weren't disappointed. The weather was great and so was the site seeing.

In the afternoon, we met up with Brent and Mollie Shannon (parents to the lovely Etta) who live in Noe Valley and were hosting pals Krista and Charlie. We caught up over take-out and then headed to Brendan and Kelly's pad for a pre-wedding gathering.
We saw lots of folks from way back when (by that I mean middle school, high school, and beyond).

Saturday morning, Mike realized that he could start watching college football at 9 am, so he decided he wanted to move out west.

Saturday afternoon we picked up KP and Charlie and headed to Los Gatos for the wedding. All of the wedding goers were decked out in style. The Ranch was decorated as if out of a bridal magazine. The ceremony was great- officiated by a really hip dude who allegedly grew up in W-S. I never met him, though, so I don't know his story, but he should be on tv.

The bride and groom were honey-sweet. I'll tell you more about them and pick up this story tomorrow. My eyeballs are telling me it's time for bed.