California So I got ONE HOUR OF SLEEP on Thursday night before the trip. One. I got a few hours of sleep on the plane.. Obviously not enough..

When we got to San Francisco, we were on the tram that took us to the rental car area. I looked out the window and saw a hill. My knee-jerk thought was, “Oh, look, a landfill.” Then I realized we weren’t in South Florida.. it was a mound of earth NOT filled with trash. What a concept! How nice!

We had to wait a long time for the rental car, which sucked.. I could feel my time in California ticking by while sitting in an uncomfortable airport chair. Our car became available just as Chris’s cousin from LA, Tony, showed up. He had flown in, too. We got our car and went to pick up his other cousin, whose name I can’t spell, who had just landed on a flight from Boston.



We went and got pictures at the Golden Gate Bridge, then stopped off for food at a brewery-restaurant overlooking the ocean at Golden Gate Park. (Maybe the other way around?) It was trippy since the sun was on its way to setting, so it felt like it was in the wrong place in the sky. (“The sun is over there – so shouldn’t it be morning?”)

Then we drove on over to Napa.. By the time we got there, it was dark. I dazedly greeted Chris’s family and took a quick shower, then dressed for the welcome reception. They had a picture show of Catherine’s and Tim’s childhoods, which was really nice.. Chris’s parents really did create blessed childhoods for their kids. Honestly. I think Chris had been more places by the time he was 10 than I have been by now, at 29! Catherine had piano lessons and dance lessons. She played Carnegie Hall. There she was, smiling in San Francisco – in front of the Twin Towers – at the beach. Most importantly, she looked liked she had a very, very happy childhood. It was really nice.

We fell into a coma for 7 hours, then got up early to get ready for the wedding. When I got up, I finally got to see what Napa looked like. It was awesome. Outside our hotel room window, we had beautiful hills with hot air balloons floating in the sky.. Too bad I couldn’t get any better pictures.



The hotel had a pool. Chris and I had to run to Target that morning.. When we came back, I suggested to him that we go swimming, laughing. It was like 50 degrees out. As we were getting out of the car and laughing, looking at the pool, we both paused as we realized someone was in it. Outside. She got out of the pool just as we realized.. Now, I’m sure the pool was heated, but the outside sure wasn’t. Brave girl. Maybe she really needed to wake up? Hangover?

The wedding was gorgeous. It was so cold in the morning.. I was worried about my sleeveless, above-the-knee black dress, but by the time we got to Auberge du Soleil, where the wedding was, it was nice and warm. By the time the ceremony rolled around, everyone who got stuck sitting in the sun was actually hot.





Da Bo (Catherine) was gorgeous. Brides are always gorgeous, of course, but she started out that way, so I knew she’d look especially pretty. Tim kissed her every 10 seconds or so. They seem very happy. It was a happy day.





We sat with Chris’s friend Dawn, Patty, Patty’s boyfriend John, Tony, and the cousins who came in from Australia.

Chris ate part of the centerpiece. This caused John to ask, “What about this man says Successful Doctor?” Ha!





See something is off?

After the wedding, we drove back to San Francisco. We stopped off at one point and I got some pics on the side of the road.. Napa is so pretty.





We saw the bridge at night.





Chris found Lombard Street for me. We drove down it twice. It cracked me up, totally.




Then we found the hotel. Chris picked a nice one! We cleaned ourselves up and grabbed a cab to Fishermans’ Wharf for some sub-par shrimp dinners. By the time we left there, it was nearly midnight – 3 a.m. our time. We were tired. We couldn’t find a cab to get home. Our strawberry shortcake was melting.

Eventually we got back. We woke up early and watched the sun rise over the bay out our hotel window in bed. Then Chris said, okay, we have a couple of hours before we go to the airport – what do you want to do? I said, aren’t there sea lions here somewhere? So we got the scoop from the hotel concierge on where to see them – head back to where we had dinner the night before! So we did. And oh my god, I’m glad.



I absolutely LOVED the sea lions. Loved. Chris was trying to get a picture of me at one point and he asked why I was smiling funny, and I’m like – because I am choked up right now! They were LOUD and all of them were either fighting or sleeping like babies.. It was just hilarious. I loved them. I can’t wait to see them in the Galapagos. Chris assures me I will be sick of them by the time we leave there, but I can’t believe it. :)











He ended up literally pulling me away by my backpack.. Apparently we were running really late for our flight. Luckily, we weren’t checking bags or anything and we made it. Oh, he did stop by Lombard Street again so I could hop out of the car to get a daytime shot. SUCH A GOOD BOY!



Of course, the plane didn’t – Chicago was especially windy and O’Hare limited the amount of flights they were accepting, so we were forced to circle over Iowa for a while. We got to our connecting ORD-FLL flight while it was still sitting on the runway, but after anyone was there to let us on the plane. That sucked. The flights to West Palm Beach and Miami for the night were booked, too. But we could fly home the next morning at 8, they told us.



This is a whole bunch of annoyed people missing their flights. I sat there and took pictures and tried to not worry. That technique obviously did not work.

Luckily, my boy is smart. He had Patty find us a flight out of Midway that night, so we cabbed it there and were back in Fort Lauderdale by 11:30. I won’t say how much it cost, but Chris said it was worth it, so that’s all that matters.. :)

Now I just need to get caught up on my sleep!  ¶ 4:39 PM