Just breathe....and take vacation

Wow, finally caught up. We ran a huge sale in my store - The Preemie Store and ended up shipping more in about 10 days than we normally do in a month. It was just crazy around here with baby clothes piled up waiting to be packed and shipped on every flat surface. But its all done now.  New inventory is coming in and getting put away. Finally found time to update my blog for our recent trip to San Francisco and Lake Tahoe.

Its going to be a different kind of year. Due to the economy, 3M has told its employees they cannot bank vacation anymore. Somehow this saves money and jobs..... Bill used to have 10 weeks (the maximum allowed) of vacation "saved up" at all times, in fact he would lose vacation some months because he earned more than he used.  With the new rules,  he has to use (or lose) 5 weeks of that banked vacation this year in addition to his regular 5 weeks. Same thing next year until he's down to no banked vacation. So that means almost one week every month!! Life is going to change!

 Some of it will be just taking Fridays off and working in his shop but we will also take more short trips and hopefully one long one.  No excuses of too much work to do, the company has to find ways to work around it. I think this will be a nice change of pace - maybe it will let me know if I really want him to retire in a couple more years....

We already have planned, a trip to Las Vegas to see Phantom of the Opera there, trip to our niece's wedding shower, two out of state family weddings, a cat show,  a feline breeding conference, some time at our family condo and MAYBE a trip to Sicily. That should probably take care of most of it.... wow, maybe its not that much. Its getting allocated fast.

And back home....

We had an uneventful drive through the mountains and got our last look at San Francisco at sunset.  

Katie managed to get on an earlier flight to LA and we sat several hours waiting for our red-eye flight to Minnesota but all went well and we arrived home about 5:30AM on the 27th.... ready to do laundry and pack up again for a trip to northern Minnesota for New Years....gluttons for snow punishment.

Lake Tahoe

We didn't go to Lake Tahoe to ski, which made us an oddity right there.... but we did go to see scenery. The drive up there was exciting as we drove into mountains with snow appearing as we progressed.

Our first view of Lake Tahoe - little did we know it was our last until the day we left...

Christmas Day- definitely a white Christmas - we had about 15 inches on the lake level and more up on the slopes, in fact most ski areas were closed at least part of the day.  

We went for walks in the snow, ate at a couple of very good restaurants - from a tiny southern BBQ, Womacks which was exquisite Southern cooking in a fun atmosphere, the unassuming Driftwood Cafe which had great sandwiches, to an expensive Hawaiian seafood restaurant, Kalani's. Enjoyed good breakfasts at Embassy Suites too.

By that afternoon the sky was clearing and by Dec 26th, it was sunny and warmer and beautiful.

Driving home the roads were already cleared - and full of people arriving for the New Years holiday skiing.

Fisherman's Wharf

After the tour, we stayed down by Fisherman's Wharf and walked around as darkness fell. The harbor was full of boats with Christmas lights but the pictures just didn't really do them justice.


Aliotos was lit up beautifully and the city lights against the hills were gorgeous.

Then we went to eat at Scoma's, a seafood restaurant on the water. It was very nice and the food was good, we didn't vote it in our top three all time restaurants but enjoyed it.

Then on to Ghiradelli Square for some chocolate dessert!

The Golden Gate Bridge....

The always beautiful Golden Gate bridge....

San Francisco - the Bus Tour- Part 2

Twin Peaks - the bus driver told us all about the various areas of San Francisco including the one called "Sunset area" where you really never even see the sun because it is always foggy. And even that area cooperated with us and was clear - so when he told us that we were lucky and we could get up to Twin Peaks, we responded by taking lots of pictures.... its a beautiful city and tempting to want to live there until the bus driver set us straight on housing prices.... and fog....

San Francisco - the Bus Tour- Part 1

So funny thing, Christina really wanted to just stay in the hotel and do whatever it is she does on her computer. We talked her into the bus tour and then she found out there actually are things to do in San Francisco - unfortunately now they are things she'll have to do on another trip.... Alcatraz, the Winchester House, etc

So here are a few things that caught my eye - through the bus window.... except the city hall with its weird trimmed trees where we got out for a few minutes. We heard lot of information about San Francisco architecture and the various areas of the city. Coming up next - Twin Peaks and the Golden Gate Bridge....