Hiking, SJ and SF

By Rachel On March 6th, 2010

The past few days have been really fun.  Living here for almost four years already, I forget what an amazing place it is.  Also, having not seen my sister for a couple of years, I forgot how much fun she is to be around!  Brett being here makes everything even more fun.  He is a really nice guy and I’m glad my sister got such a catch ;)

This was a picture my sister just gave me of her and Brett on the airplane on the way here.  They were so excited!

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When they arrived, they couldn’t stop basking in the sunlight and oohing and aahing over the flowers everywhere.  They were so happy to see blue skies and bright flowers in the beginning of March.  That’s something that I have started to take for granted a little bit, but it’s so great seeing it through their eyes.  It reminds me how thankful I should be to have this while other people are having snow, rain, and generally poor weather!

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Yesterday afternoon we took advantage of the beautiful weather and went on a hike in Los Gatos.

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My sister and Brett don’t get to hike as much as they would like in Ohio, especially in the winter.  So they requested that we do lots of good hiking while they were in town.

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Do you think we look alike? 

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I don’t see the resemblance at all. 

We even saw a few cute bunnies!

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They also met Mendy and JB for the first time.  JB was hiding at first, but now is starting to come around and hang out with us all.  Mendy, of course, was friendly right off the bat.  Especially once they came home from a trip to the dollar store with a new cat toy!!

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Friday evening we went into downtown San Jose.  S took Sarah and Brett on a quick tour of the San Jose office for his company, where some quick games of foosball were played.  Obviously.

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We walked around the city, and went out for dinner.

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Unfortunately, I didn’t take a picture of that.  But I did take a picture of this:

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Chocolate mousse cake at Bijan Bakery where we went for dessert and a coffee.

Brett’s actions shot:

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A good time was had by all.

Saturday morning we headed up to San Francisco.  Once again, it was a beautiful, sunny day.  This is more rare in San Francisco than in San Jose, so I didn’t take it for granted!

Once again, we stopped by S’s office for a quick tour of the office he currently works out of.

More foosball.  Obv.

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Then we walked around Fishermans Wharf and the Embarcadero.

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The parking lot at the wharf was completely packed… we barely got a space at the top on the 5th level!

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First we saw my favorite… the sea lions!

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And of course the seagulls, I’m not a fan.  But they do photograph well!  My sister loved the sea lions.

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We saw the teeniest dog that I have ever seen.  Is this even a dog? 

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Brett and Sarah loved looking at Alcatraz, too.  There were tons of boats out on the water since the weather was so nice.

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I saw my friend Sponge Bob hanging out at the Wharf…

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He was happy to see me. 

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Brett made a friend, too.

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We saw the making of the sourdough.  Sarah loved this little turtle.

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I loved these adorable measuring spoons.

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Of course we went to Ghirardelli Square…

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Where a big sundae was had.  Brett initially looked very overwhelmed.

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But the task became more manageable when my sister came back from the bathroom.

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I love seeing all the chocolate as they are making it for their sundaes.

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We got back to the car right as the sun was beginning to set.

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Then we headed close to the Golden Gate Bridge, where we watched it set completely.

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It was a fantastic day!

Unfortunately, I have to work tonight, so it will be a long night and I will likely be tired tomorrow.  But I am loving my sister being here!!!

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