California Day 1, San Francisco

First thing you notice about San Francisco is the hilly streets! This one was so steep the sidewalks were actually stairs!

The famous crooked Lombard street - yes, I drove down it!

Leave it to me to find not just any candy store but one full of taffy barrels!

Alcatraz

Sea lions lounging on the boat docks

beautiful farm stand on the pier

The original creators of sourdough bread.

Welcome to San Francisco! It is a wonderful 56 degrees here - the perfect reprieve from 90 degree Ohio heat. Sam and I have an exciting week planned seeing the sights of San Francisco, Napa Valley, Lake Tahoe, and Muir Woods, and visiting my family in California. After a slight plane delay, we arrived in the city with plenty of time to explore Fisherman's Wharf, Pier 39, and drive down Lombard Street, one of the crookedest streets in America, not once but twice so that Sam and I could both drive it :) We enjoyed a delicious lunch at Boudin's Bakery, famous for creating sourdough bread. It was neat to watch them shape animals from bread dough, although I wouldn't pay the asking price of $19.95 just to have my bread in the shape of a crab. Ha! Oh well, it's a touristy area so what do you expect?! San Francisco is an interesting city from the little bit we saw today and I'm looking forward to exploring some of the less touristy parts tomorrow. Stay tuned for more pictures and trip details! Good night from the city on the bay :)

O'Shaughnessy Dam

With all the rain we've had lately, the dam was really flowing! We found a pretty tree with purple flowers growing on the trunk. I didn't know flowers could actually grew on a tree trunk, so I took a picture :)

Update on my garden!!

Cilantro and basil just starting to sprout

My first baby green pepper!!

"Colleen, Colleen

Quite the queen

Her gardening thumb is green;

With peppers, herbs, and tomatoes too,

Her plants all slightly grew."

"Leather Lips"

One of the many art sculptures found in Dublin..."Leather Lips" ~ the name given to the Native American chief long ago when the Wyandot tribe lived on this land. His real name was something long and hard to pronounce, so the white settlers named him Leather Lips because he always kept his promises. This sculpture is in Scioto Park and is made from individually laid flat rocks. I chose to overlook the "do not climb" plaque that is so nicely placed in front of the giant head in order to capture a blog-worthy photo :) You're welcome.

Golf???

One of the tees...tricky course!

The "hole" consists of a basket with metal chains, so the object is to throw the frisbee into the basket and the chains will catch it.

Finally the weather has turned nice (hopefully I didn't just jinx that!!) so we are able to be outside doing everything that we loved doing in DC, one of which is frisbee golf. Although, I use the term "golf" very lightly because the game really doesn't remind me of golf at all. 1) No clubs, 2) no carts, 3) no special shoes required, 4) no flags...and for that matter, no holes, and 5) no clubhouse. Might as well be called frisbee football since after all, you throw the frisbee like you throw a football. Definitely no throwing a ball in golf! Nevertheless, it's a fun game and something fun to do outside. We found a scenic course to explore this past weekend, so I enjoyed taking pictures while attempting to throw the frisbee and not hit any other players or land it in the Scioto River :)

Apartment living

One of the things I love doing most in the spring and summer is gardening, especially growing fruits and vegetables. I tried growing herbs in my DC kitchen but never had any luck....not enough sun + too much water = dead plants. Guess I didn't take into consideration the fact that the plants were in pots and therefore didn't require as much water as if they were in a flower bed. Oops! Anyways, finally I have a beautiful balcony on my apartment with lots of great sunshine and space, so I'm back to being a gardener. Of course, I still have potted plants but this time I bought a water gauge so I don't over water :)

My garden this year consists of parsley, basil, cilantro, Roma tomatoes, cheery tomatoes, green pepper, sweet orange pepper (currently still being grown in a mini greenhouse inside until it starts sprouting), and 4 strawberry plants. I had so much fun at the greenhouse this weekend looking at all the plants, but always-thinking-Sam reminded me I didn't have an actual garden, so I better stay away from the raspberry plant that grows 3 feet wide and 4 feet tall :) Sill, it's going to be a yummy summer!