$500 seats.

Last night we went to an Angels game. Sim and Scott got 4 tickets for free from someone who couldn't use them. The tickets were WAY high up but we were able to move down this far.

At Fenway, these seats would be $500 each, and more if they were playing the Yankees. Also, Fenway would never be this empty. It was actually a really fun night but it's certain that no city loves baseball like Boston.

My first fall-ish meal.

I have been seeing recipes for spaghetti squash ALL OVER THE PLACE. I had never eaten one in my life, or even heard of one till a couple months ago. We aren't big squash eaters. But it's getting to be fall and I've been seeing them at the commissary and I am trying to cook extremely healthy so I can fit into my ball dress that I bought a year ago when I was skinnier and decided not to wear at the last minute. So I decided to bring a spaghetti squash home with me.

Of all the recipes I saw, no one tells you that a spaghetti squash is like basically impossible to cut. Good thing you just eat the outsides because if I had to serve it in pieces we would have had massacred squash on our plates. I actually had to have Matt cut it in half... with a serrated knife. Come to find out you can just poke holes in it and bake it whole. But the recipe called for it to be cut in half! I didn't know any better.

In the end, it was totally delicious. In actuality it's nothing like spaghetti but it still tastes good and it's more filling with less calories.

All I did was mix together 2 tablespoons of olive oil, 1/4 cup fresh basil, 1 teaspoon dried oregano (use 1 tbsp fresh if you have it), and 2 tbsp parmesan cheese. Then I chopped up 15 or so cherry tomatoes and threw them in the mix. When the squash cools, you can scrape it with a fork and it forms the "noodles." Then I threw them in the mix, added a little more parmesan and salt and pepper and voila.

Of course Matt couldn't eat a meal without meat so I sliced up some sauteed chicken and threw it in his bowl.

I have big plans for this squash. I'd like to julienne up some zucchini and carrots and make another similar dish. And then I'd like to treat it like actual spaghetti and mix it up with some fresh tomatoes and sauce and turkey sausage. And then I'd like to do some sort of pesto. Delicious right? Spaghetti squash will definitely be a regular in our house!

Big Bear

We were home from San Francisco for one day before we went camping at Big Bear with Sim and Scott. We've been home from Big Bear for two days, and needless to say I am still not unpacked from our San Francisco trip, let alone the camping trip. It was a crazy two weeks.

The drive up to Big Bear is brutal. Windiest road EVER. But as soon as I got a lake view (and saw a million antique stores) it was worth it.

The campsite.

Boulder Bay.

Matt tubing.

Absolutely ridiculous house on the lake. I wish I took a picture of this house with the house next to it for scale. This house has to have 18 bedrooms. It was insane.

The lake at dusk. (by Sim)

We spent our days on the lake and checking out antique stores. But let's just say we weren't smart enough to research how cold it gets at night. I never thought I would sleep outside in 35 degree weather, but I did! We spent the nights in front of the fire and playing spades. And me and Sim beat Matt and Scott about 150 times. And the boys actually did most of the cooking. Despite the cold nights, it was a really fun, relaxing trip and we feel so grateful to have met friends like Sim and Scott.

The Madonna Inn and Our Last Day

I knew we needed a halfway point between San Francisco and home, and San Luis Obispo was a pretty good stopping point. I don't know how I even came across this hotel, but once I did, I knew we HAD to stay there.

We were supposed to stay in a better room but the shower was broken. I was pretty disappointed. But our room, Hideaway, was still fun.





Yes, that is the shower made entirely of rock.

And a few more pictures:

The main building.

The pool area.

This is the dining room in the restaurant. We ate dinner here in a big pink booth and it was so fun. A jazz band plays and people dance and the room was so sparkly I couldn't even get a picture while we were eating.

Pretty cakes in the Copper Cafe.

We thought this would be a one time thing but we actually had so much fun we are already talking about coming back for a long weekend. The hardest part will be picking the room! We need to see Hearst Castle, Cambria, Santa Barbara, and Solvang (a favorite kitschy place of mine that Matt has never been!), at the very least. So we'll make another weekend out of it. Lucky for us, almost everything south of Santa Barbara can be made into a day trip. And the number of things we want to see north of Big Sur is ridiculous. Obviously we won't be able to do everything we hope to, but wine country, the redwoods, Lake Shasta (renting a houseboat with friends!!), and another trip to Carmel are absolute musts. Honestly I think we were meant to live in Northern California.

Anyway, we went back towards Morro Bay before heading home because there was an antique store we saw on the way down that I wanted to check out. I didn't actually find anything. But look at this major landmark:
Crazy, right? It looks like aliens put it there or something. Actually now that I look back at the picture it kind of looks like it could be Hawaii!

Since we weren't making anymore stops we planned to take the 101 to the 5 to get back home in the shortest time possible. But the GPS took us on a detour on the 154. We thought it was wrong but it cuts inland back towards the 5 eliminating a little bit of time. Anddd I'm so glad we followed the GPS. Because it was gorgeous. But my camera was in the backseat and I was too lazy to get it. So look here.

And now we're home. And I wake up every day wishing I could eat breakfast at Mama's.

Day 5, Driving South on the PCH

So I scheduled my last two San Francisco posts while we were away because I promised myself I would post everyday (including when we got home yesterday) but I didn't, of course. We got caught up catching up (haha) on Sons of Anarchy.

Our fourth day was a very long day spent mostly in the car. We left San Francisco bright and early, and I literally almost cried. I loved it that much. I knew 3 1/2 days wouldn't be enough to see and experience everything, but I wasn't ready to leave. Our first stop was Santa Cruz. It was a much cuter place than I expected, with lots of old colonial and Victorian houses, rather than the usual Spanish style homes we see in beach towns here. Best part of the stop was seeing these guys:
I wish I took a video because it sounded like they were singing.

Our next stop was Monterey. Until we got back on the road and I tried to look at the pictures I had taken, I didn't realize that my camera was on the wrong setting and every single picture from Monterey is either completely black or completely white. What a disappointment. We only made a short stop for lunch and checked out Cannery Row, but the bay was so pretty, I wanted to show you.

And we were back on the road to Pebble Beach. The scenery is nothing compared to what you see further down the coast. But we did see some creepy trees.


The fact that it was a gray day and that these creepy trees are next to extravagant, multi-million dollar homes made them even weirder.

Oh and here's the famous lone cypress.
Then we got back on the road to Carmel. I wanted to see the mission there really badly.

A wedding had just finished taking place right after we got there. Gorgeous place to get married, right?

But then we saw these storybook homes and storefronts.


To die for. All of the homes in Carmel were charming and whimsical and gorgeous. Of course the newer homes are not THIS whimsical, but they have so much character and you can tell how much thought went into the plans of the newer homes to make them fit right into the old artist town. And it's in the most gorgeous seaside setting. And there are secret stairways and bridges and gardens that are open to the public that weave through the neighborhoods. And there are gorgeous wildflowers everywhere. I could post a million pictures of this place. We will FOR SURE be back to Carmel. ASAP.

When I was researching this trip, everything I read said that you should take two to three days to drive from San Francisco south to LA or SD. I thought that was ridiculous. But now I understand why. This is why:



I kept asking Matt, are we really in the US?

It was really foggy most of the way, and we still got out of the car about 50 times. If it was a nice day I'm not sure we would have made it to our hotel at a decent hour.

We had planned a few more stops (including Hearst Castle!) but we were so tired we really just wanted to crash. So we skipped the stops and headed straight to the Madonna Inn.

Summer of Love

Friday morning we waited over an hour for breakfast at Dottie's True Blue Cafe. It was apparently on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, which we didn't know. But that's why the wait was so long every time we walked by. It was good, but nowhere as good as Mama's.

Then we took a bus to the Haight-Ashbury district. That's where the "Summer of Love" took place in the 60's, and the area became known for its rock and roll culture.. and lots of drugs. There are still drugs everywhere. And music is still a huge part of the culture in the neighborhood. Amoeba Music is the best record store I've ever seen. But besides some really amazing antique and vintage clothing stores, my favorite aspect of the Haight was the houses. Me obsessed with houses? Noooo. But just look at these!



Then we went to Alamo Park where the Full House gang has a picnic. These houses look familiar?

In Alamo Park I turned around and saw this house from a distance. This is my third dream house/neighborhood of the trip.

And then we went back to North Beach for our final night in San Francisco because I just could not resist the food there. I ate a giant Italian sub, drank a limonata, ate gelato, and we bought about 100 Italian pastries to snack on later. And we also proceeded to order that room service cheesecake again.

The Golden Gate Bridge

Thursday morning we grabbed a quick breakfast and took a cable car down to Fisherman's Wharf. Unfortunately we didn't get to be cool and stand on the edge of the car because it was PACKED and obviously everyone wants to stand on the edge and hold on! But the brake operator was nice enough to let us stand on the back. This was our view most of the way down Powell St.
Isn't it pretty?

Then we rented bikes and proceeded to ride 10 miles from the wharf, across the bridge, and into Sausalito. This bike ride might have something to do with why I lost 3 pounds during our trip. Let me just say that the hills are even harder when you're on a bike. Especially when you are challenged when it comes to using a bike with gears. And my bum still hurts.

We drove through my first dream neighborhood, Pacific Heights.

If you live in Pacific Heights, this is your view.

I'm already fairly certain I'm not going to be able to keep it to 5 pictures in this post either.

Sausalito became my second dream neighborhood of the day. Specifically this house,

which was nestled in this hillside,

with this view of the bay.
Um, yeah.

By the way this is the Golden Gate Bridge:

and this is what it looks like when you're riding a bike under it. It's huge.

I still can't believe we were actually there.

In Sausalito, we ate hamburgers at this weird yet delicious hamburger place called Hamburgers. Then, to our delight, we found Lappert's. We thought it was the same as the Hawaiian ice cream chain Lappert's. It's not. But it was still good.

Then we went to Ghiradelli Square and drooled over chocolate being made. Good thing we already ate ice cream because I'm pretty sure I could have devoured all the chocolate in the place otherwise. And then we walked uphill like 200 blocks to Lombard St., the most crooked street in the world.

And remember the view of the city from Coit Tower? Well this an opposite view of the city.

Thursday night we ate Chinese food in Chinatown at The House of Nanking. It is not exactly real Chinese food, but it's not as fake as say, Panda Express. Either way, it was delicious. And we knew it would be because every time we walked by there was a line around the corner. San Franciscans are really willing to wait for food. Maybe if we moved there, I wouldn't fit in? I don't usually have patience when it comes to food.

Then we went back to the hotel room and got room service dessert for the second time this week. They had this AMAZING cheesecake and we just couldn't resist it. By now you must be questioning how I lost weight in San Francisco. It's a magical city, I tell ya.

San Francisco, Day 2

We woke up on Wednesday and walked allllll the way through the Financial District and North Beach to Mama's on Washington Square for breakfast. It was only a mile away but the hills of San Fran are no joke. Put it this way, we ate like total fat kids for 5 days straight and I LOST 3 POUNDS. That's just one of the many reasons I want to move there.

We waited in line for 45 minutes, which is something I never thought I would do. And something I never thought I would be capable of doing after all that walking. And we spent $40 dollars on BREAKFAST. But I read the reviews on this place and they were no lie, this was the best food I ever ate in my life. It was worth every penny and every minute we waited. I would show a picture but the food didn't even look THAT good and since I'm limiting myself to five pictures there's more interesting things to see from this day than a huge omelet and a stack of pancakes. But when I put it in my mouth I was like ............... . That's right, I didn't speak until every last morsel of food was in my mouth. Matt got pancakes and some Italian omelet and I got the California omelet and it had like avocados and tomatoes and bacon and cheese. Oh. my. God. I want it now. And the homefries were to die for. And Matt even said the orange juice was the best he ever tasted. Mama's, how do you do it?

Then we walked over to Coit Tower. The walk itself wasn't that scenic but this is how cars park on the hilly streets in San Francisco.
It looks like I took the picture at an angle but you'll notice the houses are level in the background. How can that be good for the car? This hill is so steep I had to hold on to Matt's shoulder to take this picture.

This is Coit Tower.

This is what it looks like when you turn around and look at the city when you're almost at the tower.

We didn't pay to go to the top but I bet the view would have been even prettier from up there. That's North Beach/Telegraph Hill which is Little Italy and since it's Little Italy, naturally there is a giant Roman Catholic church.

Then we hopped on a bus to Fisherman's Wharf because I simply could NOT walk anymore and we got on a ferry and went to Alcatraz. When I studied abroad in South Africa I went to Robbins Island which is basically the same concept, a prison for the most dangerous criminals on a small island off the coast. And it's where Nelson Mandela was held. So I wasn't too thrilled because I thought it would be the same but Matt was beyond excited. The cellhouse itself was small but other aspects of the island blew my mind. The guards lived on the island with their families. Scary right? This was a residence.

And a creepy solitary confinement cell. Al Capone was held in a cell like this.

It was a really gray day and it made it even creepier. This is the island itself from the ferry:

And some other creepy shots of the chapel, watchtower, and rec yard:




Needless to say it exceeded my expectations. And needless to say I broke my 5 picture rule.

Wednesday night we met Mckenzie and Cameron out for dinner in Fisherman's Wharf. It was so nice to see friends from Hawaii but it sure did kick my homesickness for Hawaii up a notch. One thing is for certain though, Boston has better seafood than San Francisco!