Friends Seen in April

I know this is a pretty belated post...but nonetheless, I wanted to post about 2 good friends that I got to see in the month of April. The first was my good friend Jenna and her husband Cam...both friends from high school. She and her husband live down near L.A. and asked me to come visit for my bday/Easter weekend! I was thrilled to visit them and have something fun to do for my big bday! We had so much fun...

FRIDAY

HUGE margaritas and yummy appetizers at Baja Cantina

SATURDAY

Bike ride along Venice Beach

Birthday beers along the Promenade while watching March Madness game

More HUGE margaritas for Jenna & Cam while at the Promenade

Celebrating bday at a bar, after dinner at Wabi Sabi (such good sushi)!

And then Sunday for Easter, we went to a nice dinner at a waterfront restaurant...I had such a nice time and we had great food & drinks around the L.A. area!!
I can't wait to go back and visit them again :)

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Then, a few weeks later, my good friend from high school, Katie, came to Monterey to visit me! I was super-excited because other than my sister and Jenna & Cam (who had come to Monterey for Thanksgiving dinner), Katie is the only other visitor I have had!

We had a few days packed full of trips and lots to do

FRIDAY

Lunch on the municipal wharf and a walk down the commercial wharf to get Katie a sample of clam chowder...Mmmmm!

Dinner at Peppers in P.G. and some beers at a local British pub

SATURDAY

SAN FRAN!!

The Stinking Rose for lunch

Yummy treats from Kara's Cupcakes in Ghirardelli Square

And a trolley ride through the city

SUNDAY

Whale watching in Monterey Bay...we saw 2 groups of killer whales!

And the Monterey Bay aquarium...hot pink FLAMINGOS!! :)

Overall, I had so much fun on BOTH trips...and it was so good to catch up with great friends. The only thing that would have made the month even better is if I had gotten to see our other good friend, Manzo! The 3 of us were inseparable back in the day, cruising around So. Illinois! I wish us girls all lived closer to one another, but at least we still have fun times like these! :)

I Left My Heart in San Francisco!

So, one of our goals before Cody leaves Monterey was to take a trip to San Francisco...so we did just that! We took a day trip yesterday and really enjoyed ourselves...we did just enough but didn't feel like our day was too jam-packed.

First off, we had lunch reservations at this amazing restaurant called The Stinkin' Rose!

My friend Joel introduced me to this place when I was at a conference in SF about a year and a half ago. It is a restaurant whose slogan is "We season our garlic with food!" So, as you can imagine...everything on the menu is garlic, garlic, garlic! But delicious!


We ordered the famous appetizer "Bagna Calda" which translates as "hot bath" in Italian and is described on the menu as "garlic soaking in a hot tub!" Hahah (there's even a little picture of little cloves of garlic soaking in a little hot tub in the moonlight with glasses of wine). How cute?!

I ordered the ravioli stuffed with potato and cheese smothered in garlic basil Alfredo sauce...

And Cody ordered the pork chop (topped with garlic), garlic mashed potatoes, and caramelized apples (no garlic in these I don't think)! I just couldn't resist taking pictures of our food...it was all so yummy and we were so full by the time we were done.

We decided to walk off our meal through Chinatown which was close by:

We even stopped into one of the local Chinatown bars and had my favorite...

Tsingtao

Then, we headed back to Pier 33 where we boarded a ferry for the final portion of our trip. A night tour of Alcatraz!! This was probably the highlight of our day...and definitely worth the trip. The ferry took us all around the island, included a 45-minute audio tour which featured commentary by actual correctional officers and prisoners of Alcatraz, and allowed us to walk around Alcatraz at night (which, yes, definitely added to the spookiness)!

Listening to our audio tour in the cell-house

I look pretty happy for being jailed up :)

View of beautiful San Francisco all lit up! Successful trip indeed!