A Visit From Afar

We had special guests come for a visit over this last weekend. My mom and sister brought my cousins Raivis & Larisa up to our place since they are visiting from Latvia for the month. I'm so thrilled they all came for a visit. I made them a nice Summery dinner.

We got to visit for a bit before they headed off to bed from their long trip up.

The next morning we all headed out for the day to San Francisco. My mom set up a five hour day tour of the area...and it was so worth it. I have been to San Fran only a couple of times but didn't have the chance to really see a whole lot...But this trip however, covered so much. San Fran is pretty much right around the corner from us...We started off the day by boarding a

 tour bus complete with tour guide...

We enjoyed all the big buildings, different neighborhoods, homes and landmarks as well as walk down the world's most crooked street. We saw trolleys whiz by,

 beautiful skylines of the city and great views of the ocean. We walked through Chinatown, the steps of Grace Cathedral, the Cable Car Museum and much more.

The tour bus then drove us across the fogged out Golden Gate Bridge then over to Solitos for a Fish ~N~ Chip lunch. We briefly walked through a couple shops then boarded a ferry which took us across the bay. We enjoyed the view of the city across the water as well as the great bridge and Alcatraz.

We crossed the bay to the pier and did some window shopping...Then boarded a Pedi Car which took us to the famous Pier 39 where we did some shopping and walked around the wharf. 

After all the excitement we had to stop at one more place before hopping back onto the pedi car...If you ever visit San Fran...It's a must do, to eat a nice bread bowl full of fresh, creamy clam chowder. The day was a delight. We learned a lot of history, saw many things and made some great memories with our family from afar. I am so grateful and blessed to have shared the day with them as they enjoyed the good things America has to offer. The Pedi driver biked us back to our parking lot where Freckles and I said our goodbyes to our family as they were driving out to Monterey Bay for more adventure. It was bitter sweet...My cousins told me they would wait for me to come to Latvia for a visit. I am already so excited about my anticipated journey to my Grandparents home Country...Where we will spend time with family. They are so excited to show me their life in Latvia...A one year count down begins till we reunite once more.

The Boardwalk...

After a long couple months of work and business, Mr. Darling suggested we get out and chill out on a little adventure for his day off. Usually he would just need to veg out at home, but this time he actually wanted to see some sights. We decide to check out Santa Cruz a bit... Of course along the way we tried to find a couple thrift shops and bookstores...We also found a quaint little shop and a coffee shop his friend suggested.. The coffee was good, the thrift stores we eh, and there were no bookstores to be found.

So, we had a little lunch and took a drive over to the Boardwalk. The Santa Cruz Boardwalk was Founded in 1907, it is California's  oldest surviving amusement park and one of the few seaside parks on the West Coast of the United States. The History in itself is neat. Yet, I must admit it was not really that spectacular to us. We enjoyed looking at the colorful rides and the beautiful seashore...But it just wasn't that exciting. Let's just say we probably wouldn't go back.

I don't mean to be negative about it, but it was kinda dirty like down there and the people that were there at the time were kinda shady.... It wasn't overcrowded since we were there on a weekday, but I think I would be a lot more miserable if it was overly crowded. We had fun snapping some pictures yet, the time we spent there was not even an hour long. So with that, we got some fun snapshots of a one time visit to the Boardwalk. 

And we can see we walked through history.