City by the Bay and a Hurricane by the house

San Francisco is .... An amazing place to visit.
No wonder it's one of the world's top tourist destinations.

China town was fun!

A shoppers dream. We had a pretty good Chinese meal there as well.

The coastal hike from Land's end (the farthest point out to the Pacific) to the Golden Gate Bridge was AMAZING! It was a long hike but the weather was like outdoor AC with a ocean breeze blowing all day. I never broke a sweat and we were going up and down hills all day.

Beach that was our starting point. Hi, Pacific Ocean, nice to meet you. (Psst- don't tell anyone but I took a pebble from this beach home to Louisiana with me).

Here is the view of the Golden Gate Bridge from that beach.

Getting Closer.

Almost there.

Soaking it in.

Oh, and would you look at that, the America's Cup Sail boat races are taking place in the bay. Magical.



Monday night we went to Tartine's, which is an fantastic french bakery/sandwich shop in the Mission district. Their Tres Leche cake was a "do not miss". For a chocolate lover like me to fall for a vanilla dessert like that it had to be world class.

So by Monday the word had come from home that my parents and children were directly in the path of Hurricane Isaac. Not cool.
They battened down the hatches and kept in touch.
During the weekdays my hubby had to go to his conference- yeah the actual reason we were there. So I entertained myself at the Westfield Mall.

It was tres snazzy. These are the escalators for the upper floors. The shopping in the mall was a mix of too pricey and just right. On the street outside the mall I fell in love with H&M- we really need one in Baton Rouge.

Tuesday the storm hit and we ate Sushi. No connection.

Wednesday my parents lost electricity so we communicated by hit or miss cell phone calls. We ate at an Irish pub. Cottage pie is yummy, feel good food.

Thursday hubs had to work in the hotel room on disaster recovery issues for his company. We had lunch at Fisherman's wharf (pier 39).

Hubs you are adorable and sometimes I just cannot believe your are mine.

The seafood was wonderful. That evening we had steak at our hotel restaurant which was also very good.

Bad news was the water was very high over the road out from our home so my parents and kids were trapped in with no electricity. They had a generator for the basics but no AC.

Friday we headed to the airport only to be delayed an hour. We flew to Dallas and raced like mad to the gate and just squeezed into our connecting flight to Baton Rouge. It was the last flight in of the night to B R.

Stayed with my sister who had AC and regretted that the air here feels like a woolly blanket compared to the air in San Fran.

We met the kids in a boat Saturday and got more gasoline for Dad's generator. Here is the curve in our road where the water stopped but it went on for a eighth of a mile down the road.

We reunited at my wonderful sister and brother-in-law's house until we were able to return home the next day with a dry road and electricity.

We were very blessed that week, a wonderful trip and a safe happy family.