San Francisco

What a rush!! Shiloh, Brett, CJ and I went to San Francisco on Thur. April 17th to Sun. April 20th. We went to watch Shiloh present his Oral Arguments on Friday and then partied the rest of the time. For those of you who don't know Brett and CJ Rigg, they are great friends of ours, and Brett is another attorney at the Ledbetter Law Firm (see picture above.) After helping Shiloh prepare, and realizing that he left his white dress shirt at home (he remembered his new suit :)) we went to Union Square to go shopping. Upon entering Brett and I bumped into a woman and apologized, she even replied. After taking a couple of steps we knew she was famous, and later realized it was Caroline Rhea. SWEET! Next- what a shopping experience, if I was rich this would be the place to shop. Macy's has a whole building (6 floors) dedicated to women's clothing. The next building over was for men. I really wanted to buy an Ipod out of the vending machine- which is the highest priced items ranging from 50 to 300 dollars in a vm I've ever seen. We ate at the Hard Rock on Pier 39 for dinner and had an enjoyable time. After Shiloh's oral arguments on Friday we headed over to Pier 39 and toured, went to the Aquarium where Shiloh got to touch a shark (see picture), Ghiradelli Square, and just had a great time. For dinner we went to Harris' a very nice steak house where CJ had the best steak of her life and I had my first prepared Venison in a restaurant- it was delicious and we were there for over 2 hours talking and relaxing. On Saturday we rented bikes from the pier and road along the beach and over the Golden Gate Bridge down into Sausalito and then went back by ferry. Besides being completely out of shape it was a very fun experience that took a good portion of the day. That night we ate at California Pizza Kitchen which was across from our hotel "Westin on Market Street."

After we got back to our room around 10:00 that night we could hear a ton of fire trucks and so I looked out our 12th floor window. What I saw took my breath away, 6 fire trucks with hoses going into our building and the High School Prom that was taking place were being evacuated into the street. I just about wet my pants. Next the hotel manager came on a huge speaker telling us to remain calm and he would give us more information later. Finally after what seemed like forever they let the kids back in, the trucks started to leave, and the manager told us that all was fine. I still struggled to sleep that night. Brett was adventurous and went down to the lobby and reported that it was in chaos. Alarms sounding, tons of people in robes walking around, and there was either a fire alarm pulled in the basement or a small fire in the basement. What a trip!

All I have to say is if you ever get the opportunity to go on a vacation or a trip with some friends (and no kids) it's definitely worth it, it's a blast, and it's refreshing! Thanks goes to my mother for watching my kids all by herself and making it possible for me to go.