My birthday promised to be an exciting day - starting with gifts, birthday text messages, and Starbucks, and continuing with a trip over the fabled Golden Gate Bridge. What a gloriously sunny day, and traveling in the happy little yellow Beetle with the moon roof open made it even more delightful. I even got a text message from my friend Wendy as we crossed the bridge, and I was actually with her the first time I was on the Golden Gate - cool! Our first stop was Muir Woods to drink in the beauty of nature and to get some exercise at the same time. We chose a long-ish route through the woods, and by the time we were done, we were ready to shed our jackets. So gorgeous! And since we were so close to the mighty Pacific, I thought it would be only right for us to ride along the PCH for at least a little bit. Beth loved navigating a twisty, wind-y scenic route, and we enjoyed more majestic sites before finding the sparkling ocean spread out before us.
We felt that there was one significant iconic San Francisco site that we needed to see before we headed back East - Chinatown! I had once taught the novel Dragonwings by Lawrence Yep, so it was very intriguing to be exactly where the novel had been set. We walked up and down the street drinking in the colorful scene and stopped at Far East for authentic cuisine. Such beautiful colors and patterns everywhere! Our time in San Francisco was drawing to a close, but we had one last desire - SHOPPING! So we went back to the hotel, changed clothes, checked in on Facebook (where I was greeted with about a MILLION good wishes for my birthday), and headed to the mall. The evening was capped off with a birthday steak dinner and a yummy birthday dessert with 39 candles less than necessary. Even though we knew that the next day held an 10.5 hour car trip, we were pleased with such a wonderful trip!
An adorable little boy I know is having a tenth birthday on May 1st, and even though it is still April here in the States, the end of April is waning for him in Istanbul, Turkey! Happy birthday to David - our nephew who is reaching double digits. He is sweet and smart and funny and cute. He loves orcas and Family Feud and the most EXTREME things like pesky parasites. Wish we could hug him hard!
Thanks for coming along with us on our trip! And happy May to you!
Susan
Look at you all swanky with your birthday martini!
Happy birthday Susan! (Some of my favorite people have April birthdays!) And happy birthday to David as soon as the sun crosses over the international dateline...
Posted by: Joni | April 30, 2009 at 11:27 AM
I love the pictures of Chinatown. It is really colorful and so Chinese! And David needs to be within arms-length so we can hug him on his 10TH!!!!!! birthday.
Posted by: Mom | April 30, 2009 at 01:26 PM