Rice a Roni (part two)

Saturday was the big day. Jeff and Bonnie exchanged their vows in a beautiful field in front of the Marin Headlands hostel annex. It was very touching. Instead of rings, they exchanged gifts of themselves. Bonnie read a poem she wrote for Jeff, and Jeff played guitar and sang a song he wrote for Bonnie. After the ceremony, we all moved over a bit to the tables that were set up for dinner. I have to admit, I was a bit worried at first about eating outside. Luckily, California doesn't have the same bug issues that we have in Michigan. Here, you'd have to fight the mosquitos for your dinner! Hahahaha...


Sunday morning Jeff and Bonnie hosted a brunch for the guests who hadn't headed back out of town yet. It was nice and another great chance to visit. There weren't too many people, and Maggie was thrilled to wander around the big, open community rooms at the hostel annex.


After the brunch, we called Jeska, who lives in San Francisco and we'd caught up with a bit on Saturday night. She grew up near where we still live, and we usually just get to see her around Christmas time when she comes back to visit her family here. She had offered to show us around the city on our last day, so we took her up on it! First she took us up to Twin Peaks for an awesome view of the city.


When we'd enjoyed the view at Twin Peaks for a bit, we headed to the market to pick up a picnic to take to the park. At the park, they've got bison! It was actually Jeska's first time seeing them there too! Honestly? There was a great little gopher just outside the bison pen that was sort of stealing the show. He had his cheeks CRAMMED with food like Maggie does, and he kept popping his head out of his hole to get more!


From the park, we headed for Maggie's first close-up view of the Pacific Ocean. She loved it, as we expected. Since we knew we were flying out in just a few hours, we didn't let her play in the sand, but she still loved watching everything going on around her, and feeling the wind in her hair. You could almost hear her saying, "Please, Mom and Dad, can we stay a little longer??"


Hubby was able to lure me away from the gorgeous view with a promise of ice cream. We went to the popular Mitchell's ice cream store in the city, and I got a cone of New York Cherry. The big problem? The weather was either just warm enough or just windy enough that my ice cream was melty. Melty ice cream makes me quite angry. So then hubby chased me for pictures of me, my melty ice cream cone, and my disgustingly sticky hands. Ugh. No, of course I'm not going to post those pictures - I was scowling and, at one point, making a very unkind gesture!

Overall we had a great trip! It was my first time in California and I really enjoyed visiting. Thanks for the memories, Jeff, Bonnie and Jeska!