Phew. What a run-on sentence.
Spring is here and NorCal is, well...cold. That doesn't sound right, does it? For most of March it rained..and rained and rained. And it was quite chilly. Where's the sunny side of California I signed up for? Or is that only southern California that gets perpetual sunshine? Much of the rain has cleared but it's still been nippy in the mornings. And that's all I will say about the weather lest my inner meteorologist come out and talk about geostrophic forces.
Doesn't this look cheery?I wish I could say new and exciting things have been happening but I'm afraid Joe and I are quite boring. So far we have been to:
Napa-This place has some of the most amazing food I've ever eaten! And I'm a gal who loves food! We took our first trip to wine country around the end of November. The vineyards were not as pretty as I imagined them. But then again most of the foliage in our area was an earthy brown so it wasn't too much of a change. We ate a place called Ristorante Allegria. The cool thing about this place is that it used to be a bank. You can even eat inside the vault if you're feeling unsafe. (Pun intended) I think that privilege costs a little bit of money so we just ate in the lobby area. The food was delicious; we had calamari and mushroom ravioli and salsiccia pasta.
The next time we went was for my birthday and of course we went back to Allegria. The food was still awesome and we even bought a jar of their dipping sauce. Yes we have a little jar of Allegria in our pantry.
And finally, we went back to Napa when Joe's dad was visiting. We still have no idea where much of anything was so we enlisted the help of Yelp (!) and blindly searched for cheap dinner and wine tastings. We ended up stumbling upon a tasting room that houses two wineries, Trahan and Olabisi. We were the only ones there so we got bonus round tasting. I'm not sure if that's why we got extra glasses of wine or it was because of our good looks and charm. Either way the wine was delicious. Side note, not a good idea to go wine tasting on an empty tummy. You get dizzy pretty fast. After getting pleasantly buzzed (actually only me, I'm a lightweight) we rounded the corner for dinner at a tapas place called Zuzu's. About halfway through the meal our waitress comes over with a glass of port wine and tells us the gentleman at the table next to us sent it over because he heard Joe talking about how he's in the military. I was stunned at the nice gesture. Sad to say nice gestures are a rarity these days but I'm happy that there are still nice people in the world. He was also nice enough to pay for our corkage fee. Thank you, sir!
San Francisco-Joe and I have only been to Frisco a few times but we love it every time we go! Side note, I didn't know that San Francisco has a nickname. My step-mom asked me if we had gone to Frisco and I replied I didn't know where that was. Frisco sounds like Fresco which sounds like Fresca which is delicious but can also sound like Fresno which is another city in California. But that's neither here nor there. The first time we traveled to the city who gives out Rice-a-Roni as a treat, we went straight to Pier 39. Seagulls, seafood, sunshine; what more could a coastie want? After our walk around the area we went to visit Joe's cousin and her family.
View from Ghiradelli Square
Sacramento-Sacramento is a neat town seeing as it is the capital of the Golden State. The only times we go to Sacramento is a) for me to take a teacher exam or b) to visit with Joe's dad when he is in town. We mostly meet up in the downtown area. Downtown Sacramento is surprisingly clean and has a safe feeling to it. I don't feel nervous walking down the street at night nor do I have the fear of gum or other unmentionable things sticking to my shoe.
Dog News! Bjorn is doing great. We like to take him hiking at a nearby park. He loves running up and down the hills and smelling all the outdoors have to offer. A few weeks ago his instincts got the better of him. Let me set the stage: We are on top of a hill overlooking some cows. At the bottom of this hill are two cows and two calves. Bjorn stares out majestically at the land and the wind blows his ears back. I call him Mufasa when he does this ("Everything the light touches is our kingdom.").
Suddenly, as if his tail is on fire, he speeds down the hill full force at the cows. I yell for him to come back but either the urge to herd cows is too great or he just thinks I'm a nag and ignores me. Joe chases after him and I am rooted to the top of the hill. Bjorn looks to be having the time of his life. He begins to chase the cows and nip at the backs of their legs. The cows begrudgingly get up and give him an annoyed "moo". Bjorn continues to herd the cows about 500 feet to the right. I'm not sure why he wanted to place them there; dogs are mysterious creatures. As soon as he's moved them to his liking he happily bounces back to Joe and up the hill to me. At this point I am crying. Yes, I know, crying. I thought he was going to get squished or the mama cows would get upset and kick him. I hugged Bjorn and then scolded him for scaring me. He's just like a kid. Except with a tail...
Cows are everywhere.
How can you get mad at this face?I think I've got you guys mostly up to speed now. As the weather continues to get warmer I will probably stay inside with the air conditioning and update more. We shall see. Until next time, friends! Have a great day!
