Life o' da Hahn's!: October 2006

Alas ... the unveiling of the "mystery trip" ... S-A-N F-R-A-N-C–I-S-C-O!!!

Wooohoooo. Props to my hubby for keeping nosy me in the dark the ENTIRE time. I have to admit that I did see the itinerary on the printer at home, but it took everything in me to not look. I'm so glad I didn't cause it was well worth the surprise.

Here's the deats ... so, the night before we're supposed to leave, he's online trying to book some sort of "major league game" tickets. I'm like "I know where we're going, I know, I know ... it's New York ~ you got tickets to the New York Yankees ~ yahooooooooooooo". He totally played along with it. Given the smug look on his face, I was certain I was bang-on-the-money with my guess. Gullible ol' me. I was so excited I called my mom and Erin ranting that I was going to New York. So we pack ... I don't sleep cause I'm too excited; get up and get ready for work (dress pants and all). Chris was going to drop me off cause he had some errands to run that morning, then he was going to pick me up at 11:00 am for a 2:00 pm flight. Sound believable? I thought so. Anyways, that morning we're driving in and he takes a detour and goes down 12th. No biggie. Stops for Starbucks and then continues down 12th to Cambie - suddenly he bucks a hard left instead of a right towards down town. I'm like "what are you doing? I have to go to work" ... his response (with the most smug "I got cha" look on his face ... "um, honey, you're not going to work today"! Okay, in hindsight ... maybe I'm a bit naive for not seeing that one ... but I was seriously clueless (keep the blond jokes to a minimum here kids)! Airport bound we are. Alas we make it ... we're filling out the airport declaration cards ... and he goes, "um honey, you might want to put Oakland as our destination not JFK Airport" ........... WHAT!!! Needless to say, San Fran here we come!!

For those of you who haven't been to San Fran, it truly ROCKS!!! Such an amazing city! After we checked into our hotel (ahem, the Hilton), we hit the pavement. We ended up w-a-l-k-i-n-g (more like crawling) UP THE HILL to the pier. I have attached a copy of what I mean when I say HILL ~ San Fran is A-L-L hills! It was a trek and half, but was well worth the journey. We hung out at Fisherman’s Wharf, saw the bazillion barking sea lions and ate some yummy clam chowder for dinner. The next morning we took our first trolley ride on the Rice-a-roni trolley car!! Off we go to rent some bikes for the grand tour over the Golden Gate Bridge! It was incredible! Along the way we stopped to catch some of the Red Bull air races. Turns out it was Fleet Week and there were tons of air shows going on. It was nuts! Check out the attached link, its pretty cool stuff: Red Bull Air Race World Series. With many pit stops along the way, we biking about 13k to a place called Sausalito (a cute little village-like town), had an ice cream and hoped on the ferry back to SF. Super cool experience. We ended up going for a wicked dinner that night to a place called Mangarosa. It was kind of a Brazilian/Italian infused type selection. We had their famous Steak Rechaud, which is a flavourful steak that arrives tableside on a piping-hot grill with traditional and you cook it yourself! We complemented that with some of the BEST gnocchi that I’ve ever had. Oh my gawd ~ so good! Who would think to pair steak with pasta, but it was amazing, I promise? Top that all off with a bottle of amazing Italian vino and you have the perfect night! Okay, day three … of course we did the infamous Alcatraz tour! We had to pull some serious strings to actually score some tickets, but it all worked out. For future reference, you MUST book in advance to ensure a spot! We had to get up at the butt crack of dawn to get tickets. In any event, Alcatraz was every bit as eerie on the island as it looks at from afar. Very cool tour! When we arrived back on the mainland there were thousands of people everywhere. Flight Week was in full force and effect; Americans love their fighter jets. We ended up joining the masses scoring front row seats to the Blue Angels airshow. Chris was in heaven. He must have taken about 20 photos of the planes. So, the only thing left that I had to do was see Lombard Street. Given that there were thousands of people everywhere for the show, there was no way we were getting on a trolley car. So, my husband has the brilliant idea of walking. Okay, so we tackle THE biggest hill I have ever seen. KILL ME NOW. I was dying by the time we got back to the hotel, but I made it (after much whining of course). Suffice to say, Mama needed a nap after this hike. A least we got a good picture to remember the torturous experience. Anyways, another night, another great dinner.
No real time to do much shopping, but that’ll be another trip!!

There you have it, my surprise first year anniversary trip in a large nutshell! Thank you bear!! I love you!