Monterey-->Mountain View -->Dallas

Our final day in California was spent touring the offices of Google in Mountain View! My dear friend, Tamara, works at their headquarters and invited us for a tour and lunch. 

Tam and I

Dinosaur on Google campus!

Fun umbrellas all in google colors!

Space craft? Planes? I don't know...it was just cool to see this in an "office" building. 

Garden that provides food for the Google cafeteria. 

Sweets adorn one of the main yards. 

And an android...

Group pic with the gingerbread man!

What....

Cool motorcycle. 

And a google-themed bike that you can hop on and take from building to building. 

It was an INCREDIBLE tour and loved getting to see Tam, the google headquarters and another part of California. If you ever have an opportunity to tour Google, don't miss out.

After this we headed to the airport and returned to DFW. We had a great trip, loved spending time with our family and will fondly remember our times together in Cali!

Monterey Day Seven

We left SF Sunday evening and drove two hours to Monterey, CA! We woke to the sound of the ocean the next morning and decided to go on the famous 17 mile drive up the Pacific Coast to Carmel. 

We were able to stop along the way, put our feet in the ocean and take in the gorgeous surroundings. 

Amazing. 

Dandy's been talking to the sea lions, below the frame of the pic, since 2001. 

The Lone Cypress Tree

Christmas card?!?!

Favorite pic of the entire trip. 

When we finished the drive we were in Pebble Beach. Since John and Dandy are golf fans, we walked around the pro shop and wandered around the hotel and course. John is here on the 18th hole. Guess we'll have to make it a point to come back and actually play someday. 

We got back to our hotel in time for happy hour. We're quite the wine connoisseurs after our time in Napa! 

Then we cleaned up and headed to my all-time favorite dinner, coconut crusted shrimp from The Chart House. 

We may or may not have traveled all the way to Monterey for this one meal....

But it was, in my opinion, one of the best meals of the trip. We saw dolphins from our table, ate delicious food, drank some wine, watched the sun set over the water and enjoyed our time with each other. Not even clam chowder can top that! 

San Francisco Day Six

We got up Sunday morning and headed into the city for our tour of Alcatraz! 

(View of the bay from the sea)

Alcatraz!

It's such a creepy, little island and it doesn't look too far away from shore. 

Until you get there. 

Guilty. 

I didn't realize how many infamous inmates lived at Alcatraz at one time. Again, creepy. 

Jailbird. 

 Several inmates attempted to swim to shore from Alcatraz but  most were caught, except for ONE...

Afterward we had a delicious lunch ant In and Out, a California must even though they are in Texas now. 

And one last obligatory trolley pic before we left for Monterey! 

San Francisco Day Five

 John arrived on Saturday and we met up at the San Francisco Farmer's Market. It was the best farmer's market ever. Lots of fresh fruits, veggies, meats, honey, cheeses, flowers, pastries, cookies and anything else delicious you can imagine. 

Inside the market

We then took John for my favorite meal in SF, a bowl of clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl. I dream about this regularly.

It was the rainiest, yuckiest day in SF yet but we didn't let that stop us from seeing the city. We hopped on a cable car and rode around SF. 

 And then drove up to see the Coit Tower. 

(Tower)

 View of SF from the tower. 

Following our tour of the city (special thanks to our driver, Dandy) we ate dinner at the Fog City Diner. 

San Francisco Day Four

We spent Friday morning exploring around the SF Bay area. We started at Fisherman's Wharf. 

And then played around on the cable cars.

All aboard!

 We got off the car in Chinatown and spent some time perusing through the street shops and taking in the atmosphere.  

Archway into Chinatown

Loved the lanterns lining the street

And finally we found our destination, The Oriental Pearl Restaurant. When in Chinatown, why not try some of the world's best dim sum?!?!

Dim sum was completely foreign to all of us but the kind waiters helped us order and brought us some tasty finds. 

After walking off our dim sum we ended up at the best place for ice cream in SF, Bi-Rite Creamery. 

I had a garden trio--orange cardamom, honey lavender and earl grey tea flavors. 

Nana had the trifecta--salted carmel, brown sugar and malted vanilla. 

YUM!!!

San Francisco Day Three

We left early from our hotel and headed to Muir Woods on Thursday morning. We encountered this beautiful view on our way down. 

SF bay

Dandy, Mom and Nana

That's one tall tree!

Apples

Me and Dan

That evening we ate a delicious dinner at a restaurant called Seven Hills, located in the Nob Hill district of SF. It prepared locally grown foods in a way that only California can achieve. 

The best part of dining with Dandy? We always order dessert!