{Friends, Food & Fun} San Francisco, CA

 This weekend, I headed to San Francisco for a conference with friends A & K. We stopped in Las Vegas on the way out since A had never been. Once we arrived in San Francisco Wednesday night, we met up with our South Carolina counterparts and grabbed dinner at The Tipsy Pig. 

I had a salad paired with their house bruschetta.  It was like none I had eaten before...yum!

We met up with Gus, who would end up working as our driver for the entire trip, and took a night drive down the famous Lombard Street before heading back to the hotel to rest up for a busy conference schedule ahead!

On Thursday, we were in meetings and workshops for most of the day. Since this was the annual conference for our organization's international affiliation, the opening session was especially moving.  The sitting president of each organization in attendance paraded into the ballroom in the order in which they became affiliated with the international group. The other delegates in attendance lit glowsticks as their organization was announced.

That night, we enjoyed an opening reception hosted by the local San Francisco organization. They brought the city to us...right there in the basement ballroom of our hotel and conference center!

They brought in The Japanese Tea Garden...

Fisherman's Wharf...

the Gateway to Chinatown...

Coit Tower...

and Ghirardelli Square...

with regional foods to go with each area. What a spectacular evening!

After the reception, we had a little bachelorette celebration for S, one of our South Carolina girls, who is getting married THIS Saturday!!! Yes, she must be super dedicated (or just plain crazy!) to be traveling so far away for so long this close to her wedding!

We (meaning friend K) put together a little party in our room to celebrate S...

...and then Gus dropped us off at a place to dance at the top of another hotel with beautiful views! We had so much fun!

For some reason, the guest of honor, S, didn't even make it to this photo!

Our 3rd day in San Francisco was my birthday! My sweet husband sent me flowers (though I didn't discover them until the morning that we left after retrieving them from the shipping area in the basement of the hotel). Yes, I know...  I had a few words with the hotel staff over that one, and I am not the "have a few words with anyone" type of girl!

Anyway, here are my beautiful birthday flowers...

After an early morning breakfast, we sat in on a dialogue session educating us on the issues to be voted on the next day. Only one delegate from each organization votes, but all 3 of us wanted to be better informed! After another couple of workshops, a leadership award luncheon, a key note speaker and a cocktail party in the exhibit showcase, we enjoyed a free evening.

Our South Carolina group separated for dinner and we headed over to The Franciscan on Fisherman's Wharf...

After dinner, everyone reconvened back in E's & L's room for dessert (and a little birthday celebration)!

 

Then, we called up 'ole Gus, piled 10 of us in his Suburban and headed out to dance one last time.

If you ever find yourself in San Francisco and in need of a fabulous guy to get you where you want to go, let me know.

Gus was the best!

Saturday, being the final day of conference, was voting day! We started the day with breakfast and attended a workshop based on the size of our organization. After one more dialogue session, the annual meeting began.

The current president of our organization, A, was our voting delegate...

The meeting ran over a bit into our "free afternoon" and we ran to catch our "cable car tour" of San Francisco.

We covered most of the area that our Gus had already shown us and then headed over to the Golden Gate Bridge.  I was very thankful for the beautiful day. The last time I visited the Golden Gate Bridge, the fog was so thick when we crossed it that all we could see was a "white wall" of fog on either side!

Since our annual meeting ran long, we had no time to eat before the tour, so we had the driver drop us off in Chinatown to grab some "linner" before the big banquet that night. We ate at Hunan Home's Restaurant, a favorite of A's from the last time she was in town!

It was really good!

We walked around and did a little shopping.  In fact, I picked up some decorations for my Board "Orient"ation next year! I know, I know, I'm often time planning things out a little bit ahead of time!

We walked back to the hotel and got ready just in time for the awards banquet & celebration to end the weekend.

We said goodbye to our South Carolina group with one last nightcap at The View, a restaurant & bar on the top floor of our hotel...

Before leaving town on Sunday morning, we walked down to Union Square and enjoyed a big breakfast at the famous, Sears Fine Food, home of the world famous pancakes.

After breakfast, we headed to the airport & hopped on our plane home...

Well, my bags were a bit heavier on the way home!  It is no surprise that, being a former Kindergarten teacher, I LOVE children's books. So with both my recent trip to Houston and now this trip, I have decided to bring back a book or two (that relates to the city or state that I visited) for each of my little ones.

This time I got both of these for B...

this one for L...

this one for M...

and a couple of extras just because it was so hard to choose!

{Friends, Food & Fun} Las Vegas, NV

 Early Tuesday morning, a couple of friends and I hopped on a plane and headed out west for a conference in San Francisco.  Since one of the three of us had never been, we made a quick stop in Las Vegas...25 hours to be exact!

Okay, so that was the l-o-o-o-n-g-e-s-t day ever!

We arrived absolutely STARVING at about 1:00pm local time (4:00pm our time).  We checked in, dropped off our bags, and headed to the closest place that looked fast.  We ended up at Margaritaville for what had to have been the best chips, salsa, guacamole and margaritas we have ever had...seriously, it had been since (an extremely early) breakfast that we had eaten!

We explored a bit, taking in the fountains at the Bellagio, before heading back to our room to get ready for dinner at Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill.

I ordered the Cornbread Crusted Chile Relleno and it was delish!

After dinner, we explored some more, watching the fountains again at night.  In front of the fountains, I racked up some serious "Cool Mommy" points posing with the local Stormtrooper...

Doesn't every city have one of those roaming the streets???

We decided to go back to our hotel for a drink and some late night (our time) snacks.  It was only about 8:30pm local time and we were exhausted!  BUT, we were determined to make the most of our 25 hours...  We ended up at Rao's, which just happens to be a famous little (and I do mean, little) place in New York City.

Once we got our second wind, we headed to PURE, where we ended the night with a little bit of dancing before calling it a night.

Unfortunately, even though it is a fairly famous venue, we had no celebrity sightings.  Ha!

The next morning, we got up and headed over to The Conservatory at The Bellagio.  This was truly a treat as I had not seen it on my last trip to Las Vegas.  We then took a taxi over to The Venetian, which I love, and brunched at Grand Lux Cafe, before heading back over to the airport!

Just a fun girls getaway, on the way to a conference!

{Spring Break} Philadelphia

If Chocolate and Crayons weren't enough, we headed off on another adventure today.  We spent the entire day touring Philadelphia.  My good friend, S, was brave enough to meet us, making the drive over from New York City.  Amazingly, we got to the city within minutes of each other and were able to park side by side in the garage! 

We started our day with a Ride the Ducks tour....the majority of the tour is on land, but a small part is actually on the water!

Before we got started, B got to model for everyone how to properly "quack"!

It was a hit with the little ones and a GREAT way to begin our day. We learned a lot and had fun.  The BEST part was the "splashdown" into the Delaware River!

After our city tour by land and by sea, we made a stop at the Liberty Bell...

before continuing on to our scheduled tour of Independence Hall.

Can you believe that this is where both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were signed?  B thought that it was really cool to be standing in the same building where a few of his beloved Presidents once stood long ago!

About a block from Independence Hall, we found Signers Walk, kind of like a "Hollywood Walk of Fame" for the signers of the Declaration of Independence! 

 

By the end of the tour, it was time for lunch and we (I) decided that we just had to make a stop at Pat's King of Steaks to see where the very first "Philly Cheesesteak" was invented (for those of you wondering, yes...I am still a vegetarian).  You see, I get these crazy ideas in my head and can be pretty darn stubborn about it!

Well, it is a l-o-o-o-o-o-n-g walk from the tourist area of downtown Philadelphia to South Philly where 'ole Pat's is located...  We didn't quite make it there for lunch.  Taking the advice of some locals, we set out for a closer cheesesteak shop, Jim's Steaks, but seeing that the line to get in was wrapped around the corner of the building, we opted for a little place across the street and some REALLY BIG slices of pizza... 

After lunch, we did in fact make it to Pat's...

 

where everyone (except 'ole vegetarian me) tasted the famous "Philly Cheesesteak"...

Let's just say that we MORE than walked off all of the lunch that we did eat!

On the walk back, we just happened upon what turned out to be a really FUN surprise!

We saw a sign for the Engine 11 Fire Station.  Well, B really likes fire engines and LOVES the number 11, so we had to take a photo...

We noticed that a sign on the door read that they sold t-shirts.  We went to the door and were greeted by a fire fighter who invited us in and asked the little ones if they wanted to see the fire engine!  Umm...yes, yes, and yes...

Okay, these were some of the nicest fire fighters...ever! 

They let both B and L spray the hose...

and even let B pose with their ax!

I'm sorry...  Liberty Bell, what?  Thomas Jefferson, who?

This was probably the highlight of the day!

After our impromptu fire station tour, we continued on our trek back to the car, stopping at both Washington Square...

and The President's House for a quick look around.

Thank you, S, for joining in our adventure today!  As you can probably guess, my (almost 2-hour) ride back to the hotel was absolutely silent...with the exception of a couple of snores here and there from my 3 little passengers in the backseat!  Headed back home tomorrow...I think that I'll let my mom drive the first "leg" home!

More Spring Break 2012 Fun

Chocolate and Crayons