Redwoods in Muir Woods

This week we found out that our job in the refinery is delayed. This is something that I will have get used to -- but.San Francisco is a great place to be stuck :::come visit!:::

When there was a slow day at the refinery this week, I convinced the Project Chief, Danny, to let me have the morning off to convince Mary and Jason to go to Muir Woods. Muir Woods is home of some of the greatest California Redwood trees. We started at the Muir Woods National Monument , here is a picture of us next to the sign at the entrance:

The trees were absolutely beautiful and tall and we got a great hike out of it. As soon as we walked in the park, we saw two deer munching on leaves, one male and one female. We stood in, sat on, read about, and hugged a bunch of trees for pictures. Apparently, we are just trying to get used to how the other Californians live.

In other news -- I got hit on at a stoplight by a cute guy in his 30s on my way home from work (of course he wasn't cuter than Justin :) ) Hopefully see everyone soon!

First Time on Night Shift

For the past couple days, myself and the chief, Ralph, have been assigned to the night shift. We shortened our shifts to 10 hours and worked from 8pm to 6am. Surprisingly the shifts went faster than expected and I was definitely able to learn as much as I can.

Some of the key life lessons that I learned during my night shift were 1. How to drive through the dark californian mountains 2. How to use the port-o-potties at 3am completely in the dark without dropping my safety glasses in the toilet.

The picture on theleft is a picture of the sunset from the parking lot of the refinery. If you look past the power lines you can see the bay and mountains in the distance. Luckily those three nights were the only "official" night shifts that I will have to work during my califonia assignment :)

Hiking Mt. Diablo

Yesterday I was supposed to be sleeping to get ready for my first night shift, when Jason and Mary invited me to go hiking. I figured it would be a good way to tire myself out so I could take a nap before work at 8pm - so I agreed.

Mt. Diablo is only about 10 miles from our hotel so it was a quick drive. We parked at the summit of the mountain and took several touristy pictures. Here is one from the castle like structure at the top. It was a foggy day -- but Mary and I insist that we can see the Sierra Nevada mountains in the distance.

During our hike we hiked two different trails - the Mary Bowerman trail along the summit of the mountain and the Trail Through Time - through Rock City. Rock City is a cool place about midway up the mountain. It is a cool area that has 50 million year-old sandstone that has been eroded over time and has several wind caves. Below is a picture of Jason, Mary, and I in one of the wind caves. We hung the camera on the tree and used the timer to take this picture -- hence it being crooked :)

Ice Cream in Berkeley

A few summers ago my friend Beth from work interned in the Chevron refinery near here, and lived in Berkeley. Ever since she found out that I was coming to the San Fran area, Beth has been telling me that I HAD to go to this homemade ice cream place in Berkeley.

So yesterday me, Mary (my co-workers wife), Danny's kids, and Danny's wife made the 35 minute trek to Ici (Ici Ice Cream) in Berkeley for ice cream. BTW - Danny is the chief of one of the assignment's here on site. It was definitely worth the ride! Everything was made from scratch, including the cone which was partially filled with chocolate. My cherry filled ice cream and cone was delicious. Berkeley was a very neat/cute place and I definitely plan to visit again to see the campus and visit the small shops and restaurants. Here is a picture of us enjoying our ice cream.

Weekend in San Francisco

Justin, my husband, was able to visit this weekend!

On Saturday, Justin, Jason from work, Jason's wife Mary and I went on an adventure.We decided to go to Napa Valley and visited two wineries - Frog's Leap & Casa Nuestra Winery & Vineyards
Both had beautiful scenery and great wine. At Casa Nuestra, we were able to taste the fruit off the vine, taste the wine from the barrel, and picnic next to the goats -- yes goats. Here is a picture of one of them below.He was a very snobby goat and was selective in the food we gave him.

 
On Sunday, Justin took me on a quick driving tour of San Francisco. We were able to see Ghiradelli Square, Lombard street - the curviest street in the world, and even the Golden Gate Bridge. It was a typical foggy day in the bay. Even when driving across to bridge into Morin County, we could not see the top points of the bridge. Below is a picture of Justin and I on the Morin County side of the bridge.

 

First Trip for Work

Hey All -

This is my first entry in my new blog. Hopefully this blog won't be as dramatic as my high school/college blog :)

I am currently in a program for work that started with 15 months of office training on the technology that my company licenses to other companies. Now I have switched to the traveling portion of the job where I spend 100% of my time on the road, away from our office in the Chicago area.

Where will I go? I will not know usually until a week or a few days before the trip -- and it literally can be anywhere in the world! Currently I am in the exotic location of ---- San Francisco!

San Francisco is probably one of the least exotic locations that I will travel but so far has been amazing. The first couple days were tough because I am definitely a home body. I miss my family and football Sundays but I especially miss my husband. He is taking care of our house and our kitty -- named Jake while I am away :)

Just to get a peak of the amazing views here in CA - to the left is a picture of my drive to work. It was a little foggy that morning... like it seems to always be near the bay. I will post more foggy pictures later of my trip to the city with Justin :)