I say "happened" very tongue-in-cheek because my husband was the one coordinating all our travel plans. :)
Interestingly enough that we would be in that area on that specific night...right...
But I really didn't mind because I also love the Cougars and really love going to the games with my devout BYU fan husband.
It always takes me back to the many, many games we attended together at the beginning of our marriage.
College is such a fun phase of life!
But I digress...here we are ready and waiting with a strong group of other BYU fans to cheer our team on!
Our boys came up short that night and we left with a loss, but it was so much fun to be in the "away game" environment. Such passion for both teams!
After the game we headed back to our next little AirBnb "hotel" with these lovely people.
It was so fun to chat with them. They have 2 kids who are grown and he works with a non-profit organization to do extreme home makeovers for those in need. Such a darling couple who are doing a lot of good in their community.
He told us that his company often uses the missionaries to complete the work on the homes and they are always so diligent and hard-working.
He also mentioned the other group they frequently get are hungover frat boys from the college.
He liked the elders. :)
The next morning we got up to a lovely breakfast of granola, yogurt, and fruit complements of our kind hosts. Then we headed off to a beautiful nature hike in the canyon by their home.
Trev ran.
I walked, chatted with the kids through Facetime, listened to beautiful music, and took a ton of photos of the gorgeousness all around me.
It was spooky and glorious at the same time.
After our hike we headed back to the house, showered, and packed up once again. This time to head into the city of San Francisco.
The fog followed us.
One thing I loved about this trip was that each day and each area we visited, all had entirely different feels to them.
The first part was beautiful ocean scenery and marine life with Chinese hosts.
The second was BYU basketball, all-american organic hosts, and a hike through the mist.
This last part was luxury accommodations and urban sight-seeing.
Here is how we spent our time in San Fran:
This dinner was so fun because we found this cool little sports bar restaurant within walking distance of our hotel. They were broadcasting the Seahawks vs. Packers play-off game which just so happen to determine which team would make it to the Super Bowl.
We were surrounded by fans from both sides. Any who watched the game know that the Packers seemed to have it all cinched up - but much to the disappointment of the Packer fans around us - the Seahawks had some amazing plays at the end and won! The intensity was electric and it was so fun to just get to be a spectator enjoying an incredible game. We also secretly were hoping the Seahawks would win so that worked out nicely too. :)
After dinner we walked around a little more before I needed to go back to the hotel. I was worn out and also am pretty allergic to cigarette smoke. I walked through a big mist of it and couldn't even see clearly after that.
Trev escorted me back to the hotel where I laid down, took a nice hot shower, and relaxed while he went on sight-seeing and getting me medicine.
When he got back we just hung out and watched a movie. It was so nice and relaxing. That is my favorite part of a lovely hotel...you just feel so relaxed and pampered.
The next morning we got up and ate breakfast at the hotel's AMAZING breakfast buffet. It was fancy, delicious, and felt like such a treat. Knowing we would be walking a lot that day, we decided to go ahead and fill up on all that incredible food...plus we just wanted to. :)
After getting totally stuffed and still trying to fit in some more we headed out to see the city. We walked, and walked, and walked, and walked. It was so interesting to see how you can walk in and out of so many different kinds of people, cultures, and experiences in a relatively short distance. You will see a wide range of human existence on a walk like that. A lot of which I didn't feel comfortable photographing. Sadly, there were some pretty heartbreaking scenes.
We ended our journey in a beautiful nature conservatory. It was so neat to be in such a peaceful place surrounded by God's creations in the midst of a big, rumbling, concrete city.
We loved this place and spent a long time just walking around looking at all the different types of plants and trees.
We still had a little time to kill before our late flight home that night so we decided to take in a movie as well.
We saw "Selma", a movie depicting Martin Luther King and the riots that happened in that city during the time that African-Americans were being denied voting rights - well after the Civil Rights Act was passed.
It also happened to be Martin Luther King Day.
My heart wept as I saw how people treated each other. It's always been hard for me to understand those sad eras of history. How could such atrocities have happened? How could we treat our brothers and sisters so badly? So many groups have been persecuted throughout world history. My own pioneer heritage went through terrible situations. Just so sad. I like to think we are learning from them though - which I find a lot of hope in. If only everyone saw each other as what we all truly are - children of God. Brothers and sisters. A human family.
This movie reminded me of this so deeply. It was truly moving.
A must see!
As we left the theater the sun had already set. We stopped back at the hotel to pick up our bags and head to the airport.
We got in late that night feeling rejuvenated, grateful, and utterly excited to see the cute little faces we hadn't seen in days.
We sure missed those kiddos but we had a really, really great time together!
How lucky I am to have be able to see such enriching places with the man I love most.
Can't wait for our next adventure! :)
