Happy Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving this year Joe had to work but one of the citizens of Maitland rented out the Civic Center and catered a Thanksgiving feast for all the public safety personnel and their families. It was a really nice day. I was oncall from 4-7pm and got called out about 6:30 just as Bells and I were arriving at her grandma and grandpa's. 

The guys waiting to eat and watching football on couches that were rented and a big screen tv that was donated

 daddy and his little girl

 they even decorated the tables

Bella was playing with the radio

 and playing with Lt. Clayton (the bag on the floor was given to her and was filled with all kinds of goodies)

 driving the engine

 family photo

 sitting down to eat (sorry about the size)

 plum tuckered out from a long day with no nap

A trip to San Fran would not be complete without touring Alcatraz and seeing the Golden Gate Bridge.

sailing over to the rock

 arriving

 view from the twin peaks

 Hoppers hands for good luck

The end!!

Fisherman's Wharf

There are all kinds of things to look at while strolling up and down Fisherman's Wharf. One of the more famous things are the sea lions and this was their 21st anniversary

 Another aspect of the wharf are the people trying to make a living. 

This guy is pretty cool, he spray paints pictures using paper, pots and pans

 then you also have crazy people like this trying to get a buck

 This guy jumps out of his bush and scares people. Its hilarious, trust me!

 Speaking of crazy people... this one was on our plan ride home

San Fran

While we were in San Fran we visited the Coit Tower. Its a 210 foot tower in the Telegraph Hill neighborhood

 view of the city from top of the tower

 we also checked out China Town and we bought Bella a traditional Chinese dress

 we also visited the local fire department in China Town

 this is Lombard Street which is the world's crookedest street

(its not the best picture) but we are standing at the top of it

 these are the 7 painted ladies or otherwise known as the Full House houses

 this is the Full House house except it use to be white

 No trip to San Fran is complete without the cable cars. We checked out the museum which was pretty cool. They also work on the cars here and all the cables run through here

 these are the cables that run under ground which is how the cable cars work

Crabs

The next stop on our vacation was San Francisco and Fisherman's Wharf. You can't go to the wharf and not try the fresh crab

 all cooked up

 it was delicious and it had better be for $33

Factories

One of the other things we did while we were in Napa was tour the Jelly Belly and Budweiser Factories. They were both right outside Napa and just down the road from our hotel. We met up with one of my sister's friends, Lilith and her family, who had recently moved out to California. 

 These are the jelly beans before they get their last coat and polish

 The final product ready to be packaged

 This is baby Ava and her Jelly Belly hat

 With both tours we got free tastings which was the highlight

 lots of beer