Oakland

In early November, my parents and I (with Benjamin) flew out to Oakland to visit my sister Laura for a weekend. It was such a great few days! I was amazed by how much I loved Oakland. What a great city! It feels so livable and authentic. I felt a little bit like the country mouse going to visit the city mouse, though. The scale of commerce in one half city block is about equivalent to our entire little town; I just felt awed. It was refreshing to see all kinds of people all mixed and mingled. And so much good ethnic and vegetarian food! Hoppin' farmers markets! Nordstrom Rack! Diverse people at church (including facial hair on a member of the bishophric! Scandalous!), and a beautiful temple with a great view! There is the slight drawback of a dead body being found in the street one house down from where my sister lives the morning before we arrived... so we stayed somewhere else and found her somewhere new to live that's not in the ghetto. And the traffic bites. So yeah, cities.

Mostly we just wanted to spend time together. Benjamin got lots of love.

My mom, sister, and I did some shopping.

We spent an afternoon wandering around Golden Gate State Park and the Japanese Tea Garden.

That night we went to a really amazing restaurant in San Francisco that is so hip it doesn't even have a sign with it's name. Really. We ate the best fried brussel sprouts you could imagine, and I know that might not be a very high bar, but they were amazing. We also ate at a fabulous Cambodian place and got some good Indian food other days. So tasty. I love understanding more about my sister's life - seeing where she lives and works and meeting her friends.