Saturday

Saturday Alvaro didn't have to work so they had everything imaginable stuffed into one day. Since we still had an 8-month pregnant woman, a toddler and a cripple, that also meant breaks :). First stop that morning was the Farmer's market in Modesto. There were venders with fruit like tomatoes and cherries and strawberries and peaches; and venders with snacks like fresh mini donuts (yum!); and venders with local goods like almonds (surprise, surprise.) and olive oil (pictured here).

After filling up on donuts and fresh fruit (I got an orange!), we stopped for lunch at the taco trucks. It’s not a very good part of town, so Alvaro ordered and the 8-month pregnant woman, the toddler and the cripple waited in the car. I got a chicken burrito filled with chicken and rice and all the goodies and fresh lemon on the side. The only problem is that it was pretty big and pretty filling, so I had to save half for lunch tomorrow. I was crushed :).

After lunch, we packed up the car for a drive to the Jelly Belly factory in Fairfield.

On their last road trip, Tai got sick so we were careful and packed several changes of clothes and plenty of supplies. We were waiting to see how he was feeling after the drive before deciding to stay in close by for dinner at the Spaghetti Factory or drive on to San Francisco to the Cheesecake Factory. Hmmm. Am I detecting a Factory theme today?! The Jelly Belly Factory is one of Liang’s all time favorite places so she was pretty darn excited (They served them as favors at their wedding!). So was Tai. Our little jelly belly in training…

I love useless trivia and one thing I learned on the tour was that when Ronald Regan was the Governor of California he used to eat Jelly Bellys to help him break his tobacco pipe habit. Then when he was running for president, the media latched onto it and Jelly Bellys became a national phenomenon. In honor of his election, an artist made a portrait of President Regan… out of Jelly Bellys!
The Jelly Belly Factory was interesting. But, I’m afraid my favorite parts were still the free samples at the end and the gift shop :).
Everybody was feeling pretty energized (of course, it could have been the sugar…), so we decided to go on to San Francisco. Later Tai didn’t feel so well, but he was a real trooper with his Graduate snacks after a rather "upsetting" drive. We stopped for a photo op at an overlook of the Golden Gate Bridge. The temperature dropped significantly from the Jelly Belly factory this afternoon to San Francisco that evening. brrr! Cold, but beautiful.

I always discover new fascination on every trip. This trip was the bridges and in the bay area there are PLENTY. I don’t know what it is about them, but I just love the lines of the bridge in these pictures. Traffic was not bad into the city, just congested so we had plenty of time to look around and enjoy the architecture of the city.

Tai was funny this trip. When I was helping Liang change his clothes before dinner. She handed him some advertisement flyer to chew on and rip and look at and generally keep him busy. He was feeling pretty chatty and kept saying, “Wow! Wow! Wow!” Well, it tickled me funny because it was a diaper ad, so the baby was… well… naked. :) Later at dinner, he'd open his jacket and close it and open it. We laughed because he was flashing his t-shirt, which read, “Lock up your daughters”. It just looked so funny.

The Cheesecake Factory is on the top floor of Macy’s overlooking Union Square in downtown. We asked to be seated at the first available table and because it was a little chilly the first available was outside overlooking Union Square. It was such a beautiful view, but after such a long day it was all a little surreal. Stay tuned for more on my California Dreamin’ weekend!