Home Sweet Home

It’s Saturday, and Claire and I are on the plane headed back to Sweet Home Alabama.  It was a great trip…..I really do feel refreshed, clear, and ready for life to start again. 

We got up and packed all of our stuff.  A whopping 200 lbs between the two of us,  not including our carry-ons.  I TOTALLY overpacked!!!  I wasn’t sure what the weather would be like, so I packed for all seasons.  At least if I make my way back to Northern California someday, I’ll know what to bring. 

We had breakfast at the Eagle Café on Pier 39.  It was really good.  Blueberry pancakes for me and peanut butter and banana French toast for Claire.  I must admit, as yummy as it was, I’m ready to start eating normal again.  Cereal here I come.  $5 = b’fast for a whole work week! 

Another sign that it was definitely time to peace out…..was when we found out the gay pride parade was today.  At b’fast two men walked in that honestly made us speechless.  Man, I wish I could’ve gotten a better picture.  They both had on daisy dukes, aviator sunglasses, bandanas tied around their heads, socks almost up to their knees, and converse all stars.  One of their shirts said, “Momma said knock you out.”  Part of me wondered if two guys just decided to be funny and play dress up.  But whatever the case, all eyes were on them, even in San Francisco. 

Getting our bags to the check in counter was a sight to see.  Claire and I trying to lug 150 lbs a piece gracefully was hilarious….and not graceful I promise you.  It was at least a mile walk from the rental car drop off to our gate……but we got it done.   It was such a great trip, and I’m so glad my sweet friend was there to enjoy it with me.

Must admit, I can’t wait to hear some good ole’ southern accents, see some familiar faces, go pick up my doggie, and go to my church!!!  Going to be awesome!

God’s goodness really does overwhelm me.  I don’t deserve the life I have, the grace I’ve been shown, or the eternity that awaits me.  But I thank God so much for it all.  He is faithful even when we are not!!

Love people...."Haight" Sin

Friday…..our last real day in San Fran L  The plans for the day included Napa Valley and Oakland A’s game….but we were really to tired for the latter when it came time.  Had a yummy breakfast at Boudin Café.  French toast for me, bacon, egg, and cheese on sourdough for Claire.  Oh yeah, and they sold these huge pieces of sourdough bread that were baked in the shape of crabs, and all other sorts of animals.  And Claire had to have one for her beach family get together, so she dropped $20 to make the fam happy J  Because as we started saying on the trip, “Money is like air.”  At least that’s how we spent it on this vacation.  If we hadn’thad that mindset, we would have stayed depressed.  San Francisco is an expensive place…..and how we love to give gifts!!  This girl will be on a tight budget when I’m back in B’ham!!  

We got to cross over Golden Gate again…..which I never got tired of.  Looking back, the greatest thinga bout Napa was definitely the scenery.  Again, more beautiful “terrain,“ which was Claire’s word of the day…used in song of course.  .  Our first stop was called Chimney Rock.  It was really pretty, and had a “South African” feel.  We basically just took pictures and headed to “Cakebread” Cellars.  Honestly, hearing about wine turned out to be really boring, and people’s desire to know about it cracked me up.  But it was a good experience, I guess.  Last stop in Napa was a place called V.Sattui.  It was the only winery in Napa that sold food….and of course we wanted to eat.  As Claire says, “Big girl was hungry.”  This place had all kinds of stuff.  Meats, cheeses, jams……it was a little grocery all in itself.  They had great sandwiches and desserts, so that’swhat we went with., and had a little outdoor picnicJ  After this stop, we decided we had seen enough of the wine country. It really is beautiful, but not that great if you’re not a wine connoisseur ….and we definitely are not.

When we got back to our hotel, we were pooped.  The week had definitely begun to catch up with us.  So we decided against driving into Oakland for the game., and decided to try and find the house from Full House…..or the “Full House house.”  J  It’s amazing what you can do on the internet.  We were like “how are we going to find it”…..and with the click of a button Google saves the day! Turns out, it’s 1709 Broderick Street.  Just a quiet little street with cookie cutter houses. They’ve definitely either painted or replaced the door, because I know it used to be red.  

 After that we decided we just had to go see the Haight-Ashbury district.  This is the area that got all of the hype during the “Summer of Love.”  It may be a little more commercialized, but it’s amazing, how much of that culture has been preserved.  It was seriously, like a modern day Woodstock.  Everyone looked like a hippie.  Lots of tie-dyed things, and all types of illegal looking paraphernalia.  I agree with Claire….you could not pay me enough money to live in that place.  It would be very hard to be a Christian and live there.

 Yes, obviously a great mission field, but I can’t even explain the amount of heaviness and spiritual warfare you feel when you drive into the area.  Very powerful.  I think the most disturbing thing we saw was a man, probably 60 years old at least, walking quickly down the sidewalk all by himself, just talking unintelligibly and loudly and letting out a scream about every 5 seconds.  He really seemed to be  having like a permanent hallucination.  I just thought about how many people live there that probably arrived during all the movements in the late 60’s and have never left.  Crazy.  We actually went to a little place called the People’s Café to grab a snack. It was actually a cute little place, but was right in the middle of everything.  We had popcorn shrimp and sweet potato fries.  Again, I looked around at the young people there.  Most had altered their appearance so much that someone who knew them when they were kids probably would not recognize them anymore.  I couldn’t help but wonder where they were from, what made them move to a place like Haight-Ashbury, or did they talk to their parents anymore??   As Claire and I prayed over our meal, I wondered if the cashier could count on 2 hands how many people he had seen bless a meal from there. 

God….I can’t praise you enough for my family, my upbringing, my roots.  Thank you for allowing me to be born into a family that loves you….that reflects you in their actions…that lives for you.  Thank you for giving me a firm foundation when I did nothing to deserve it.  Redeem these people.  Save them from their sin.  Remind them that there is another way, the only way, to be truly FREE.  Let your light shine through me God.

A "Wicked" Thursday

Thursday…..Claire’s Birthday….the big 28!!!  Today we headed to Sausalito, a little town about 20 minutes from the big city.  We decided to go ahead and rent another car for the rest of the trip.  Just much easier to get around, especially if you’re planning on going outside the city limits.

We took a cable car to the rental car place…..and were so ecstatic to find a 2 hour line awaiting us.  Oh well, patience is a virtue.  It was worth the wait tough, because we got the cutest little VW rabbit.  We named her Abbey Mae, in honor of our sweet friend Jamey’s basset hound Abbey.  I don’t know….it just fit the carJ 

We crossed over the Golden Gate Bridge and stopped to take a lot of pictures.  It was really foggy this morning, and the bridge looked so cool.  It was so crazy to ride over something you’ve seen your whole life on television.  It was kind of surreal.  There are tons of people biking and running on it.  I’m sure a lot of them do it everyday.

We stopped and grabbed lunch at Louis’ Deli and Café. It was great.  Obviously, a regular lunch hour stop for a lot of locals.  Have I mentioned everything is very experience here??  You’re never going to drop less that $10 on a simple lunch or $30 for dinner.  I would need to pick up a second job J Anyway, the town of Sausalito was really cute.  It’s just a short stretch of coffee shops, boutiques, etc, right on the dock.  Didn’t seem very touristy at all, and was a good getaway.  We stopped and got Claire’s “birthday cake,”which equaled blueberry bread pudding that was yummy, and a fudge chocolate brownie!!  Oink, oink…..so good though.

On our way back, we stopped at a place called Point Bonita that a guy we had met in Half Moon Bay had recommended.  It was an amazing view and Claire got all kind of good pictures.  She worked fast though because it was absolutely freezing that high up, and the wind was out of control!  Still blown by the beauty of this state. 

 When we got back we took a stroll down Pier 39……probably the most well known pier in San Fran.  There are tons of shops, restaurants, and crazy people to see right on the pier.  We also got to see some more sea lions.  They were chilling out on the floating piers, further out in the bay.  They were selling some BEAUTIFUL fruit, but I knew if I tried to bring it home it would be juice….so I just admired it J  And we saw another “not-so-homeless” looking, homeless person, obviously in need of money.  Please go sell your cowboy hat, diamond earrings, and trenchcoat before you ask others for their hard earned money.  I mean…at least try to look homeless!! 

And now for one of my favorite parts of the whole trip….WICKED.  What an amazing show!!  We jumped in Abbey Mae and headed to the area referred to as Union Square  Definitely the shopping district and very ritzy.  It felt a little more like New York, with shops like Tiffany’s, Gucci, and the Elizabeth Arden’s Red Door Spa all in the same area.  The people walking around with bags in their hands looked like celebrities, minus never having seen their face before.  They were DECKED out for sure.  Driving in this area is a learned behavior……DOES not come naturally to girls from Birmingham.  But we managed, and arrived safe and sound at the Orpheum Theatre. 

The show was absolutely phenomenal!  The storyline, singing, dancing, costumes….aggghhh!!  Such a great experience.  You just have to see it for yourself.  I was so glad Claire got to experience it on her b’day. 

We tried to go grab a last minute “Birthday Snack” but everything was closed L  Everything but Walgreens that is!!!  We grabbed a 2 pints of ice cream……1 Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough and 1 Ben and Jerry’s Chubby Hubby.  Yum yum.  It was money in the bank. 

Oh yeah, I think the biggest event of the day, besides Claire’s b’day of course, was the King of Pop himself, Michael Jackson, passing away.  Don’t forget Farrah….bless her heart.  I know her family wishes she could have passed away on any other day but the same one as Michael.  I mean…..talk about lack of coverage.  Kind of felt sorry for her L  The wax museum had his statue out in front so that everyone passing by could see it.  There were flowers, cards, people taking their picture with it, even the news was there.  I guess it is kind of a big deal.  He just seemed like, even though his music made so many other people happy, he was never truly happy.  This seems to be the case with most of Hollywood.  They need Jesus so bad.  So funny that we can idolize someone so much just because they can sing and dance, but forget about the one who gave His life for us.

Wednesday in San Fran!!

Wednesday was a great day.   Well, I know the first couple of hours were not so great for Claire.  Bless her heart!  She realized when we were going to bed the night before, that when we had dropped the rental car off , her $1100 Nikon D60 was in the trunk!!  We prayed so hard that it would still be there.  She got up super early and took a taxi back to the Alamo rental car station, and sure enough, it was still in the trunk.  Thank the Lord!  That would’ve made the trip a lot less great!  So once she was back safe and sound with her camera, we went to catch the ferry to Alcatraz!  This was the one place I REALLY wanted to see.  You can see the island of Alcatraz no matter where you are in San Francisco.  It’s always visible.  It just looks like this little mystery sitting across the bay. 

The ferry ride only took about 15 minutes.  I think the most memorable part of this ride had to be the seagulls.  Claire and I sat on the upper deck so we could take pictures as we rode toward the island.   The birds hovered over our heads as close as they possible could…..and people let out shrieks when they saw the birds going to the potty!  It was like the birds were on a mission to get us messy, but the heavy winds acted against them.  I don’t think anyone actually got hit, but it was scary for sure…..and entertaining J

When we arrived we watched a video about the history of Alcatraz.  It actually was only a federal penitentiary for 30 some odd years.  It was a military prison before that.  The island is definitely a little spooky.  I think the coolest thing was hearing about the people who had lived there……the criminal “celebrities” that is.  The most noted was obviously Al Capone or “Scarface,” but there were others we were introduced to.  All crazy characters. 

We did an audio tour, where you just put the headphones on and go at your own pace.  It was really cool.  Everyone on the audio tour had either worked at Alcatraz or had actually been inmates there.  Also, people who had lived on the island, like families of the officers talked about how much they loved living there growing up.  They said they loved getting out of school and getting to ride the ferry back over to their home.  Something I had never thought about that the prisoners talked about on the tour, was that it was so much harder being on an island that “was so close, yet so far away” from the city.   They said New Year’s was the worst….they could hear the people  celebrating and music playing.  But even on a daily basis, they could see the city and see the freedom that they could no longer have.  This prison was a far cry from prisons today.  No benefits for good behavior, only punishment for bad.  There was some really beautiful vegetation and wildlife on the island.  Volunteers keep the plants taken care of.  It was a cool experienceJ

K….so next journey in the day was getting to Chinatown and finding some counterfeit purses!!  This Chinatown was not just little  shops, it was a community.  Schools, churches…EVERYTHING was Chinese.  I found out that San Francisco’s Chinatown is actually the largest Chinese population outside of China itself!!!  And this did not surprise me.  While we were there, I literally felt like we were in another country.  Unlike Chinatown’s in other cities, they don’t do much bargaining.  They will a little, but definitely not what I would call “bargains.”  But because we are gift givers, Claire and I went a little crazy.  We definitely made the owners of the little shop we purchased from very happy.  We were so tired when we got finished, we ran to grab a cable car back to the Radisson.  We waited for a while and no cable car.  Apparently, they were having some mechanical problems.  SO…..Claire and I made the 45 minute trek back to the hotel….tons of presents in hand!  LOL…..it was exhausting, but funny to look back on.  It just screamed “tourists.”  Not that our accents and apparently just the way we look in general didn’t do the same.  The guy at the Apple store, Chris, said he assumed we were “Marina” girls before we started talking.  That is, we’re from San Fran but live closer to the beach.  I think that means we look a lot girlier than a lot of the girls around the city.  He said we made him remember how much he loved Southern girls.  He was like, “You just have this purity about you that I never see in girls here.”  It was the sweetest compliment.   Made me very proud to be from Alabama, and just from a place where kindness and gentleness are things about a woman that are cherished. 

That night, we had a great dinner at a place called Cappuro’s.  I had Prawn Fettuccini  Alfredo and Claire had Seafood Risotto.  Both were absolutely delicious.  Then we headed over to the Ghirardelli Chocolate Factory.  YUMMY.  I got chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream in a cone and it was to die for.  Again, I found myself miserable and feeling like I had a small child in my stomach, but it was so worth it. 

So thankful to God for just allowing me to experience life.  To experience the reality of what life for others is like.  No matter how rich, poor, what someone’s ethnicity is, what socioeconomic status we’re from…..we all have one thing in common….the need for a Saviour.  Being in San Francisco it was so evident to me that so many people have Christ , and a life full of His freedom, RIGHT at their fingertips.  He’s all around us, calling to us to “come home.”  And most people will spend their whole lives ignoring that still, quiet voice, and trying to fill the void with other things.  The mission field is not just in China or Peru, it is all around us. 

  

God help me to see others with your eyes.  Help me to see them with an eternal perspective, as if today could be their last day on this earth.  To live as if this is my last day to impact someone for you. 

 

Pictures

Tuesday morning we went horseback riding on the beach.  It was absolutely beautiful!!  My horse's name was "Samurai."  He was very stubborn, but I soon realized all the horse's in our group were.  We had a group of six people including the guide, Armando.  There was a dad with his two daughters that were 11 and 9.  The 11 year old was not happy from the moment we got on the horses.  I guess she was scared, because she just kept crying.  Claire had been riding up beside her but had fallen back, because we were trying to get good photos of each other.  All of a sudden I hear, "Her horse bit you?," referring to Claire's horse.   The Dad starts going off on us, telling us that we need to learn to "control our horses." Claire was hilarious.  She was like "I'm sorry sir....I'm just really not used to men being so rude.  I'm from the south"....lol.  I couldn't help but get a kick out of it.  He ended up apologizing and being really nice the rest of the time.  We told him we were headed to San Francisco next, and he informed is that it was gay pride week.  Out of 52 weeks.....seriously??  We just decided to go ahead and start praying for grace....that God was have grace for our thoughts and that we would have grace for homosexuals.  He's always stretching us, that's for sure :) After taking our horses back, we got ready to hit the road.  

Oh yeah, we did stop at the best little diner in Half Moon Bay.  We had a good sandwich and GREAT fries.  Our sweet waitress's name was Emily, and there was an older man that worked there named Bill.  We would just be sitting there, and he would start singing a song at the top of his lungs.  It was hilarious.  Then he would stop and just start again when he felt like it.  It was great. The drive into San Fran only took about 45 minutes.  More beautiful scenery......California is such a gorgeous state!!  Really breathtaking.  You know the minute you drive into the city, you have almost entered into a different country.  We stayed right by  the waterfront in the Fisherman's Wharf district.  Besides the frequent whiff of fish that you get, its such an awesome place.  All kinds of culture.  Any place you can think to eat, shops, people singing on corners.  Definitely more homeless people than I've ever seen.  Some of them reminded me of the homeless people in Santa Cruz....which = not so pitiful.  But MOST of them in San Francisco were SO pitiful and helpless.  You'll be walking down the sidewalk and see someone using cardboard as a bed, and then another piece for a blanket.  SO sad....and you just don't know what to do.  It get's so cold here at night, and you just feel so sorry for them.  I found myself just wanting to know about their lives.....How did they get here? Do they have family??  Are they drug addicts??  Just can't imagine.  So the first night we were here, we just checked into our room, went to the apple store to replace my iphone (the screen got busted in Santa Cruz,) and went to Lombard St., before we dropped off "Paula," our rental car. Lombard St. is the "crookedest" street in America.  It is super cool to go down, and there are groups of people there taking pictures no matter what time of day it is.   After we took the impala back, we bought a 3 day pass and road our first cable car.  This was seriously one of my favorite things about San Francisco.  The streets literally have tracks built into the roads, and these little open buses are constantly going up and down the streets until 1 am in the morning!!   It's really so cool:)  

We rode it back into the bay area, and went to grab a bite at this Mexican place. We were both CRAVING it!  It was really good but very different than "Alabama Mexican"...lol.  The queso dip wasn't made from white cheese .... bummer.  And the portions here are much smaller :(  But we walked down to "The Chocolate Store," which would soon become our favorite little stop in San Fran, and got some yummy treats.  I got a white chocolate covered rice krispy treat on a stick and a homemade reese cup...yummy.  Claire got peanut butter fudge and chocolate covered marshmallows.  They were delicious.  Definitely gonna have to go on a health kick when I get back!!

For some reason I couldn't add photos tonight, so I'll try to post them separately!! 

A Ritzy Day

Yesterday, Claire and I got up early and headed down to the wharf.  It’s a long pier with restaurants, gift shops, an lots of birds!!  We heard there were Sea Lions that make their home at the end of the pier, so we went to see if we could get some pictures.  

On our way, we saw this seagull sitting on her eggs, nesting.  These birds are so tame.  I guess they’re just so used to people being around them.  She didn’t budge while Claire took her photo J  There are so many birds, you can imagine what the pier is covered in, and poor Claire got a little surprise on her shirt.  She had to hold down the vomit…LOL.  We could hear the Sea Lions from all the way up in our hotel room.  There were probably about 6 in all.  3 of them were laying on the wooden framework that held the pier up.  We were like, “how did they get up there??”  We soon realized, because we saw another one of them attempt it, that they literally leap out of the water and try to land on the ledge.  CRAZY!!!!  We saw a momma and her cute little baby swimming around.  It was so precious how it just followed her everywhere.

The saddest part was a Sea Lion that was lying on a ledge and was severely wounded.  It looked

like it had gotten caught in a net or something, and it appeared to be dying.  I wish someone would put it out of it’s misery.  It was awful to look at it.  We also were reminded that obesity runs in every species….lol.  It was obvious to us that obesity in the Sea Lion cultre equals superiority.  Nobodymessed with this big boy J  

On our way back to the room, we stopped at Gilda's and had the best French toast I’ve EVER put in my mouth.  6 huge pieces covered in whip cream, fresh strawberries, powdered sugar, and syrup with bacon on the side.  Definitely not on a diet!  We cleaned our plates J  It was so worth it.   

We checked out of the Dream Inn in Santa Cruz, jumped in our Impala or “Paula” as we call her, and headed up Highway 1 to Half Moon Bay. 

 Let me just say Highway 1 is one of the most beautiful stretches of God’s creation I have ever seen!  On one side, you see gorgeous beaches with humongous rocks, and on the other, it’s mountainous rolling hills with strawberry farms.  Amazing!   It’s about a 45 minute drive into Half Moon Bay.  HMB is actually a really small town that just happens to have a Ritz Carlton and some great restaurants J  

Just driving up to our hotel, I felt kind of ridiculous.  It looked like a royal palace.  There are young guys dressed like old school professional golfers with the funny pants and socks waiting to open our car doors.  LOVED driving up in our impala!!!  They didn’t seem used to a car without a BMW or Mercedes logo on it :)  But they were absolutely so nice, and our bus boy's name was Gino.  We didn't have to touch our bags, that I know altogether weigh about 250 lbs....no kidding:)  When we walked up to the concierge's desk to check in, there was a man complaining that even though he had the 2 bathmats in his bathroom that he had requested, one for his sink and one for his shower, they had never been placed in the right location and he wanted them to know he was dissatisfied.  Claire and I just looked at each other baffled.  It was actually pretty humorous, and the saddest part was the desk clerk acted like this was an everyday thing for him.  I'm sure when you're always dealing with people that are used to having everything they want, you run into a lot of unsatisfied people.  

We went and looked around for the first couple of hours.  The view from our room was absolutely breathtaking.  We just sat outside on our little patio area with the fire pit going, listening to worship music on our ipods, just truly worshipping God for His creation.  He's so amazing. 

We went to dinner at a place called Pasta Moon.  We had heard nothing but great things about it, so we thought we'd give it a shot.  It lived up to every expectation!!!  Our salad had goat cheese stuffed apricots that were absolutely amazing!!  The bread was so fresh......we ate a huge plate of it.  We ordered the house Lasagna and Risotto Basil Pesto and got them to split them both in half so we 

could try each.  Some of the best Italian food I've ever had....maybe the best.  I finished my meal off with the Ghirardelli Butterscotch Pudding, and Claire had the Mascarpone Cheesecake.  Both were to die for.  

Seriously, except for right at this moment, I don't know if I've ever been so sickeningly full!!  But it was all SO good, and our waiter Aaron was great.  We were so full we literally just went straight to our rooms, laid on the bed, and just passed on out......full bellies and all!!!  Oh yeah.....Claire did get to taked some amazing pictures of the sunset before we fell out.

I Left My Heart in Santa Cruz

Yesterday was great.  Claire woke me up saying, "OMG....Kasey.  I think a homeless guy slept right below our room last night on the beach."  The verdict is still out as to whether or not he was actually homeless.  I guess most homeless people don't have a suitcase, huh?  But I thought most homeless people didn't have well fed dogs, smile all the time, and have tats that look like they cost about thousand dollars either.  The homeless in Santa Cruz are doing pretty good for themselves, I guess.  No matter what they have, it'll still break your heart seeing them line the boardwalk, sitting on their benches with there little signs.  These aren't the typical signs you're used to seeing in B'ham...."Will work for food."  It was more like"Good karma only cost a dollar," "Hugz in exchange for some change," or "Betcha can't hit me with a quarter." We were walking by and some guy said, "Hey girls.....wanna hook up with some homeless guys tonight."  Of course we just ignored them.  I couldn't help but think how I would feel if I had to refer to myself as a "homeless girl."  I know these people don't desire to be homeless, but most of them don't seem that sad being so.  It's so hard......you want to give them money, but would almost bet that they would run and buy the first hallucinogenic drug they could get their hands on if you gave them anything.  Most of them have done so many drugs, they just sound stoned, even if at that moment they're not. They all really just need a Saviour.  These guys had a fishing pole with a cup on the end of it "fishing" for change.  

Anyway, back to our day, yesterday morning we got ready and went to Vintage Church on Mission St. for the 9:00 am service.  When we first pulled up, we saw all of these kids going into a little coffee shop right next to the church called the Abbey.  We were early, so we thought

we might as well check it out.  It was by far the cutest little coffee shop I've ever been in.  We realized almost immediately from the signs and workers there, that it was affiliated with the church. What a great ministry idea? They reach people as they come and get there morning coffee everyday, or just come to bum their free internet.  Hey....whatever works:) Within about 5 minutes our friend Brittney from Campus Crusades in KY came into the coffehouse.  I think she was shocked we actually came:) Again, a breath of fresh air talking to her. The church is non -denominational, but is held in an old beautiful lil' Presbyterian Church.  It's so cool, because there are a LOT of older people there.  We found out that most of them were part of the church when it was still Presbyterian, but have stayed there through all the changes.  I just think that's awesome.  So many older people are so set in there ways and not willing to change, even if it's for Christ.  You could tell, especially during worship, these older people loved the changes. They were just singing with all of their hearts.  When we walked into the sanctuary, I recognized the voice singing in background.  None other that the late Johnny Cash!  Don't worry, no Ring of Fire or anything.....I could tell it was music from his Christian Album.  But that will give you a feel forthe church.  Just like all of Santa Cruz, there's this desire to live in a different era.  For most people in this town.....it's anytime that would've allowed them to attend Woodstock!!  FULL of hippies.....Santa Cruz is:) Anyway, worship was awesome.  They did some songs we do at Highlands, and they did a couple I'd never heard.  Definitely ushered in God's presence.  So good to be with my Christian family:)  The message was on Forgiveness, a topic I don't guess we can ever hear too much of.  The pastor.....who btw, I would've paid money to have a picture of his hair....described forgiveness in a cool way.  HE was like "You have to make a pyschological shift; you have to decide, no matter how someone's hurt you, that they DO NOT OWE YOU ANYTHING anymore."  That's a cool way to think about it.  Our debt was paid by a spotless lamb.....a debt we could NEVER pay.  Yet, we expect people to pay us back for debts that are not near as huge as the debt for our sins that was cancelled by someone that didn't owe us a thing.  I know for me, forgiving others has to be a conscious, everyday, constant decision, but is one that gives SO MUCH FREEDOM.  Such a good service, and I'm so glad we went.  

Next, we took Brittney's advice and went to "Pizza My Heart" downtown for lunch.  She was like "you can get a piece of pizza, a t-shirt, and a coke for $6."  Well.....not if you're like me and

 wanted a salad with your meal.  I ended up paying over $12, but I did get 2 slices of pizza and a very full belly, so that was good:)  

                                                                                                                    After that we were off to Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park.  The trees are from 1400-2200

years old.  Okay....I realize this is on the other side of the world, but it's crazy to think some of these trees were there when our Saviour was on this earth.  Amazing!!  Hopefully, this

picture will do some justice to the size of the trees.  This particular tree, based on it's rings, was about 2200 years old. Wow.  This was such a beautiful place, 

and we were so glad we went!  Of course, there was

a little craft show going on.  Vendors were out selling their "goods", and I got to buy a couple of presents :)  There was also some ridiculous dog show going on.  I know I've put Alby in a shirt or two in his life, but this was hilarious.  Even the dog owners were dressed up. 

Our next little adventure after an hour relaxing by the pool was the amusement park we had walked through the day before.  We just rode the biggest and best rides.....The Great Dipper (6th oldest wooden roller coaster in America), the Double Shot, the Hurricane, and our favorite, the Fireball.  After this....we walked down to the Wharf area and went to Riva's Seafood restaurant.  The guy at the front desk of our hotel had recommended it.  It was definitely packed.  Even close to 9:00 when we got there, people were still being seated.  I told the waitress I wanted something with shrimp and she recommened the "Mexican Prawns."  Calire got this too :( I will definitely never go against my gut on something again.  It was horrible.  I actually ate it, because I was hungry and I just feel bad not eating food when there are people starving in Africa, or better yet right outside from the restaurant, but it was painful going down.  But it's okay, because a piece of their "mud pie" saved the day :)  Something had to get that awful taste out of our mouths.  

So if you're ever in Santa Cruz, don't go to Riva's, or if you do, don't get the Mexican Prawns.  Yuck.  We made it back to the hotel in one peace.  We jogged most of the way, because it was freezing!!  Crazy how different our summer's are! 

Tomorrow, we'll be off to Half Moon Bay around lunch for some pampering.  As if this trip isn't pampering all by itself!  So thankful for God's blessings, and just getting to enjoy so much of His beautiful creation.  He is so good!