San Fransisco

Jeff and I left the comforts of "small town" Indianapolis early Wednesday morning and arrived in the "big city" of San Fransisco by noon. (The time change was a killer!) We originally planned this trip after we received an wedding invitation from our friends Jo and Joel. Many of our friends were also planning on making the trip, so we decided to arrive a couple of days early and make a vacation out of our friend's wedding weekend.

We spent Wednesday, Thursday, and 1/2 of Friday doing the tourist thing. We took a tour of Alcatraz, visited Fisherman's Wharf, experienced Haight-Ashbury, wandered around Ghirardelli Square, and shopped at all the wonderful stores that do not exist in Indy. I was able to experience my first meal at In and Out Burger (amazing!!) and discovered that the iPhone application "Yelp" was extremely reliable when it came to finding local breakfast and seafood restaurants.

Jeff and I on Alcatraz Island

The view of San Fransisco from Alcatraz

Pier 34

Ghirardelli Square

We were invited to the rehearsal dinner on Friday night at a place called Great China. It was located on the Berkley campus. Since our hotel was downtown and approx 1 hour away from the restaurant, the bride and groom arranged for a bus to pick us up. We learned that night that this particular restaurant is very special to the bride and her family. It was even the place where Joel met Jo's family for the first time! The food was very interesting and different than anything I had ever tried before. Very authentic Chinese cuisine!


Saturday was the wedding and what a memorable event this was! Another bus picked us up at our hotel and drove us 2 hours to a beautiful place in a private estate in Los Gatos, CA called Nestldown. It is tucked away in the Santa Cruz Mountains. The ceremony took place in the most amazing location on the property! We were all surrounded by beautiful redwood trees that just seemed to tower over us. To say the bride was beautiful would be an understatement! The love that Jo and Joel have for each other was so obvious...it was hard not to tear up as they recited their vows to each other.

Nestldown...absolutely gorgeous!

Jeff and I with our friends Aaron and Amber

After the ceremony was over, the reception began. The number of surprises that occurred during this reception was too numerous to count. Jo and Joel performed a choreographed dance number about 1/2 way through their first dance. Then, we received dance numbers by Jo's friends from college as well as Jo and Joel's friends from India. (Jo was a member of the Stanford dance team when she was in college, so it was only fitting that her friends put together a little number for her.) Towards the end of their dance, Joel jumped up and finished the dance routine with them to surprise his bride. He did a great job....Joel is a great dancer! Then, the biggest surprise of the night was when the entire (and when I say entire, I mean ENTIRE) Stanford band showed up and performed for us! I have a feeling that Joel may have known this was going to happen, but Jo was completely shocked....and so were all of us! The reception was a blast! What a perfect way to celebrate such a great couple!

The Bride and Groom at the reception


Jeff and I with his parents

So, we are finally back home and recovering from our vacation. What an amazing couple of days! San Fransisco is an absolutely amazing city and I hope to return again someday. There is still so much we didn't get to see! Despite all the fun we had, it still feels really good to be back home!