San Francisco!!!!

Union Square

A few weekends ago I went to San Francisco with my friend.  We took the ferry to the city and it was such an easy and really nice way to do it, it is affordable, you get to see beautiful views from the ferry and it’s always on time. We walked around at Union square, had yummy cheesecake at the cheesecake factory, went shopping, experienced the night life, it was really a great weekend.

The weekend in the city made me appreciate Healdsburg all over again, I love visiting the city but I am so glad that I don’t live there, all that traffic and rushed lifestyle is just not for me, although I will go back soon again, just to be a city girl for a weekend, that’s more than enough..;)

The Ferry

The beautiful city..*

My First Summer birthday with Peggy Sue’s All-American Cruise

Wish they were mine..;)

So I recently had my birthday and this was my first Summer birthday because in South-Africa in June we have winter. I had a lot of plans that didn’t work out as planned and my last option was the Peggy Sue car show and now I am so happy that nothing else worked out cause I had a great time!!! I went with one of my friends, we walked around didn’t really know what to expect but as soon as we started walking through all the cars we where so amazed and we couldn’t stop taking pictures.  Every car was so unique and well taking care of, you could see that the people there know how to be proud of things that means a lot to them.  So while we were walking around we saw this one Chevy Impala with the most beautiful color, it looked red and dark purple all in one, the owner told us that it is the color of red wine when you look at it, he also notice that me and my friend (she is from Sweden), is not from here and after a long talk he invited us to go with him in his car on the cruise in downtown Santa Rosa later that afternoon!  We were SO excited, so while we were waiting to leave for the cruise we  listened to some of the bands that played and they were great!  The cruise downtown was so much fun, it felt great driving around in this beautiful car while everyone is watching and hearing all the sounds of the cars and just being part of the warm and exciting atmosphere was really a great experience.

 

I am so glad I went to this show, driving around in this car was an awesome birthday gift.  This all american, summer birthday is definitely one I will remember forever…:)

The Chevy Impala we went cruising in!!!

Cruising…:)

Willits, California – Feels like Home…

So I’ve been to Willits for the second visit now and that definitely means that Willits deserve a big spot on my blog.  Willits is where my friend grew up so he took me there to show me around town.  The first time we visited it was a rainy day, but so beautiful, I saw the school, we went for a hike (in the rain), it was a lot of fun and we also went out for dinner and had the best fish and chips, good old traditional food, just like we have in South-Africa.  The second time around we visited the big drive-thru tree in Leggitt, CA, a little over an hours drive from Willits.  This tree is huge and you can drive thru it with your car, it’s a great experience, after that we went to Confusion hill, just 7 miles from the big tree and I have to say this was very confusing.  They have certain things for you as the visitor to do, like comparing heights and gravity but it’s strange, everything is made in such a way that you can’t really figure it out, well I guess that’s why it’s called the Confusion Hill right?  So after all that we spent the rest of the day next to the Russian river, it was a beautiful, sunny day and the water was perfect for swimming.

Confusion Hill

Beautiful day at Russian River

 

Willits makes me feel like I am back in South-Africa in my hometown, it’s small and welcoming.  I would go back there any day, so for any of you who haven’t been to Willits before I would definitely suggest going there, make a big trip out of it, spend some time in and around Willits, go for a walk, see the big tree, the beautiful river, the nice restaurants and don’t forget to go get yourself confused at confusion hill… 🙂

Can’t wait for my next trip to Willits!

Drive-Thru Tree

A rainy hike in the redwood trees…

Apple Blossom Festival – Sebastopol

A few weekends back we went to the Apple Blossom Festival in Sebastopol and it was so much fun!  We first watched the parade and it was very interesting to see all the different kinds of outfits, cars and performances.  Each very good and unique.  After that we went to the rest of the festival, we walked around and looked at all the varieties of food and gift stalls.  Then we bought some drinks and we listened to some of the most amazing bands that I’ve ever heard at a festival.  There was one specific band and I don’t know the name but they were really good, I believe they will be very famous one day.  It was also the first time I had a Corn dog and I really liked it, something I will definitely try again!

 

Parade

The atmosphere and friendliness of all the people at the festival made it so much fun and I will surely visit more festivals as I believe Summer time will have a lot more coming up.  I am having a blast in California, I don’t even have to try to enjoy myself, it just happens naturally!!! It’s easy to make life even greater than it is…I am so blessed!

Having fun at the Festival!

 

Lady Antebellum Live!!!!

So I’m a girl with a lot of dreams and I believe they will all come true at the right time and place, so my dream coming to America became a reality and I always said that when I get the change to come here, I just have to go to a live country show, I am a HUGE country fan! Well I finally got to America and guess what…another one of my dreams became a reality!!! I have this AMAZING friend and he surprised me with tickets to go see Lady Antebellum together with Jana Kramer and Rodney Atkins live!!! Best surprise EVER!!!

Lady Antebellum Live

It was held at the Shoreline Amphitheater, Mountainview. There were a lot of traffic and people but it was worth the wait. The show was perfect, with perfect sound and a perfect atmosphere. I will never forget this night and hopefully I will get the change to experience more live shows in my time here. I would suggest this place to anyone and they have a great variety of tickets and pricing for everyone’s budgets. After the show we walked around and the Police Officers thought it was very interesting that I come all the way from South-Africa so they asked if I want a picture on their bike, usually it works the other way around, but I thought it was very kind, perks of being from a different country right?!

Ready for action!!

The last very important thing to know if you go to one of these shows is you HAVE to scream, shout, dance and sing as if nobody’s watching…believe me it makes it even better!!!;) We had so much fun and remember NEVER give up on your dreams…

Whoohoo!!!!! 🙂

Snowboarding in Sonora!!!!!!

Enjoying every minute in the snow!

This was definitely a once in a lifetime experience because not only was it the first time I tried snowboarding, but it was also the first time I’ve EVER seen real snow! I know, people’s reactions are always very surprised, but remember I come from a small town in South-Africa, it never snow there. 🙂 We stayed in Sonora, but snowboarded at Dodge Ridge. My friend is really good at this so he showed me what to do and after a few try-outs we went up to the mountain, I was kinda nervous because getting off from the lift onto the snow is not easy, I fell all the time, but as soon as we got off and started going down the mountain I actually stayed up and it was SO much fun!!! We went up and down all the high mountains and I fell a lot, but it’s such a different feeling, being on snow, sliding down the mountains, seeing the beautiful views, it’s great, makes you feel so free. We snowboarded for the full day on Saturday and I enjoyed it so much that we decided to go back for a half day on Sunday. I’m so grateful because it feels like I am doing more things in my time here than I have ever done in South-Africa. I am really having the time of my life! Having great people in my life makes it so much easier. A tip from my side – do something crazy, something that you think you can’t do, life is too short to stick to the usual, be different and enjoy every second of it…:)

So much fun!!!!

Me in action!!!

Exploring Calistoga on Bikes…

In front of Twomey

So one of my classmates is doing a blog on biking in Calistoga and he told me about Calistoga and the beautiful areas that you can explore on bike. So he gave me the information of the bike shop in Calistoga and I made a booking for me and my friend and we went there one Sunday. The guys at the bike shop were very helpful, they gave us a map of places we can visit as well as helped us with getting the most comfortable bikes. So we were all ready and geared to go…:)

We visited Castello di Amorosa, Twomey, Sterling and Clos Pegase. They were all really beautiful and unique. We didn’t do much wine tastings, we just took our own wine and stopped for a snack every now and then. This is something I would suggest to anyone, you won’t get tired because you stop a lot and the places you see are so amazing that you don’t even realize you have been on a bike for a couple of hours. Whats nice is that you are on your own, you can stop when you want for how long you want and it’s great to have this ‘freedom’. Afterwards we had a late lunch at Hydro Grill, they have GREAT burgers. This was a great day and we enjoyed every second of it. If you haven’t been on a bike tour, you have to do this and Calistoga is a great place to start of with.

San Francisco Zoo!!!!!!!!!!

So my host family took me out to San Francisco Zoo just after our Chinese New Year’s party.  I was very excited and enjoyed every moment of it.  I saw so many different animals than what I am used to, although there was some animals from South-Africa it was still nice to see them, they made me feel ‘home’. 🙂 The highlight of this day was definitely  seeing bears, as this was the first time ever I saw a real bear!  I know some of you might think this is crazy, but I bet some of you have never seen a real African lion…;) And we were lucky because we even saw when they fed the bears and that is really something to see!

Spending the day at the zoo with my host family and the kids was very special and a memory made to last forever.  If you have never visited this zoo I would suggest you make a fun day out of it, it’s family friendly and a nice way to take a break from the crazy world out there…

Glad his not real..:)

Skim boarding in Bodega Bay!!!

I guess you can see from my picture that this was my first time ever trying to do skim boarding, the picture after this one is where I am falling down, so I decided to rather share this one..:)  My friend took me out to Bodega Bay, it was a great day with great weather and I was ready to try this, I have to say it’s not easy and I fell down a lot, but it was SO much fun and after a few tries I managed to stay on the board for a few seconds!:) The water was really cold as I am used to nice warm oceans back in South-Africa, but it didn’t keep us from swimming in it afterwards.  This was a great day and if you need some fun in your life, try this out, always good laughing at yourself…

Bodega Bay – I will be back for more…:)

Sharing my South-African kindness in Santa Rosa

I had so much fun doing this video, I wanted to do something nice to someone I don’t know and also someone that is less privilege than me, I decided to share it with everyone.  Remember something that seems small in your eyes can possibly mean the world to someone else, never stop doing good things to people around you, who knows, maybe one day you will need their help again… Here’s the link the my video, go check it out…