OK, I finally have a chance to post about our trip!

First, AJ, Bo, and I met up in San Francisco.  It was a little weird that Bo and I were on vacation together without my parents.  I guess we’re really grown up now, huh?  LOL!

The first full day was our big sightseeing day.  We took a sightseeing tour bus that drove us all around town and showed us everything.  It took us to the top of a hill where we could see the whole city - it’s so big and hilly!

And then the bus took us to Golden Gate Bridge:

Then we traveled to Muir Woods, which was a beautiful state park.  The redwoods were so gorgeous!  So, of course, AJ had to act goofy in the middle of them

Then, that night, we went to see Al Capone’s old haunt - Alcatraz:

The next few days we spent exploring the city, including visiting the original Ghirardelli store.

We also spent an afternoon at Haight Ashbury, which is a place I’ve been wanting to visit for YEARS!  We also smoked a little hookah in a hookah bar at Haight Ashbury, which just seemed too appropriate.  This is a horrible angle for me, but look, I was there!

Then we met up with my parents and we all headed to Napa Valley!  We had the best time.  We probably went to 15-20 wineries.

AJ and I slowly collected a case’s worth of wine to bring home with us . . . until we went to the last winery.  We had tours at several of the wineries, and tastings at almost everyone, but the last winery we went to was a little different.  At Del Dotto, we did a barrel tasting - we tasted the wine straight from the barrels that were in the caves!  It was so cool!

This was some of the best wine that we have ever tasted, and since the vineyard is a smaller vineyard that only sells wine from the winery (not in stores or resteraunts), we bought another half case of wine there, LOL!  We’re going to let the wine age, so AJ and I used a Christmas gift certificate I had saved to by this AWESOME wine fridge.

So, I guess can check off #37 on my 101 in 1001 - I’ve been to California!  For all the pictures, see my Flickr.

Then, Mama, Daddy, and Bo all went home and AJ and I went to New York for a couple of days.  We saw August: Osage County (which was soooooo amazing) and American Ballet Theatre’s production of Sleeping Beauty (which meant a lot to me - Disney’s movie has been my favorite movie since I was 2, and I’ve always wanted to see the ballet).  We also got to spend some time with my best friend Stephanie.  She lives in NYC now, and she’s never had a chance to meet AJ.

So, we’re back now, and completely exhausted, but we had a truly great vacation!  I think I’ve decided to give wine tasting/journaling another shot now that I’ve been to Napa and have a bit more knowledge about the whole thing.

Oh, and while I’m posting, we can also scratch #69 off of my 101 in 1001 list - over the past year I’ve really switched a lot of my grocery purchasing to organic food, and I try to consciously pick the organic options, even if they do cost a little more!

I recently read a book that I REALLY enjoyed. It’s about a guy who decides to follow all the rules in the Bible for a year as literally as possible. Not just “love thy neighbor,” but also all the weird rules about facial hair, dietary needs, etc. I thought I’d just be amused by this book, but it’s actually made me think quite a bit! The author is not a Christian, yet he treats the Bible with quite a bit of reverence, and allows himself to be open to new ideas and theology.

I won’t go into too much detail about the book because I really feel like it’s worth the read! But part of what struck me so much about this book was the amount of research that A. J. Jacobs put into the different rules he was reading about (and the reasons behind them). He read hundreds of books during this process, and shared a lot of his findings throughout the book. Here are a few of the books that I’ve added to my wishlist as a result of reading this book:

- Reading the Bible Again For the First Time: Taking the Bible Seriously But Not Literally, Marcus J. Borg
- Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism: A Bishop Rethinks the Meaning of Scripture, John Shelby Spong - very divided reader reviews on this one!
- God: A Biography, Jack Miles
- Unauthorized Version: Truth and Fiction in the Bible, Robin Lane Fox - more divided reader reviews
- Daily Life in Biblical Times, Oded Borowski

Also, Jacobs uses the website Charity Navigator to help him figure out how to tithe his money. I think this is a really neat site, and I’ve added it to my bookmarks!

There’s also another website that he mentioned called MoveOn.org. I’m still not 100% what this website’s purpose is, but I’m intrigued.

And on the rare off-chance that A. J. Jacobs is “self-Googling” (pg. 151) - I LOVED your book!  I have Post-It notes all over my book and send a copy to my mom.  Thanks for the great read!