Can you guess where we went this weekend?

(This is inside the visitors center at the Oakland temple, what a view!)

Yep, that’s right we went to visit my parents in Oakland! I know all my siblings are jealous now. ;-) Well it just worked out that we were able to get there. I wish I hadn’t forgotten my camera, because I missed out on soooo many picture opportunities. Like getting a picture of the wonderful couple that let me tag along with them and Dwayne on their way out to CA for a reunion. Mr. S wasn’t quite comfortable flying his plane on his own so he asked Dwayne to fly out with them and offered to let me come along too. Since we were not too far from Oakland he offered to let Dwayne fly me up there to visit with my parents Saturday and Sunday while they were doing their thing. It was just a quick overnight visit, but I had a wonderful time. I saw my mom last November/December when she came out to help with her mom’s surgery, but I haven’t seen my dad since they left over a year ago. We were able to visit and have lunch with them at their apartment when we got there, and then we went to the visitors center to meet some of the other missionaries and look at some of the displays in the visitors center. We were very impressed with it. neither of us has been in a visitors center in probably 10 years and they have changed it quite a bit. After that we took off to explore as much of San Francisco as you can in a few hours time while they performed some missionary duties.

Thanks to my “excellent” map reading skills (yes I’m being sarcastic) we only really got to see the Golden Gate Bridge. Usually I’m not bad at reading a map, but I guess I’m a bit rusty since I haven’t had to do it for a while. Let’s just say we saw A LOT of downtown SF while we were on our way to the GG Bridge and we totally missed Fisherman’s Wharf. Oh well, I was actually most interested in seeing the bridge. Then we started driving down the coast to do some sightseeing. It is so pretty I can see why people would brave the earthquakes to live there. Don’t think I would do it, but I can see why. Then we stopped for dinner in Pacifica and started on our way again. After we realized we weren’t as far as we thought we were and it was getting dark we decided to turn around and go back the way we came over the Bay bridge instead of our original plan to go down the coast and come back over the San Mateo bridge. Well thanks to my lovely map reading skills again and a wrong turn….long story short we ended up going back over the San Mateo bridge, but without the scenic drive. It was quite the adventure, but we managed to get back to where we were staying at the Todd house.

See when your parents know the temple president you can get the best room in town! Since some people have to drive quite a ways into Oakland in order to work at the temple, they have the Todd house set up right next to the Temple presidents home and the Mission home and people can stay overnight. This makes it much easier to volunteer if you live several hours away. This way they can do a couple of days each month.

The next day we packed up and went to my parents apartment to have breakfast and visit again before we had to leave. I just can’t believe it all worked out and I am so glad I got to see them. They are having a wonderful time doing the missionary work, and you can definitely see the love that the other missionaries and other people have for them. Even though sometimes because of health or other reasons it’s difficult I know that there is no other place they would rather be right now.

Fortunately my parents let me borrow their camera while we were there so I did get a few pictures of our trip and here they are!

In the visitors center overlooking the bay.

They have a garden on the first tier of the temple that you can go up and walk around on. This is on the back side of the temple overlooking the bay. Again, what a view!

Out in front of the temple there is a man made creek that flows and makes a beautiful sound making it seem so tranquil and quiet. Over Dwayne’s right shoulder is the multi-stake center I believe is what it’s called and this is where my parents attend church. It is a huge building and they can have several meetings going on at the same time. How neat is that getting to go to church right next to the temple?

This just cracked me up. If you look close you can see that the speed limit on the sign under the one way sign says 9 1/2 miles and hour. Not 10…9 1/2.

The famous Bay Bridge. The whole time we were going on it I kept thinking, “Please no earthquake, please…”

This is while traveling on the bay bridge. There is an island (treasure island) halfway across the bay and on the island you go through a tunnel. This is coming out of the tunnel.

The Golden Gate Bridge. I never thought I would ever see it in person.

There was a display up in the park showing how the cables were put together and to show you how large they are. It’s just a bundle of much smaller cables encased together to form the giant cables across the bridge.

We walked out on the bridge a ways and took our picture. =)

From the bridge this is Alcatraz Island and Fisherman’s Wharf. If we’d had more time I would have liked to tour the island.

The path that leads out to the bridge.

This is the Todd house where we stayed the night. My parents lived here for the first six months of their mission. Now they have an apartment that is just across the freeway from the temple. So close you can walk.

Our room after we had packed up and were getting ready to leave. My mom got us the best room in the house. You have to bring your own linens and in most of the rooms you have to share a couple of bathrooms, but each room has it’s own sink. We were the only ones there so it was like having the house all to ourselves.

The view from out on the balcony.

This is looking down from the balcony. Why you may ask did I put in this picture? My dad told me this is the San Andreas fault line. Yes literally. I tried not think about the earth opening up right in front of me and just enjoyed the view.

And here is the mission office/home connected in the same parking lot as the Todd house. You can’t see it, but the temple presidents house is just to the right of the mission home and the Todd house is right next to me on my right.

Oh, and where you may ask were the kids while we did all this? My lovely in-laws watched them for us so that we could make the trip. The kids had a great time, but I think that I won't be able to ask another favor for about a year now from them. =)