The California Trip - a Whirlwind of a Week

 It is a long holiday weekend, the Civic holiday.  

I am finally getting around to reporting on our California trip in late June.  It was a whirlwind 7 days of activity, the occasion being the wedding of my niece.  Our entire family on my side were able to attend.  It was wonderful to see everyone, not just online.  

We arrived on a Wednesday afternoon and headed to my sister's house in Palo Alto for an overnight stay.  I had not been to her house in 22 years, life got in the way I guess.  Her house had been renovated extensively in about 2016 and it was gorgeous.  It probably needs new renovations by now.  We all took a short walk to the neighbourhood coffee shop and market as we needed some milk.  A bunch of them did a Pokemon Go run, a popular phone game.   We met the groom's mother at the market by chance.  She was choosing flowers for the rehearsal dinner arrangements.  We headed back to the house for a takeout Zareen's Indian restaurant dinner.  After that we went to see my nephew's new home near Los Gatos.  It had been a full day.

The next morning we all drove to have coffee at another shopping centre.  It had a Trader Joe's store so we had fun shopping there.  My brother-in-law gave us a tour of the Palo Alto neighbourhood, including the local high school which is just next to Stanford University.  There have been a lot of changes over the years.  Back at their house, it was time to finish icing the Krensekake wedding cake.  Daughter L helped to ice all the rings on this traditional Norwegian cake.  The groom's father is Norwegian so it was a tribute to their culture.  Here it is at the wedding.  The side plate of rings are also for eating.  It is said that rings leftover on the cake are the number of children the couple will have haha.  The cake starts off with 18 rings.

We left the city at around 1 pm for the wedding venue which was a couple hours' drive out of town, past the Golden Gate Bridge.  We stopped there to take photos.  That night after checking into our hotel we all had dinner at the Wild Goat Bistro in Petaluma.  The appetizers and gourmet pizzas were delicious.  

Later that night, the rest of our family started arriving from Florida and Arizona.  It was so exciting.  My little great nieces arrived, they are so cute!  We were all staying at the Hilton Petaluma.  One sister brought us the sweetest mangoes and lichees from Florida.

Mangoes

  

The next morning husband M and I went to breakfast at Della Fattoria with my sister and her husband who live in Palo Alto.  It was a lovely cafe.  We had avocado toast and the bacon and egg breakfast.   I had an oatmeal milk latte. 

bacon and egg breakfast

oatmeal milk latte

The bride and groom were hosting a luncheon that same day.  My niece and nephew from Canada arrived in time for that too.  It was great to see finally see the bride and groom and grab a few words with them.  They had their rehearsal dinner planned that evening and would host an after party right after that at the same location as the dinner.  I really enjoyed the speeches given by the mother of the bride and the mother of the groom to honour the couple.  They are such a smart and attractive young couple too.  My branch of the family decided to eat dinner at a local Puerto Rican restaurant before the rehearsal dinner after party.  Daughter L loved the food.  I got to try tostones (a savoury plantain dish) and mofongo (a flavoured plantain dish), that I have seen on the cooking shows.  I liked the mofongo.  I might add that we were a bit late to the rehearsal after party, being a large group.  I hope the bride didn't notice our group playing Pokemon Go on their phones at one table.

The next day, a Saturday, it was the wedding day!  My husband went to the local market nearby to grab some sandwiches for breakfast and snacks.  He also got some hand pies to try.  Other family members went off to a breakfast place while others continued with their Pokemon Go runs.  Many were driving to the wedding in the afternoon.  We took the scheduled 3 pm shuttle from the hotel to the venue.  The shuttle was one of 2 large air-conditioned motor coaches.

The ceremony was non-traditional, very beautiful.  The bride's 21 year old brother married them.  He took the online course that allows you to do that.  I was surprised that the bride came down the aisle on her own opting not to have her dad walk her down the aisle.  (They are a close family I might add). However the groom was accompanied down the aisle by his mom.

We took photos on the lovely venue grounds and we had a chance to mingle  outside and were served pizza appetizers being made from an outdoor oven.  Soon it was time to find our seats.  How honoured husband M and I were to find that we were seated with the parents of the bride along with the sister (and her husband) of the father of the bride.   Many beautiful touching speeches were made, including one by the father of the bride.  

The farm to table wedding menu was terrific, we ate every bite!

Farm to Table menu

note the dressing stylishly smeared on the side

Beef, chicken, ravioli, cauliflower

Have a look at one of the wedding cakes (it was chocolate), a replica of the groom's treasured old car.

We enjoyed a lot of dancing, young and old.  All too soon it was time to grab our 10 pm shuttle back to the hotel.  There was a wedding after party that we never made it to.  

The next day, it was time for everyone to leave.  My immediate family (me, husband M, my son, daughter L and her husband) had opted to stay on for an extra night to go to a winery tasting nearby, St. Francis Winery and Vineyards.

fancy place setting for the tasting

The tasting menu

Many tastings of wine later and some delicious tastings it was time to return to the hotel and prepare to leave the next morning.  It was the day before husband M's birthday and it seems a lot of other birthdays were being celebrated, so the group sang a resounding happy birthday to all of them, with candles lit atop the chocolate pana cotta dessert.

We checked out of the Hilton Petaluma that next Monday morning and drove to the Comfort Inn by the San Francisco Airport as we had an early flight back to Toronto the next Tuesday morning.  Having settled into the Comfort Inn, we drove back to my sister's house in Palo Alto for one final family dinner on July 1st.  It coincided with husband M's birthday.  We had a fabulous dinner that night cooked by my brother-in-law and husband M was well celebrated.  He received lots of cards made by my niece and great nieces.  Finally it was time to head back to the Comfort Inn at the airport.  The Hilton hotel was fancy but we have always liked the Comfort Inn.  It was spacious and they always provide a hearty free breakfast with your stay., great value.

We had a safe flight home and were thankful that everything went off so well.  Many treasured memories were made.  Are you exhausted by now?  It took me 3 or 4 days to physically recover from this trip!