Part 1 Of Rob's Holiday Vacation Photos
Rob & His Wife Janell's Trip To San Francisco & Christmas Morning
January 5th, 2010

Our annual two week Christmas vacation this year spanned the week before Christmas through New Year’s weekend. In part one of my holiday photos I’ll take you through Christmas morning:

We begin with a pet update…Shep the German Shepherd is still perfect.

Here is Nellie, our white German Shepherd rescue dog who, a week before Christmas was recovering beautifully from the doggie version of an ACL tear and surgery on her left leg. She was less than 4 weeks from being back to 100%

And then, sadly, she tore her right leg ACL. This was not unexpected or unusual. Most dogs who suffer from poor breeding will tear a second side if the first one goes; we were just hoping it wouldn’t happen for a few years. Nellie went back in for a second surgery and now, another $4,000+ plus later, she is again recovering. By Spring she will be a normal German Shepherd again.

On Friday, December 18th my wife Janell and I began our annual weekend trip to San Francisco.

Halfway there I realized that I hadn’t packed the bottle of Ketel One so we made an emergency stop.

It’s become an annual tradition for Janell to take scenery photos every year as we arrive the city. She actually gets giddy doing it for some reason.

This year we went to Pier 39 for the first time in a few years; it was lame. Many of the stores are closed, the Sea Lions are gone and there weren’t very many people for the Friday before Christmas. It was actually kind of sad to see.

Our room at the St. Francis had an awesome view of Union Square, the Christmas tree and the ice rink they set up this year. We spent hours rooting for people to fall.

On Friday night we dressed up and headed down to Michael Mina, an amazing five star, fine dining restaurant that we go to every year. It is, by far, the best high end restaurant in the entire city…but it’s pricey! We dropped just under $500 on a dinner for two. It was worth every penny.

Saturday morning and all day was all about shopping, which was a smashing success.

Along the way, we had a great lunch high atop the Hyatt in Union Square overlooking the city.

On Sunday night, December 20th, Dawn was at my house. Why am I smiling? Because I was leaving…heading out to the first of two ride-alongs I did with the Sacramento Sheriff’s department. Dawn spent the night with Janell and promptly fell asleep on the couch.

On Wednesday night my crazy mother came over for dinner. That is all.

Christmas Eve Janell and I continued our annual tradition of driving around and looking at Christmas lights before attending Dawn’s stupid yearly party.

Christmas morning began with my traditional homemade sourdough pancakes, then some presents, including my wife’s annual Tiffany take.

Shoot us an e-mail for questions or comments.