Giants game and a wedding in the Bay Area!

We have been wanting to go to a Giants game all season so when we were invited to attend a wedding in Oakland, 

we decided to head down the day before and catch a game and cheer our Giants on.

Mark found a deal on GroupOn for the Claremont Hotel, a fancy schmacy hotel,

so we made a weekend out of it and had a great time in the Bay Area!

Since Mark grew up in Sunnyvale in the Bay Area, he has always cheered for the Giants,

 but since I was born in San Francisco, I feel like they are my team,

and then we lived in the city for 4 years while Mark when to dental school,

so now the Giants are our team and we both love to cheer for them! 

We took the ferry from Alameda, crossing the bay and were dropped off right at the ball park.

Our seats were awesome!  

We had a great view of the park!

Our friends, the Hansen's, told us about the caramel popcorn sold at the club level that is "out of this world."

Yep, it is "out of this world" and yep, this was my dinner!

And yep, I had to get my popcorn before the game even started!

The scoreboard at AT&T Park!

Buster Posey, one of our favorite Giants is up to bat!

Tony Bennett was at the game that night!

The view of the ball park at night!  And yes, it gets cold... really cold once the sun goes down.

Notice all the jackets, coats and hoodies!

During the 7th inning stretch, we had to stand up and get a photo!

Mark knows how to win me over, letting me eat caramel corn for dinner

and then ordering me a large cup of hot chocolate with whipped cream on top!

On a cold night in the park, it sure tasted good!  Almost as good as the hot chocolate at Canyons!

Unfortunately, our Giants lost the game but the fireworks were awesome!

It was a gorgeous day at the Oakland Temple!  

For many years, this is the temple that we attended.

While Mark attended dental school at UCSF, we lived in San Francisco, 

and we would cross the Bay Bridge to attend the temple.

Then later when we moved to Sacramento after ortho school in 1989, 

we would drive the 2+ hours to and from Oakland to attend the temple.

We did that for more than 15 years, until they built the Sacramento Temple in 2006.

Since then, we haven't made the trek down to the Oakland Temple 

so it was fun to be able to attend the temple and enjoy the beautiful grounds that day.

My dear friend, Pam and her family, with the bride and groom and the bride's parents, on the temple steps.

The bride's parents came all the way from Korea to attend the wedding festivities.

She wore a traditional formal Korean dress and it was exquisite!

I had to include a few photos from our stay at the Claremont Hotel.

We enjoyed laying out at the pool on Friday and getting a little sun.

 The Claremont Hotel is a historic and famous hotel located at the foot
 of the Claremont Canyon in the Oakland Hills, adjacent to Berkeley.

It is a gorgeous hotel.  The architecture and landscaping are incredible! 

When we were in dental school, we lived right by the Twin Peaks, 

which is the best place for viewing not only the city of San Francisco,

 but on a clear day you can see the Golden Gate Bridge, the Bay Bridge,

 and all the way over to the hills of Oakland and beyond.

 We would often take visitors up to see the view from Twin Peaks.

The two landmarks that stand out, which you can always see across the bay 

are the beautiful Oakland Temple and the Claremont Hotel.

We would always point out the temple and the hotel
 to those that came to see the beautiful view from the lookout.

My parents also lived in San Francisco, while my dad was attending dental school at UCSF.

Twenty-five years later, Mark and I found ourselves in the same city, doing the same thing.

On one of my parents visits to visit us while we lived in the city,

my dad asked if he could borrow our car so he could surprise my mother
 and take her out to lunch at the Claremont Hotel.

She was so excited to tell me all about it when they got home.

She said that when they were poor students, living in government housing with 4 little kids, 
she taught night school and my dad drove a milk truck early in the morning
through the streets of Berkeley and would often drive past the Claremont Hotel.

He thought it was the most beautiful building that he ever saw and

he promised my mother that someday he would take her to lunch at the hotel.

Twenty-five years later, he made good on his promise!

 I'll never forget how happy that made my mother!

Over the years those two buildings, the Claremont Hotel and the Oakland Temple

 have become more and more lovely and endearing

 and both landmarks they have found a very special place in my heart. 

Yes, I left my heart in San Francisco... AND in the Oakland hills!