Last Thursday, Karri, the girls and I left St. Louis and flew to San Francisco to visit with Karri's uncle and extended family. We flew Frontier airlines out of St. Louis and couldn't have been happier with our service. We were upgraded to first class accommodations and we were lucky to have witty flight attendants to help pass the hours.

We couldn't go to San Francisco and not tour the sights. Lauren stuffed a bear at the Basic Brown Bear Factory in San Francisco. While there, we learned that the owner of the Build a Bear chain of stores ripped off the BBB Factory right down to the colors on the walls. We shopped at Pier 39 and checked out the seals at Fisherman's Wharf.

On Monday, we began our journey by vehicle to Anaheim for my conference. We decided to take the scenic route and drive down the coast on Highway 1. Rain and drizzle hampered some of our sightseeing, but we did get to see some fantastic views and Lauren was able to play in the sand and collect some rocks from the beach. The second half of our trip down Highway 1 was very interesting. The rain and drizzle, fog, S curve roads half blocked by rock slides, and huge cliffs overlooking nothing but ocean and crashing waves helped Karri age about 10 years. Thankfully, we were able to navigate the rock slides and wildly curvy roads to safety. Since we started late, it was night as we drove the last 132 miles!! This was good for Karri. She pretended that there were no cliffs and jagged rocks being pounded by huge waves 1000 feet below. The next time we are in California I want to drive Highway 1 again so I can see what we missed while it was dark. I don't think I'll get Karri to drive that way again.