We had the most beautiful, WARM trip to California for our twelve year anniversary. It all started back in fall when when Adele announced she was going on tour. I was SOOOOO excited, and Darryl was at home trying to get tickets while I was at work trying to get tickets. The 4 Toronto shows sold out in seconds and we were out of luck. I was disappointed, but when I saw that tickets on the scalper websites were starting at 800 bucks, I just put it out of mind. Darryl got some tickets for Oakland, CA when they released another block of tickets and gave them to me for Christmas. I seriously LOVE Adele and California, and those two things together made my heart leap. I kept thinking of the line from her song Hello...."I'm in California dreamin about who we used to be" I couldn't wait!
And this trip was unbelievable...We went straight from the airport to the Sacramento temple after a loooong flight, including a CRAZY mad dash for a connecting flight where we ran faster than we ever had in our lives. We also learned that although we had made our flight, our bags didn't, so we had no way to freshen up for the temple, but we didn't care. We made our way to the Sacramento Temple. It was so beautiful and the gardens were amazing. It was nice to feel some peace after a stressful flight!
We were so excited to go to the hotel and relax. The next morning we went to a YSA ward at University of Pacific (since we had slept in till 12pm) which was really great. Their bishop was a great speaker. He spoke the YSA and talked about how he wasn't there to convinced them of getting married or going on a mission, he was there to help them prepare to make temple covenants, so they could choose their own paths for their own lives. I loved that. He also worked in the athletics department at the university and we loved chatting with him afterwards.
Then we headed to the Fisherman's Wharf in San Fransisco and it was one of the most beautiful and interesting places I have ever been. The colourful houses, the giant steep hills, the bay, the bridge, it was all amazing. And it was a little scary to drive! The hills were worse than a roller coaster! It was crazy! But the food was unbelievable. We were told to check out a places called Scoma's. It was literally pier to plate seafood. It melted in your mouth and was so delicious. We tried it all, lobster bisque, scallops, halibut, calamari, everything. It was one of the most satisfying meals I have ever had in my life.
The Oakland temple is really like no other temple I have ever been to. I don't know what I expected, but the grounds of this temple are by far the most beautiful we have ever been to. From the temple visitors's centre, you can see the Golden Gate Bridge, the bay, and the amazing trees, plants and flowers surrounding the temple. It was absolutely breathtaking. On the north and south faces of the temple are two decorative friezes; it is the last LDS temple to have such. The back (south side) is a depiction of Christ descending from heaven to the people of the American continent soon after his resurrection in the Holy Land. The front (north side) illustrates Christ preaching his gospel to the people. Within the front garden courtyard there is a statue of children in front of a bronze plaque bearing a scripture from 3 Nephi chapter 17, from the Book of Mormon, relating how Christ blessed the children during his visit to the people of ancient America.
After coming out of the temple, we walked around some more, wanting so badly to soak it all in, but we had to hurry to make it to Adele at the Oracle Area. This place was awesome, but it was $40 American to park the car! We just about died. When we got in, I was soooo excited. We took our seats, and just as Adele was coming up from underground and singing "Hello" a couple came and told us that we were in their seats! So we had to go find our seats in the dark as I was ugly crying because I was in the same room as my favourite singer of all time. We quickly told the people who were sitting in our real seats to move and we settled in for the best show I have seen and ever will see. It was so emotional for me, I sound like such a loser, but I feel like we could be best friends. Darryl agreed she. She talked about watching Keeping Up With The Kardashians in her hotel room in a bathrobe while eating In n' Out burger then going to Target and falling in love with everything she saw. She had described my day exactly! That was exactly what I had spent the day doing while Darryl worked and it was heaven.
She sang. I cried. She sang, I sang along and cried some more, and I swear at one point we made eye contact. She sang all of my favourite songs. I loved when she sang "Don't You Remember" and when she sang Bob Dylan's "To make you Feel my Love" we all put our flashlights on our phone and it was so awesome. The best moment was singing along to her encore of "When We Were Young" and she had a million pieces of little paper with her lyrics written in her hand writing. It was perfect.
We finished off our trip by heading to 7,000 feet elevation at Yosemite National Park. It was unbelievable scenery, delicious food at the Awanhee Hotel and El Capitan did not disappoint. We stopped in at the Fresno Temple on our way home and our trip came to an end. So grateful I have a best friend and travel buddy for eternity. He really is my favourite.
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