California Dreaming

In June 2012, to celebrate Antonio’s graduation with his Master’s from BYU, we planned a trip to California. He had never been to San Francisco or seen the Redwoods. Neither of us had been to Yosemite National Park so we made arrangements to include all these destinations in our travels. Our original trip included a jaunt up to Crater Lake, Oregon and then a drive down through Redwood National Forest so Antonio could see “Endor”. Unfortunately, one of Antonio’s immigration appointments came up right in the middle of our planned trip so we had to cut off the beginning of our journey. At least we were still going to San Francisco and then camping for three days in Yosemite. By some miracle we got a coveted camp site in the Yosemite Valley.

After Antonio’s appointment, we started the long drive to San Fran. We drove across Utah through the famous Bonneville Salt Flats. We ate at the Salt Flats Café. It had good reviews but it was so busy that we had to sit at the lunch counter and our order took over 45 minutes to come, the café is not breaking any speed records any time soon. We continued our drive across Nevada and stayed the night in Reno. It was fun to see lights at night and we took a little stroll over to Circus Circus to see some acrobatic performances. Antonio even won a Hello Kitty Doll for Katrina with one of those grabbing crane machines. He has mad skills.

Salt Flats, UT

The next morning before heading out we got a call from our Realtor in Virginia. We had started looking at some homes at the beginning of June. We even put down a few offers but nothing had gone through. Our realtor called to say that our most recent offer had been accepted. When had 10 days for a home inspection to be performed. We thought it would be a good idea to see the home we planned to purchase in person. Next we made arrangements to fly to Virginia the following week. This new development meant that we had to cancel some of our time in Yosemite. Boo L

We continued on our way to San Francisco. We stop in Oakland, California to attend the LDS Oakland Temple. The building has a unique design and a beautiful view of the valley. One of Katrina’s former coworkers and dear friend (Laura) lives outside of San Francisco with her husband (Adam). We had arranged in advance to stay with them for a few days. Laura and Adam were very welcoming. We had dinner that evening in a Greek restaurant near their home. The next morning we went to a local favorite, Millbrae Pancake House. After a huge breakfast Laura became our tour guide of the city.

Tonio is thinking "I love to see the temple"

We started out driving to the top of Twin Peaks to have a view of the city. There were hundreds of people attending the Pink Triangle Walk. Nancy Pelosi was speaking at it. We learned that the pink triangle was used by the Nazis to identify homosexuals during WWII. This group was now using it as a symbol of pride and strength. We just happened to be in San Fran during Gay Pride Week. We enjoyed the view of the city and also our new found knowledge of human rights.

Pink Pelosi

After that we went to Cliff House which has a long history of residents but it is now a restaurant overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Our next stop was LucasFilm where we hoped to find the famous Yoda statue. Laura helped us find it. Antonio was in heaven.  He even tried to talk his way into LucasFilm but alas, the Force was not strong with him.  Instead, we went to the Palace of Fine Arts . It is a beautiful building with arches and surrounded by water and fountains. It was such a gorgeous day outside and the parking lot was extremely crowed. Laura was kind enough to drop us off and circle around while we took pictures. After that, we drove across the Golden Gate Bridge. I wanted to walk across it but again, there were so many people we just had to admire the view.

At the Cliff House

We meet again, at last!

Powerful you have become, master Tonio!

Palace of Fine Arts...so pretty!

Pure awesomeness!

Lombard Street

You can’t go to San Francisco and not drive down Lombard Street. Lombard Street is the most winding street in the city. It used to be straight but it was so steep that it was redesigned with 8 hair-pin turns to cut the slope. Going down the street is fun but you have to go very slowly because of the traffic and the turns. The scariest part of the street is the drive to the top of the decline. We were proud and terrified that our car made it up all of the steep inclines. San Francisco is not a city for stick shifts. Katrina’s nerves couldn't take it. We parked at the bottom and then walked back up on the sidewalk. The homes on the street are enormous and very unique. 

Ralph, the butterfly, who lives on a hydrangea on Lombard Street

Blue Tudor heaven on Lombard Street

Us, on Lombard Street.  We liked Lombard Street

We made our way to Fisherman’s Wharf. We were able to get a great metered parking space. Laura left us to explore on our own. We were looking for Little Italy to find a place to eat lunch. We got turned around we finally found a little café and got something quick. Next we walked over to Ghirardelli’s Square. The lines were crazy but we went in to the Ghirardelli’s Ice Cream Shop. We shared a brownie sundae that could feed a family of four for a week. We wanted to ride a cable car but the lines were crazy and we were tired so we decided that we will do it next time we are in San Fran and we will bring the kids with us.

The Wharf

Chocolate Heaven

Cable Car

As we drove back to Laura’s house we stopped at Coit Tower. This tower was a present to the city from a lady who wanted to give something beautiful as a legacy.  We saw the murals inside which represent the history of the West including San Francisco.  However, we were too tired and too stingy to pay to go the top.

I can see my house from up here!

Far away view of Lombard Street from Coit Tower

The next day we went to church.  Afterwards we met with Tonio’s friends Dario and Merella who had just moved to the area the week before and were still apartment hunting. We went to Muir Woods just outside the city to admire the Redwoods.  Needless to say it was breathtaking.  We were all in awe as we hiked through these giants of nature.  It was humbling to realize that many of those trees have been along for thousands of years.  Antonio loved them so much he even got a seed to plant in our new house. Oh that guy!

Kat, Merella, and Dario at Muir Woods

Redwood Tree-huger

Katrina pushed it over!

They are so freaking tall!

Here is where the UN was born

Later on that day we had a BBQ with Laura and Adam and enjoyed some delicious grilled chicken and taught them to play two of Katrina’s all-time favorite games: Zilch and Canasta (she calls it canasty)

On Monday we went to Pier 39 to say hi to the Seal Lions.  We were a bit disappointed when we only found four when normally there are hundreds of them basking in the sun. I guess they were also on vacation. At least we had a nice view of Alcatraz but that was as close as we got since tickets were all sold out. We will have to come back next time and bring the kids.  As a consolation prize we enjoyed some sour dough breadbowls of clam chowder by Fisherman’s Wharf.  We rushed to China Town to see the Fortune Cookie factory.  As we could not find a spot to legally park our car we had to take turns to see the factory while the other person drove around.  The “factory” is just a hole in the wall that does not allow to take any pictures unless you pay $.50 per shot.  However, we bought some cookies for the road.  In the evening we went with Laura to watch the movie “Brave”.  It was really cute and fun.

Alcatraz, The Rock!

The Golden Gate Bridge 

Aurgh, Aurgh! Translation "I'm working on my bikini body,.OK?"

On Tuesday we went to Yosemite.  However, since our plans for camping were dashed, we had to resort to a drive through experience of the Park.  We hit the highlights: El Capitan, Half Dome, some waterfalls, and Yosemite Valley. We decided that next time we will be back with the kids.

We drove that night to a town in the middle of nowhere in Nevada and stayed at the last room available in the Ramada Inn.  Our “nonsmoking room” had the amazing feature of sucking all the smoke from the casino downstairs through the AC.  We complained but we were told that there were no more rooms in the Inn.  The next morning we drove the rest of the way to Provo and then to SLC to catch a flight to Virginia that night to see our future home. 

Half Dome

Tonio "Ansel Adams" Uriarte shot

The sky is always bluer on op of the windshield

"El Capitan"

I can see the moon!

Footprints in Stone

In January of 2012 we decided it was time to start the process of creating a memorial for Katya and Ruby.  We searched a few headstone places even all the way to Ogden, UT. We found a variety of prices, designs and expertise.  

We decided we wanted something that was ruby color so we focused on redish granites.  We found that the most affordable and experienced person was a man in Murray. We talked to him and agreed that we will come up with a design and present it to him. We wanted the design to be personal as opposed to picking a generic image from his collection.  Particularly we wanted to imprint on the stone the shape of our girls’ footprints.  He assured us that such thing was possible and that once he received the design it would take a couple of months.  He promised that he would get it done by Memorial Day.

Tonio had the idea of using one of our pictures where our two hands are holding Katya and Ruby’s feet.  He drew several drafts and finally came up with a great drawing.  Due to his intense master’s program, we were unable to get back to the headstone place before March.  We showed the designed that Tonio created and the owner assured that it was doable. We finished designing the rest of the headstone together with him so he could import it into his program and make the necessary adjustments to ensure that the design could be engraved in stone. He promised that he would have a draft within two weeks for our approval.

Three weeks later, we finally heard back from the headstone company and set a time to meet and review the template.  We met with the engraver the following day and were pleased with the design.  We had to make some corrections (such as changing their birth year from 2001 to 2011). We wish we would have had our girls for ten years instead of ten days.

At the end of our meeting, the headstone person said: “Well, give me a call either June or July to approve the final design and start carving the stone”.  We were not sure whether we had heard him correctly.  We mentioned that his original agreement was to finish the stone by Memorial Day.  He said that he was not sure whether he had a stone in stock because he had just sold our stone to another couple who came after we did. As you can imagined, we were not pleased to hear that, particularly because we knew that the stone had to be imported from India and it would take a long time. Given that we are planning on leaving the area in July, we wanted to be here when the headstone was placed. 

Tonio expressed his disapproval of this unprofessional behavior. The man tried to justify himself saying that he could control the supply of stones to which Tonio said that such an excuse was inappropriate because he had control over the stone he had just sold that was for us. Tonio then asked the man whether he had ever lost any children to which he said he had not. Tonio said that it is not a pleasant experience to shop for a headstone and having this unprofessionalism on his part was not making our experience any easier. The man apologized and said that he would contact his brother to try to locate another stone.  He said that if he could not locate the stone within that weekend, he would refund us our money completely. We left hoping that things would work out.  We were not happy with the idea of starting over to shop for another headstone. It was nice that that evening we went to the temple.

A couple of days later the monument company owner called and said that he had a stone.  He would have to cut a larger stone down to fit the size of our headstone.  He also said that we would get it by Memorial Day.  That day Katrina went to approve the final designed and talked to a lady who said that she would nag the owner to make sure he would get it on time.  At least someone in the office was sympathetic and understanding. 

A month later we received a call that the stone was completed and on its way to the cemetery. A few days later we made our way to the cemetery and saw it for the first time.  We were really pleased with the job done despite the long road to get there.  We are grateful that the owner of the monument place was able to get this work done on time so we can enjoy visiting our girls during our remaining time in Utah. We want to extend special thanks to each one of you who have supported us during this tying time. This headstone was possible through the generous donations of many of you. Thank you.

The footprints on the corners are traced from the actual footprints of each of our girls.  As usual, Ruby being the feisty one, had to have her name moved a little to the left so it could fit. She is always pushing her sister around. 

A funny fact is that the cemetery where they are is located on a street named College.  I guess that we will always say that our girls are away at College.