Thanksgiving Travels.....

I love traveling. However, traveling with a 2 year old is quite a chore- bags, car seats and strollers- oh my. Despite all of that, we packed up and headed to Cali for a long Thanksgiving weekend.

After moving to NC after living in Cali most of my life, it's nice to go back and visit. Guess it brings something familiar to my life. There are some things I grew up with that we don't have in Carolina that are a 'must' when we visit:

• Mervyn's- my favorite department store (although I never buy anything when we go)
• See's Candy- I enjoy the lolli-pops (Cafe Latte) and hubby goes for the blueberry truffle
• GOOD (Authentic) Mexican food- Now don't get me wrong, we have some decent mexican food in NC, but no Carne Asada to speak of. We took Chris to a taqueria and got him a real taco- 2 small corn tortillas, carne asada, onions and cilantro- that's it. No fluff, just steak.
• Linguisa- prepared any way (I had mine in a breakfast burrito). Linguisa is a Portuguese sausage of which there is no comparison. Just pure love in sausage casing!

Our trip included visiting with the family and friends, grubbing on some turkey and pie, and seeing my brother's new house.

But the trip ended in Cali where in began- in San Francisco. Although we had been there before, I took Chris into the heart of the city. He could not believe that people lived stacked on top on one another- and where do they park??? We saw the skyscrapers in the financial district, drove down Lombard, saw the sea lions at Pier 39, ate the obligatory clam chowder in a bread bowl, smelled the Chocolate at Ghirardelli, and drove through China (town that is). After all of that he proclaimed that he could never live there. Guess we'll just stay in the Carolina.

What's so great about sweet tea?

I lived most of my life drinking iced tea. To me there was only one kind of tea, and if you wanted to sweeten it, you added sugar. Now this was something that never made much sense to me, because the sugar never fully dissolved. It seems you were always left with a sugary mess at the bottom of your class. Then I visited the south, and wow, were my eyes opened.

I remember it like it was yesterday. I was having lunch with my cousin and as I ordered an iced tea, she informed me that I would get 'sweet tea' unless I specifically ordered 'unsweet tea.' Well, I was going to put sugar in it anyways, so I'll just take it sweet. That first sip was heaven- wonderfully sweet and refreshing. I remember thinking, how have I lived all these years without sweet tea. Needless to say, I was- and still am addicted.

Now years later, living in the heart of sweet tea-land, I often tell people that the love of sweet tea was my reasoning for moving to the south. Was it really? Well, ya'll come on down and try some- and decide for yourself.