On Wednesday, I took a short flight to Oakland to see my big sis from Hood College. Hood used to be an all girls school residentially and as soon as you committed to going there they paired you up with a junior who was to be your big sis and show you the ropes….and cover you in shaving cream and foam in the middle of the night after tucking you in….oh Hood Rites of Passage….

Anyway, I am pretty lucky because my big sis – well, she sorta ROCKS! A lot of my friends got paired with lame, lame, lame big sis’. But not me. And the nice thing is that while we might not keep in great touch we still have things in common when we see each other and pick up right where we left off. Big sis, Torrey, was nice enough to let me stay with her for a few days and show me the sites of Oakland and San Fran which was so much fun!I’ll be posting more about this journey in the coming days but wanted to start with a few images from Day 1.

We started the day strolling the Berkeley campus – which is ironic because it just so happened to be the same day that my brother left his base in Germany for Afghanistan. We could not have been in two more opposite situations. This is the first time I realized that northern Cali is cold. COLD. And I should have packed accordingly. We also stopped by Fenton’s Creamery which was featured in the movie Up. And then we Torrey took me to see where she lived when she lived in the HILLS!! Omg these are mountains, not hills. They are as high as the Appalachians. Us east coasters should be ashamed to call those mountains if these were hills. These hills accounted for some incredible views! And some nice photos.  🙂