Mmmm. I could go for some shrimp right now. And some California sunshine.

Don’t get me wrong; I love Nebraska. But fresh seafood and sunshine? They sound pretty awesome about now.

In Nebraska we enjoy prairie grass seas, seals at the children’s zoo and a dock or two at Holmes Lake. People-watching is good sport in a few grocery stories I visit in the ‘hood, but otherwise it’s just not that interesting here.

But Fisherman’s Wharf provides the most excellent people-watching experience, which we appreciated to the fullest several days ago. I liked checking out shoe choices—you would not believe the heels some gals wore to the Wharf. Un-believable.

Fisherman’s Wharf is a photographer’s dream. Want to see what we saw? Scroll down.

Let the record show that the photos in this post contain cable cars, not trolleys. (There is a difference.) Though, from our hotel room last weekend, we certainly heard lots of clanging and it was definitely coming from the cable cars that run up and down Powell Street in San Francisco. Their sounds joined gospel music from street performers, shouting people who lived on the streets, and honking from crazed drivers who didn’t have patience for performers, homeless people OR cable cars. It was a cacophony of city noises that floated up to our third story windows all day long, and much of the night, too.

Jeremy works for an awesome company in San Francisco called ThoughtMatrix. I did some copywriting work for the firm last year and was constantly impressed by the work they do. Lucky for us, the folks employed at ThoughtMatrix are awesome as well and we really enjoy hanging out with them when Jeremy flies west for work.

After convincing Jeremy that the cable car was a legitimate form of transportation—and not just a ridiculous tourist ride—we bought tickets and jumped a car headed for Fisherman’s Wharf.

What do you like about flying? What do you *not* like about flying? Do you talk with your seat mates? Would you rather pull out your fingernails one by one than have to talk with your seat mates? Discuss.

We were standing in the long and winding line to the restroom, that post-flight line where the ladies’ room is always full of folks from your own flight, when an older woman began complimenting my daughter.

You see, our flight from Omaha, Nebraska, had almost reached Milwaukee when we experienced a lot of turbulence. A lot. As in, Dear Jesus, my husband won’t survive if Livia and I both go down with this flight kind of turbulence. A giant storm system was sweeping the midwest that morning and our little plane was attempting to land among 50 mph winds in an area that had been hit by tornados a few hours before. The plane jumped and shimmied as it decreased in elevation during this, my first flight alone with my daughter. I tried to be cool and totally failed, my fingers gripping Livia’s hand on one side and the armrest on the other. What did Liv think of it all? She laughed. And whooped with joy. And laughed again at the giant swooping dips the airplane was making. The rest of the passengers, adults mostly, felt like throwing up and/or making last confessions while my daughter enjoyed the ride.

So, in the line for the bathroom, the older woman told my daughter how she had enjoyed Livia’s laughter on the plane. It made her smile and laugh, too, and made the landing not so scary. In that moment, I saw Livia Raine for the amazing little person God has made her to be. While I see, on a regular basis, the struggles and challenges related to her exuberant personality, I could also see how her joy for life is infectious and how it can elevate the mood in a room. I suspect her jubilant, story-telling personality was also the reason airport workers gave her extra chocolate chip cookies on most every leg of our trip.

Our trip alone together was an adventure that contained many moments of fun and happiness and many moments I wish I could do over the right way. In short, it turned out to be like the rest of life. But that moment where a perfect stranger found delight in my daughter is a moment I want to remember for a long time. I praise God for my exuberant little girl.

**I am joining my friend Corrin in a project called January Reflections. Check out Corrin’s blog The Glorious Impossible to learn more.

Rock City has a firm place in my own personal memory lane. I visited Lookout Mountain many times as a kid because my folks attended Covenant College (aka the Castle in the Clouds) and my Uncle Steve and Aunt Cathy lived there. Rock City was one of those special spots you wanted to see, a unique mountaintop garden with twisting paths, rocks galore, gorgeous vistas and a cave full of fairyland treasures. Of course, I couldn’t wait to take Livia down memory lane with me on our recent trip.

First we hit the fairly new Starbucks across the street, and then we were off on the cobblestone trails.

Andrew and Liv crossed the swinging bridge ahead of me while I stayed behind to, uh, you know, take pictures. What I was really doing was ensuring I could cross at my own pace without Andrew rocking the bridge. Me = super mega pansy when it comes to heights. Knees-knocking, the whole ordeal. Before I began my sophomore year at Covenant, I used to dream about falling off the mountain. Nice, huh?

Livia, however, has no fear of heights and now knows how to make Mommy look like a crazy lady. All it takes is walking near the railing. Suffice to say, I asked Uncle Andrew to take her hand a lot.

I remember wondering, in all childish innocence, if Uncle Steve would make it through these rocks. It’s kinda refreshing to see something so politically incorrect. ;)

Oh, Rock City. It was good to see you again!

While visiting Andrew in Chattanooga, I had the privilege of hanging out with several of my blog friends. These are all women I had either met in real life many years ago or at least passed in the halls of Covenant College countless times. So I can’t say it was all that daring of a blogger meet-up. But it was a huge delight to see them in the real world and to watch their children play with Livia. The biggest thing that struck me was how beautiful these gals were in 3-D. Words and images on a screen can only do so much. They were all sweet, kind and lovely–and fun mamas to boot.

From left to right: Jocelyn of BryantChatt, Me, Moriah and baby Arianna of Please Pass the Salt, and Alli and Tebow of Always, Alli.

Livia ran around and played with all the kiddos. I think she and Fuller especially hit it off. Check out Alli’s adorable pic here.

This was Livia’s first view of Lookout Mountain. Amazing, right?

Uncle Andrew’s been talking up the Tennessee Aquarium to Livia as long as I can remember, so it was pretty fun that we actually got to visit it. We met up with Andrew’s good friends Bo and Brynne, and their adorable daughters, much to Livia’s delight. She and three year old Maren hit it off and gave us some pretty cute photo opps.

The funniest moment of the morning came when we had the chance to feed stingrays. Liv, however, knows about the death of Steve Irwin—yes, we did share this macabre knowledge with her—and she shared it every time the word stingray was mentioned. But she watched carefully as Bo and Andrew laughed—with a slight hysteria in their voices—as they fed the rays bits of shrimp. I knew this was the one chance I’d have to touch and feed a stingray, so I did it too. Unnatural, that’s all I have to say.