Saturday, November 15, 2008

Home From San Fran

The WAPF Conference was awesome!! To my friends back in Ohio.....did you know the 2009 conference will be held in Chicago?? Remember, you don't have to be a member of the WAPF to attend! (I'm talking to all you Farm-To-Table friends!) Reserve November 12-15 on your calendars now!
It's taken me a whole week just to settle down and begin processing all the information. Between the many lectures, the information at the vendor booths and the conversations at the meal tables, it was ALOT to take in!! On top of all that knowledge was time spent visiting with old friends and making new friends. We dined 3 times a day at tables of 10 so there were always fabulously interesting new people to meet.
Gracie did wonderfully and would often rush me through the meals so she could get back to the children's programs. She was in a different room than Marshall but would frequently check in on him for me. I was very proud of how mature and outgoing she was. Gracie also impressed me with her poise and her courage all weekend as we navigated through the airports, the cab rides, the subway and the city. I couldn't have done it without her!
Our roommate, Sue Kirkpatrick, from Lincoln, NE was a gem. Not only was she a GREAT roommate (lots of fun and easy to be around) I consider her a new friend. We have a lot in common and I look forward to seeing more of her and meeting her husband Tom.



Here we are at the Rainforest restaurant on Fisherman's Wharf.
This is Aunt Karen's mom, Marilyn. She drove herself downtown, parked in a parking garage and walked about 20 blocks to Chinatown to meet us for dinner. After a wonderful meal and two glasses of wine she shopped with us, showed us around downtown and then walked back to her car. What's the big deal you ask?? She'll be 85 years old in May!!

Here is Gracie on the subway train at 11pm at night!! After a $56 cab ride to Fisherman's Wharf we decided to take the $5.35 train back to the hotel!

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

San Francisco Here We Come!

This time tomorrow evening Gracie, Marshall and I will be having dinner at the Empress Of China in downtown San Francisco! The Empress of China is lauded internationally as one of the world's most beautiful Oriental restaurants and is located in the largest China town outside of Asia.

We are traveling to San Francisco for the 9th Annual Conference of the Weston A. Price Foundation, which we have been members of for the past 7 years. This year's conference is titled "Life In Its Fullness: Nutrition for Mental and Emotional Health". Doctors, nurses, nutritionists, dietitians, parents, students, food writers, food providers, farmers, public servants, teachers, patients, activists and agriculture professionals gather from all over the world to learn the latest on a variety of health and healing topics!!

The conference will be held at the Hyatt Regency near the San Francisco airport. We're excited to be sharing a room with a fellow WAPF member from Lincoln, NE (Sue Kirkpatrick) whom we met this past summer.

Gracie will be participating in a new children's program that will run concurrently with the adult daytime sessions. We hope to visit Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39 on Sunday afternoon. Karen Seevers' (my sister-in-law) mother lives in San Francisco and has graciously offered to be our tour guide. Looks like it will be in the high 60's each day!