Napa

So I am just about a week behind in posting our adventures from last weekend. We ventured north to the wine country. As we were planning our trip we realized just how many wineries there are. Its hard to choose a few because literally they are everywhere. We ended up picking 3 off a list of recommendations from friends and family. FYI: if you are planning a trip and have specific wineries you want to visit you need to make reservations especially if you visit when they are harvesting the grapes from August to October.

Our first stop was Cakebread Cellars. This was recommended by my family, who gave it rave reviews and Jon and I would have to agree.  Lynn, pictured below, was our tour guide and was filled with lots of knowledge about the wines and the area in general. In our group of 11 there were a total of 6 Texans so she had her hands full.

The second stop we made was dual purpose: lunch and wine! Several people told us the V. Sattui Winery has a BBQ on the weekends. It's not an actual BBQ, it's more of an up scale picnic with a grill going. We had grilled oysters, caprese salad with handmade mozzarella and truffle oil, and a grilled pizza. It was all delicious! 

The third and final stop of the day was Sterling recommended by some friends who had us at, "Sterling has the best views" and they were correct!! You ride in a gondola to get up the hill to the winery so you can see for miles at the top. During the tour we learned that they hand make each one of the barrels that is used to store the wine while it is aging. I had never thought about the man hours put into making just one oak barrel. 

We had such an incredible day! It was like nothing we have ever done before and we can't wait to go back in a couple weeks. Next time we will venture over to Sonoma and see what it has to offer.

The City and a Lil' Work

We took our first trip over the bridge to the city on Sunday.  Due to the recent BART strike we drove our car over. It costs $5 to cross the bridge on the weekend and on weekdays it is even a few dollars more.  We drove down the Embarcadero to Pier 39 and the Fisherman's Wharf where we walked around, took a few pictures, and of course we had chowder in a sourdough bread bowl- it was delicious!  Being right on the water the city is much cooler than what we have been used to on the East Bay. Neither one of us were prepared for it to be that chilly. 

Our next stop was Ghirardelli Square and then on to AT&T Park. There were lots of adorable little shops and of course there was a lot of chocolate at the square.  The best sample we had was their seasonal pumpkin with caramel inside. I could have stayed and shopped all afternoon, but for Jon's sake I controlled myself.  After a short car ride we arrived at AT&T Park where the Giants play. It has kind of become our thing to check out the baseball parks whenever we travel.  We were actually there the day before Kanye popped the big question to Kim. 

Bottom line: SF is an awesome place and we can't wait to go back and explore! 

Monday, October 21st was Jon's first official day at work. There is not a lot to report about it other than "it's work" like Jon always says.  It is totally different that Children's Dallas and I am sure if you check out Jon's Facebook there were be lots of pictures. 

While Jon was at work this week I have been exploring the area around us. I love that we are in walking distance to everything we need (I know I have said this before, but I really do LOVE it). The weather has been just chilly enough that I need long sleeves, but not cold enough for a coat. I just take off each day for a couple hours checking the place out.  Yesterday I walked to UC Berkeley because our cottage is a little less than a mile away from campus.  It really makes we wish I was back in college. I told Jon that I think I will just put on our backpack and go pretend I am still in college. He said I could pass for a college student, but my Baylor gear may give me up. Below are a few pictures from my walk to the beautiful UCB campus:

Jon will be off the next 3 days so we will have ample time to explore. Stay tuned for possibly the wine country......

We Made It!!

A week from yesterday we left Texas to head out on our great adventure.  We drove lots of miles, did many fun things, and saw some great things, but we are glad to have reached our destination.

We left early Sunday afternoon, October 13th, after a weekend of birthday celebrations, a baby shower, and many goodbyes.  Our first leg of the journey was a 5 hour drive to Odessa to stay at my parents' house. We made it in time for Jon and my dad to watch the Cowboys game and my mom and I went through pictures. We even found pictures from my childhood vacation to San Francisco. It was nice to see where my parents live and work.

Monday the 14th the boys got up early and drove to Ruidoso for a round of golf at Inn of the Mountain Gods. My mom and I took our time and slowly made the drive several hours later than they did. It was really great to have that 5 hour drive with just my mom and I to talk about girl stuff and what not, especially since we will not see each other for a few weeks.  Inn of the Mountain Gods is a beautiful resort surrounded by mountains with a lake viewable outside the back window. We spent the evening visiting over margaritas and a little bit of gambling. 



Tuesday the 15th we all left bright and early. Mom and Pat headed back to Odessa while Jon and I headed for Las Vegas. It took us about 12-13 hours to drive from Ruidoso to Vegas, but we were mostly on back roads with very little traffic so it made for a nice little drive.  We spent Tuesday and Wednesday night in Vegas. A day of no driving was welcomed by us both. 

Thursday the 17th we reached our destination. Driving from Vegas to the Bay Area took a little over 8 hours. We spent Thursday and Friday night at my aunt and uncle's house enjoying time with our 2 little cousins.  They know the area really well and were able to show us around and tell us lots of great spots we need to check out. 

Our Cottage!! Finally, on Saturday, we were able to move into our cute little cottage and check out our adorable neighborhood. We are in walking distance from practically everything we could need and want. I do have to say that I really love being able to walk to the grocery store, drug store, and numerous restaurants.  I can tell already I am going to be spoiled by all of this walking.

Last week was a crazy adventure for sure, but we are both glad to be settled and to start exploring this new area we are calling home for now!

Higgys Go West

"When the lights go down in the city and the sun shines on the bay I want be there in my cittayyyy

Ooh, ooh" - Journey

We are excited to announce our first placement is in...... San Francisco. Well, across the bridge in Oakland.  Jon will be working at a children's hospital in Oakland and we will be living in Berkeley, but we will be just across the bay from San Francisco.

Our journey will begin on October 14th as we pack up and head west. You know, it's only 1,734 miles from DFW to the hospital. I know you are thinking we are crazy for driving 1 day 1 hour and 22 minutes (per the map), but we figure driving to our destination is part of fun.

Jon is nervous about the drive because I am not a fan of driving long distances. Don't get me wrong, I am all about road trips. In fact, I love road trips because cars are just one of my favorite places to sleep. You see the problem lies with my super power, as Jon likes to call it, of sleeping anywhere and everywhere. So I will need some good recommendations for a road trip play list, a couple of good audio book and for my girls to have their phones ready in case I get drowsy and need to chat.

As pumped as we are about having our first travel nursing destination set in stone along with our housing while we are there, we have so much to do before we leave. Our list includes packing up our house, having a garage sale to downsize, finding a storage unit and moving in to it, going on vacation to the beach for a week (tough life, I know!), and tying up all the other loose ends that my mind will not even let me think of at the moment.

And for now I will leave you with the complete song, by one of my Mom's favorite groups, Journey:

Change is a coming...

Jon and I are excited to announce that........


 no we will not be having a baby (gotcha), but we will be leaving Texas temporarily at the end of September to travel the US through travel nursing. Yes, I know that I am not a nurse so maybe we should say that Jon will be doing the nursing and I will be doing the traveling. After almost 5 years at Children's Medical center for Jon and 3 years of teaching for me we are going to mix things up a little bit. We will not know the exact location for our first placement for a few more weeks so there is a lot of unknown right now.

We have decided to create this blog to keep our friends and family updated on our adventures. We chose the title "Adventures of Mr. & Mrs. Boggans" for several reasons. First of all, when you have a last name like Higginbotham you get called all kinds of different names. Since I started teaching I have been callled everything from "Mr. Boggans", "Higgle Bottoms", "Higginbottom", "Higgybottoms" to "Hickenbock" the list goes on and on. However, our favorite is Mr. Boggans from my first year of teaching. It was the first Friday of the school year and the first time I didn't walk my class out to recess after lunch. One of my students frantically approached the teacher on duty, with tears streaming down her face, and proceeded to ask where her teacher was. The teacher asked the little girl who her teacher was and she received this response, "Her, her name is Mr. Boggans!"  To this day my dad still calls Jon Mrs. Boggans and me Mr. Boggans.

Jon and I are excited and nervous all at the same time. Stayed tuned for more details on our up and coming adventures!