Today is Thursday, October
15th and Mark and I are on Alaskan Airlines headed to Hawaii (short
stop in Maui and then onto Honolulu).
It’s been one week since we left home and time to get back at the
blog.
San Francisco, Sausalito,
Wine Country…..we did it up good and loved every minute of our time in this
beautiful part of the USA.
The last update was that we were waiting on Paul and Kathy. one week ago tonight. Soooo good to see them and had an appetizer and drinks before we all crashed!
October 9
– The 4 of us started the day
with breakfast and then did the Big Bus tour of San Fran (hop on-hop
off) – great way to see the sites. The
weather was perfect – clear blue skies and a little nippy. The bus took us across the Golden Gate
Bridge to a beautiful viewing area where we could look across to the city and
watch the Passing of the Feet under the bridge!
Kathy and Pat at the Golden Gate Bridge
Back across the Bay and where we hopped off at
Fisherman’s Wharf. We walked to the
Hyatt where Ryan was staying and picked up our passes at front desk for the air
show Friday and Saturday. Then onto lunch
at Lou’s Seafood with very good Chef Louis salads. In our packet of passes, Ryan included
wristbands for the 2 days to watch the show from Hook Point (directly across
from Center Point – better viewing than the Blue Angel Family and Friends
area. Not many there, except for some
family members and the Blue Angel media!
WOW…..absolutely gorgeous looking out over the Bay directly across from
Alcatraz with the skyline of the city behind us! Great practice! Afterwards, we walked around the Wharf
ending up at Pier 39 (Sweet Louis) for drinks and Shrimp Cocktails.
There was a nighttime tour
of the city as part of the bus tour so off we went and enjoyed that from
6:30-8:30. One of the highlights was
driving thru the Presidio, a former military base and now some of the base
housing has been converted to very pricey, lovey homes with manicured lawns, biking trails and many other amenities. This is a very high end area within the
city, but almost like a little city itself.
At some point on the bus
Mark realized he did not have his Tilley hat…..arghhhhh. When the tour was over, we walked back to
Sweet Louis where we knew he had been wearing it…..no luck! He thinks someone found it and really wanted
the #5 and 6 Blue Angel pins attached to the brim! Who knows? BUMMER!
He wears that hat all the time! Paul
and Kathy wanted a bite to eat so found a nearby spot (Brassiere), but Mark and
I headed back to the Diva and oh-so-ready for bed!
October 10 –
It’s Saturday, another lovey day and after breakfast,
walked around China Town and The
Embarcadero Center. Mark was on a mission
to find a new Tilley. Kathy and I found some nice handmade jewelry
from an outdoor market. There was
another nautical shop near Scoma’s where we had lunch and tah dah….Mark has a
brand new Tilley hat. Scoma’s is a very
famous San Francisco seafood place – excellent lunches and drinks. We ate here several years ago and it is as
popular as ever. Off to the show and
decided to watch from Hook Point again.
Just in awe watching those blue jets soar over the Bay, Golden Gate
Bridge, Alcatraz, and the city!
WOW….sooo proud! And sooo many people!
Alcatraz and the Blues
Kathy and Paul
had seen the Blues in Fort Worth in September, but never a water show – totally
different experience and definitely, San Francisco was thee best yet for
overall beauty!
Soooo many people in town
for Fleet Week and we waited a long time for an Uber driver to take us back to
the Diva – traffic was unreal!
Freshened up and then walked to the Embarcadero where we met our niece,
Kathy and her boyfriend, Waseem at Osha Thai.
We had so much fun and another wonderful dinner. Beautiful evening for walking around – the
6 of us took some photos outdoors and then hopped on a cable car (1st
time for both of the Kathy’s) and we enjoyed hot fudge sundaes at Ghirardelli
Chocolates – oh my…..such a happening place well after 10 PM. Said our good byes – what a great ending to
this fun day!
Waseem and Kathy
October 11 –
It’s Paul’s birthday and we 4 were off with our Uber driver to meet Ryan, Kathy
and Waseem for breakfast at the Hollywood Café – long lines and a fun, yummy
place for the 7 of us to visit and enjoy our breakfasts! So good to see Ryan and hope we’ll have
more time to be together in Hawaii. Said
good bye to Kathy and Waseem – we look forward to seeing them on November 14th
at another niece’s wedding back in IL.
Back to the Diva, where we
finished packing, Mark and Paul were off
to get the rental car and Kathy and I got a Starbucks to go (in our hotel and a
frequent stop these past few days).
And yes, as Tony Bennett sang, we left our hearts (hat for Mark) in San
Francisco. And God willing, we 4 hope
to be back here next year!
We drove to Sausalito –
wow! Such a unique experience this
Sunday…….unlike Friday and Saturday when the skies were a deep blue with nary a
cloud in sight, Sunday was clear as a bell in San Fran and Sausalito, BUT….a
very heavy layer of fog was across the bridge and thru a swath on the Bay –
almost eerie! The Blues were able to
fly…..want to talk to Ryan about that as when we left Sausalito and just before
their show, you could still only see the tips of a few skyscrapers!
And now onto Sonoma and
Wine Country….we are staying at the Sonoma Valley Inn for the next 3 nights and
it’s in a great location with a short walk to downtown and all the cute shops
and many restaurants, cafes, etc.
After settling in, we
walked downtown and a lady on the street (born and raised here) mentioned some
good places to eat. We went to
LaSalette, a Portuguese restaurant that was phenomenal. Sat outside in the courtyard and savored
every bite as we toasted to Paul!
October 12-13
– Two big days of touring wine country leaving at 9 AM and returning at 5. Monday our driver was Alfredo and we did Napa
Valley and 4 wineries (Cakebread, Rombauer, Plump Jack and Silver Oaks) with a
stop at Dean Deluca for sandwiches and other goodies – what a wonderful deli
and ate our delicious lunch on the patio at Rombauer We had dinner Monday evening at The Girl and
the Fig – another awesome meal and sat outdoors on this starry night!
Domaine Carneros
Enrique took us to some of the Sonoma wineries including Domaine Carneros
– spectacular views from a high, steep hill.
Also, stopped at Buena Vista, Ledson (another good lunch here) and
Imagery. The views are just incredible
(reminded us a lot of Tuscany, except no olive trees). There are over 900 wineries in the Sonoma
and Napa Valley regions!!! These past
2 days were a wonderful experience tasting all kinds of wine with good friends
in God’s country with perfect sunny, warm weather.
Tonight we went to The Red
Grape for excellent spinach salads, pizza and wine!
October 14 –
We are packed and time to leave wine country!
(Sad smiley face here)…….Mustards Grill was recommended by several
(starting with Michael and Brooke). We
could not get in for dinner Monday night, so made a reservation on Monday for
lunch today. This place is rural
outside of Yountville (Napa region) and was an excellent choice for our last
meal in wine country!
We headed to Muir Woods –
wow….so much beauty walking thru this forest of Redwoods and other trees that
have been here for thousands of years.
It was such a pretty day for hiking and we took a bunch of pics.
Great hiking
So much beauty with these very old, very tall redwoods
We spent our last night in Burlingame
(south of San Fran) and walked to The Elephant Bar for great appetizers and
drinks. And then, it was time to say
good bye to Paul and Kathy after 1 week of big-time fun!!!!! They will fly back to Dallas this afternoon
– can’t wait to see them in February in Fort Myers. We were all very sorry to hear that a long-time
friend of ours we all knew thru boating had passed away this morning after a
short battle with cancer. Bob will be
greatly missed!
That pretty much wraps up
our time in San Francisco and wine country.
October 15 - Onto Paradise and here we are on Waikiki Beach at the Sheraton. Absolutely beautiful sunny afternoon. Our room was not ready so we sat by pool area and had drinks and pork nachos (yum). We are at the Sheraton, Waikiki and it is a big-time shopping mecca. We met Ryan for dinner at the Shore Bird where we had my birthday lunch (2/20/12) before the Tiger Cruise. So pleasant sitting by the beach, relaxing and catching up with our boy! We are very tired nomads.
Aloha
Aloha
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