So
we decided to finish up our whirlwind adventure by spending four days in San
Francisco. Kate and Chris (and Hank)
graciously picked us up from the cruise port in Long Beach. We “walked off” the
ship carrying our own luggage – having never done that before – what a great
way to go! We were off the ship by 7:30 a.m. After a brief stop at their place
in Huntington Beach, we headed to Orange County airport for our flight to San
Francisco. A short flight (only 1 hour of flight time) – we picked up our
rental car and headed for the Marina/Cow Hollow district of downtown San
Francisco where we had booked reservations at the Seaside Inn. Nothing fancy,
but a very clean, and very comfortable motel (with parking). A perfect place
for our base camp.
We
walked down to Fisherman’s Wharf the first afternoon, through a very beautiful
park near Fort Mason and then wound our way along the waterfront. We caught our
first glimpses of the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz! After some walking
around, we found a restaurant suitable for a light dinner before heading back
to the motel.
Wednesday we decided would be the day to drive up
to the Napa Valley area, perhaps check out a few wineries along the way. This
time we drove across the Golden Gate Bridge and initially headed north on 101
as we found our way to the wine country. We ended up visiting the Beaulieu
Vineyards (BV). I have definitely seen this wine in stores at home but we
learned much more as we enjoyed a personal tour (we were the only ones wanting
a tour, so it was personal). We tasted a Cabernet right out of the barrel – one
of the barrels was French oak and the other was American oak – Ed claimed to
taste the difference between the two – I just thought both were good; and it
was pretty cool to have the taste experience from the barrel. Our guide, Brad,
used a tool he called a ‘wine thief’. This particular wine had another two
months to go. The grapes were picked about three weeks ago. I didn’t realize
that only 4% of the wines produced in California come from the Napa Valley
region. And the reason these wines are unique is that the weather in Napa has
cool nights followed by warm days, so the grapes do a lot of contracting at night
and expanding during the day, thereby making the skins tougher and they produce
more flavor. The other wine areas of California – in the middle of the state –
have temperatures that are more constant both day and night. We tasted several
more wines before deciding it was time for lunch and then back to San
Francisco.
Thursday began a little wet and foggy,
especially along the waterfront. We decided that we would do the hop on/hop off
bus tour, visit the Cable Car museum, and ride the Cable Cars. The Cable Cars
were pretty cool as we rode them up and down Hyde Street. The hills are
amazingly steep. We got off at Lombard Street and took in the view of that
crazy, s-curved path. Our last ride on the Cable Car we were able to stand on
the outside of the car while holding on– what a treat. The museum was
impressive (and free!). My previous knowledge of Cable Cars? Do you remember
the Rice-a-Roni commercials? I can still see them with the advertisement for
Rice-a-Roni on the outside of the cars – we saw a lot of pictures of that in
the museum. I found myself singing the ditty – Rice-a-Roni….the San Francisco treat! After lunch at In and Out Burger we headed for the Big
Red Bus and spent the rest of the afternoon touring the city. Let me say that
it was pretty cold sitting up on the top of the bus. I think my blood is
missing the warm weather of Aruba and Panama. Brrrr….as we drove across the
Golden Gate Bridge, we decided we needed to move to the closed in area of the
bus for the remainder of the trip. This was a great way to really see all parts
of the city, and although we didn’t do much hopping on and off, it was still
very enjoyable. A great dinner at Delarosa
on Chestnut Street was a great ending to a great day.
Friday was visit Muir Woods day. At this point
I have a full-fledged sinus infection and contemplated going to a walk-in
clinic but decided to wait until we got back to Huntington Beach for that. A
beautiful sunny cool morning in San Francisco as we drove towards Muir Woods,
stopping along the way to get a glimpse of Sausalito. We decided on the two
mile Canopy Trail hike which took us to an elevation of 1000 feet alongside
magnificent clumps of redwoods. Quiet and peaceful, I always use the term “the
silence was deafening” when hiking a trail like this. Then back to the airport
for our evening flight back to Orange County.
To
wrap things up, I did go to a walk-in clinic in Huntington Beach and discovered
I had quite a bad ear infection and was advised not to fly on Sunday. Oops!
Guess what Kate and Chris – you have a house guest for a few more days! Well,
Ed ended up going by himself and endured a ridiculous delay with United. His
plane was over three hours late in leaving LAX (something to do with a broken
windshield and no replacement plane).
Even his pilot was angry as he had missed his connection from Newark to
his home in Florida. Bottom line, Ed arrived home at 11:00 p.m. – 16 hours
after leaving for the airport here in CA. I will fly on Tuesday and I am not looking forward to all that
crazy cold weather you are having in the northeast. But we had an awesome trip
and we will not complain – it’s time to come home.
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