Last Climb

Around 5:30, we met a friend of mine from high school, Judy, who lives
in San Francisco. It has been 15 years since we have seen each
other. She looks exactly the same. We took a taxi to North Beach and
walked up Telegraph Hill to the Coit Tower. The five us went to the
top of the tower via elevator.

Judy had made reservations for us at Franchino where we had some
wonderful Italian food. They make their own pasta here and it is a
small, quaint, family-owned restaurant. We spent several hours here
talking. It was great catching up with Judy after all these years.

We said our goodbyes to Judy and the took a taxi back to Fisherman's
Wharf where we were parked. We dropped off our rental and boarded our
plane for a 1:30 take off. We are in Memphis at the moment and are
ready to get home and get some sleep not to mention.

Sent from my iPhone

Franchino Italian Restaurant

Melody and Judy

Coit Tower

At the Top of Coit Tower

Last Day in San Francisco

This morning we drove back to San Francisco from Novato. We took the
Cable car from the Hyde Turnaround to the Cable Car Museum to see the
big cables running underground that move the cars up and down the
streets.

We then jumped back on the cable car and went to Union Square where we
walked directly from there to Chinatown since the girls were starving.
We ate at the Far East Cafe. I had Dim Sum and it was delicious.

After lunch, we walked around Chinatown and went into various shops
and then went in search of the Golden Gate Cookie Factory which was
hidden down Ross Alley. It took some backtracking but we found it.
We saw how they fold and put the fortunes in the cookies. We also had
some free samples.

We then went back to Union Square to do a little windowshopping in
stores such as Prada, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, etc. The weather has been
exceptional for us with bright sunny skies and now we are resting our
legs in the shade of a tree at Union Square.

Kate says "Happy Birthday Aunt Karen!!"

Chinatown

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Julie Found Her Store

First Stop on Cable Car

Napa & Sonoma Valley - Wine Country

This morning we awoke early and drove to Oakville in Napa. Before our
winery tour, we stopped at the Oakville Grocery Company to get a
small bite to eat for breakfast. I had an apricot brioche that was
simply wonderful. The drive through Napa was breathtaking. After the
grocery, we went to Robert Mondavi Winery. It was a fantastic tour
beginning in the vineyard and taking us through the process of making
wine. Our guide, Jamie, did a great job and we all came away with a
better understanding of the winemaking process. No worries about us
opening our own vineyard especially since an acre of land starts at
$350,000. However, Julie is definitely up for marrying the grandson
of Robert Mondavi if he is not already married. By the way, we tasted
a Chardonnay, Merlot and a Cabernet Sauvignon at the end our tour.

Next, we headed down the Silverado trail to Yountville at the
suggestion of Margaret from Robert Mondavi. We arrived in the quaint
town of Yountville and had lunch at the Pacific Blues Cafe.
Afterwards, we went to a few shops.

We returned to the Silverado Trail and headed to Healdsburg. Before
going to Healdsburg, we stopped just north of there at the Dry Creek
Olive Oil Company and did an olive oil tasting. We tried several olive
oils some of which had lemon, tangerine or oranges flavoring them. We
also tried a balsamic vinagrette, and a pomegranate vinagrette that
were delicious.

Next, we drove to downtown Healdsburg which has a park for it's city
square and walked around and looked into the local shops. We went to
Powell's candy shop which was very nostaligic and Julie and I both had
key lime ice cream that tasted just like key lime pie. Meredith
sampled the Creme Brulee ice cream. I definitely recommend checking
out Powell's if you are in Healdsburg.

Our final stop before going to the hotel was dinner in Santa Rosa. We
went to the historic district where the Santa Rosa Depot Park is
located with a bronze statue of Charlie Brown and Snoopy. We then had
dinner at the Sushi To Die For restaurant. We all enjoyed our sushi.
I will spare the squeamish people the details about our sushi. Julie
says, "raw oysters look like
lougies."

Impressions for the day:

Meredith - another successful day: wine country will be my retirement
home.

Julie - I will marry the grandson of Robert Mondavi just so I can look
at this beautiful scenery everyday.

Kate - so beautiful, I could have spent the whole day sitting in one
spot staring at the vineyards on the hillside.

The blogger and driver is a bit tired so the blog may seem a little
dry tonight but I have to give a shout out to Meredith's Mom, Connie,
and Kate's Aunt, A.J.

Tomorrow we will spend the day back in San Francisco.

Napa Valley

Oakville Grocery Company

Robert Mondavi Winery

Robert Mondavi Winery

Robert Mondavi Winery

Meredith & Julie say "Roll Tide"

Santa Rosa

Dinner in Santa Rosa

From the Redwood Forest to the Pacific Ocean

This morning we had a large breakfast at the Sunrise Cafe. It was
about a block from our hotel on North Point. The girls had egg and
cheese croissants with either ham or bacon on them. The croissants
were as big as a salad plate. I had a mushroom and cheese omelet with
sourdough toast on the side. I asked our server/owner if she was
from Thailand (because I thought she might be.). She said she was from
Cambodia and seemed delighted that I had been to her country. She
brought us plate of fresh cantaloupe on the house. It was good. The
cafe's coffee was also delicious. Meredith bought an apple cinnamon
muffin to share and we all decided it was the best muffin we had ever
eaten. It was absolutely delicious. Meredith said, "this place is a
little hidden treasure.".

After checking out of the Marriott we drove to the Golden Gate
Bridge. It was amazing to see! We walked about a 1/8 of the way onto
the bridge. We saw some surfers in the bay and at first Julie and I
thought we saw a shark near them but later realized it was a huge rock
underwater.

Golden Gate Impressions:

Kate - big, view of San Francisco amazing, very, very windy and glad I
had on 5 layers.

Julie - tall, red but it's called golden, and beautiful view. Windy,
windy, windy.

Meredith - it's very busy and beautiful.

Next we drove up Highway 1 to Muir Woods; the Redwood Forest. It was
phenomenal. Absolutely extraordinary to see these beautiful trees.
We did the red line hike which is a mile long. It was easy walking.
We didn't choose any hikes with a hill after climbing streets yesterday.

Our drive was a bit queasy for all the passengers in the car as we
drove the road from Muir to Stinson Beach. The road was nothing but
switchbacks and esses. There were a few green faces by the time we
made it to Stinson Beach. We stopped at the Sand Dollar to have lunch
before we went to walk on the beach. If you had seen our meals, you
would have seen fish & chips, grilled salmon sandwich, grilled salmon
with fries, and calamari. We had a little Sprite to calm some of our
stomaches.
Our waitress happened to be from Poland where Kate had spent a
summer. Small world.

After our late lunch, we went to the beach. It wad cold and windy.
Julie was the only one to sink her toes into the sand and surf. It
was freezing. We walked down the dark sand beach to large rocks that
the waves were crashing against. After the last picture was taken, we
had our first mishap on the trip. Julie's fleece was resting on a
large boulder away from the crashing surf but a large gust of wind
carried her coat into the surf and the tide began to pull it out to
sea. A boulder prevented it initially from being carried out. A man
on the beach saw the coat fly up into the wind and preceded to get our
attention; we were still snapping pictures of one another and were
oblivious to what was going on. The man and Meredith rushed to try
and find the coat in the surf. The problem was that Julie's fleece
was the same color as the surf. The man finally retrieved the
saturated coat with pockets heavily laden with sand and Julie's phone
was still in the pocket. We removed the battery and Sim card and are
hoping by some miracle of God it will dry out and be working by
Saturday night.

We drove to Novato on a little less winding Highway 1 and had a great
dinner at a restaurant called Toast.

We are wind burned and tired but having a great time.

Breakfast at Sunrise Cafe

Golden Gate Bridge

Golden Gate Bridge

Golden Gate Bridge

Muir Woods

Muir Woods

Muir Woods

Muir Woods

Muir Woods

Lunch at the Sand Dollar in Stinson

Stinson Beach

Stinson Beach

San Francisco Streets

I need to make a clarification about the hills in San Francisco. They
are not sloping they are vertical hairpin turns.

We slept soundly last night. I don't think anything could have
awakened us from our comatose states.

We head north today and will post more of our adventures later.

Disclaimer: the pictures you are viewing are grainy because they are
taken from my iPhone so I can post them easier. We definitely have
hundreds of breathtaking pictures on all our cameras.

Alcatraz in the Background

Fisherman's Wharf

Ghiradelli

Julie's Birthday Dessert

Meredith and Kate at Ghiradelli

Our First Day in San Francisco

All our flights went off without a hitch and we landed in sunny,
chilly San Francisco International Airport. After waiting in a long
line to get our Hertz rental (everyone arriving must love Hertz), a
white Toyata, Corolla, we headed to In-N-Out Burger to satisfy our
hunger pains. It was basically 3:00 pm Birmingham time when we had
lunch. We did have one issue in the jammed parking lot at In-N-Out,
after circling several laps around the parking lot some man (rude man
with moustache) cut in front of us to take our spot. It was clear we
were waiting for it. Despite this man, we devoured our meal and
enjoyed ourselves.

We made it to the Fisherman's Wharf Marriott and checked in. We have
a nice room.

Next we walked to Lombard street and walked to the top from the
bottom. Julie says, "this is my workout for 2010."

Then we headed to Ghiradelli to celebrate Julie's birthday. We had
Chocate Sundaes. Next we walked to Fisherman's Wharf and bought some
sourdough bread from Boudin. We also saw the sealions at Pier 39.

We walked back to the Marriott and put on warmer clothes to do the
night tour at Alcatraz. It was pretty cold on the boat ride to the
rock. Comments about the tour: "it was the coolest thing, audio was
very informative, the views from Alcatraz were beautiful, and I
wouldn't want to be in solitary confinement."

Thoughts for today:

Meredith - Today has been the perfect day. It is more beautiful than
I expected. Seeing the bay coming back from Alcatraz and looking upon
the city sloping up the hills was my favorite thing today.

Kate- San Francisco almost has a European feel. I loved walking
through the city and experiencing the sights, sounds and smells. The
weather is amazing especially the lack of humidity. My favorite part
was the audio Alcatraz tour.

Julie - It is my best birthday ever. I love San Francisco. The
weather is beautiful. My favorite part was walking around and getting
to see it all.

We are tired and going to sleep.

Standing at the top of Lombard Street

Lombard Street

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In Our Toyota Corolla Rental

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Lunch at In-N-out

Eating Burgers at In N Out

The Rude Man's Yukon

Rude Man Who Stole Our Parking Spot at Lunch

We Are Here!!

We made it safe to the hotel. We will post later to tell of our
adventures.

Dunkin Donuts

Atlanta Airport

So far, flights have been on time. Julie's plane observation: "this
airplane is not fat friendly and we are as small as it gets".

We are currently eating a quick breakfast at Dunkin Donuts before our
long San Francisco flight. We have all concluded that Krispy Kreme is
better.

Sent from my iPhone

Birmingham Airport 5:00 am

Adventures About to Begin Again

On Thursday morning, May 20,  Julie, Kate, Meredith and I will board a plane in Birmingham and fly to San Francisco through Atlanta.  We have all been looking forward to this vacation for some time now.  It is our reward for either studying hard in graduate school and for the CPA exam or working the long hours of tax season. 

 

The inspiration for our trip together was born in the Spring of 2009 and I hope this is the beginning of many more trips together.