hello!
We have returned from our lovely trip to San Francisco/Oakland/Berkeley...the "Bay Area". It was great to be in the throes of Spring. We were pleased to have missed the oppressive months of rain which created the beautiful green landscape we were able to enjoy! We were only gone for 5 days but it felt much longer. Our trip was varied and a bit of an adventure at times. We definitely played tourist (see me on cable car for example of this), but saw a lot of the area in short time.

The first two nights we stayed at the beautiful Claremont in Berkeley. What a treat that was. Tom was gone to his conference on Wednesday, so I started the day with a massage and then headed by cab to the Rockridge BART station. The area near the train had some great shops, one in particular called Cotton Basics that was addictive....I needed 5 tank tops, really. So I spent a little time there, grabbed my first of many octane driven coffees of the week, and then meandered into town...what I refer to as "the city" having lived in NYC. You say "the city" there and people quizzically ask "San Francisco? or Oakland?".

Time spent in "the city" that day was spent at H&M and looking for the SFMOMA, which was closed when I finally got there. So I took the F to the Ferry landing and grabbed a scrumptious bite and a glass of wine at the Slanted Door.

Thursday, we moved to "the city" and stayed at the Prescott Hotel. We had sushi at Osaka on the recommendation of our friends Kent & Nicole, who apparently (we found out from our waitress) were there every Sunday when they lived out there! It was quite the tasty treat.

Friday morning was spent on the rock that is Alcatraz (definitely tourists). We actually enjoyed the outer scenery with the gardens and birds there more than the history of the place. It is a lovely perspective of the bridges and coastline.
Then on the BART to grab the stylin' Ford Taurus (appropriate for my taurean birthday trip), and headed to Sausalito and then the incredibly pedestrian Walnut Creek. I have never been to a place so devoid of character, which is really saying something!

From there though, we were blessed to have the most gorgeous day to head to Napa Valley. First stop, Taylor's Refresher (excellent choice, Rick) for my second blue cheese burger of the trip. We went to a couple of the wineries along the drive north and then with the idea of having a "spa treatment" and taking showers before dinner, we ended up in a toxic mud bath from hell (again victims of the tourist trap...but I do have the image of Tom laying in a vat of mud forever in my head...which is almost worth the scalding) in Calistoga.

Finally, my birthday dinner at Bouchon ended our journey, and it was a lovely closing of my 34th year.

Yesterday, we traveled for most of my birthday, so turning 35 was somewhat less traumatic than it could have been. On our plane home last night, they sang Happy Birthday to little Timmy or someone who turned 12 yesterday, so I could imagine it was for me, without the embarrassment. And I thought it was quite serendipitous!

We got home to Providence at midnight last evening and my car battery was dead.
Welcome home!

Labels: LIFE