Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay (Area)

We finished our California trip with some time in the Bay area (where again we did not get enough time to see all of the people we wanted to!)

We spent one night at a hotel on Fisherman's Wharf, where we got to do some fun tourist things including Musee Mechanique (though, to be honest, the Pier 39 sea lions were not as much fun as the ones in Santa Cruz!).



We had dinner in Chinatown which was...very authentic...right now to the private club upstairs so cigarette smoke rolled down like an incense burner!

The next day was Napa. Though we have still never actually eaten at The French Laundry, Patrick's friend Todd is the coffee and tea specialist there, so we got our own private tour, which was amazing!






Then, we tried to go to a few vineyards, but it is sooooo different than it was years ago when we used to go annually. Reservations needed, high prices (even just to walk around), and many did not allow kids. We still enjoyed a nice tasting at Clos Pegase.

Then dinner at Bouchon, which might be one of my favorite restaurants ever. This was our second time there; at the first, with our friend Val, Chef Keller was seated just 2 tables away, and let's just say the service was on point.

We spent the next couple of nights at our friend Val's, catching up, enjoying time together, and doing some VR:

The view from her place is amazing, even in the fog (sensing a theme here?):


It was a couple of days of miscellaneous Bay Area adventures, including vintage shopping in Haight-Asbury, seeing the Painted Ladies and Lombard Street, eating at the Irish Bank, meeting  friend of P's at the original Peet's, more vintage shopping, Golden Gate Bridge views, exploring Sausalito, In and Out Burger, and some cocktails. You know, basic on-vacation fun.





We ended the trip by shooting down to San Jose to go to the Winchester Mystery House, which had been a lifetime bucket list item since my mom cheated out on it when I was young. It was every bit as amazing as I had hoped.






And of course, Patrick had to make a pilgrimage to the Apple mothership in Cupertino!

We stayed at a hip little hotel near the airport, and then, just like that, our trip was over and we were heading home.


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