through the golden gate

2006-08-15 - 3:53 p.m.

I'm back! Back from where? Well, see, I couldn't mention before that I was heading to California since it was a surprise trip. Or at least, it was supposed to be a surprise trip.

A coupla weeks ago my cousin's husband asked if I could fly out for my cousin's birthday/housewarming party. We did a bit of scheming and I grabbed some tix. Of course, the morning I flew out was Thursday when instead of waking to throw the last couple of things in my bags and run to the airport, I woke to a whole new set of security procedures. On my end, it turned out fine...bit more stress getting there and I had to check a bag instead of doing carry-on as planned, but so be it.

But when they woke up and popped on the news, his resounding, "Oh NO," led to a spilling of the beans that I was on the way.

No matter...we had an excellent time. Lots of great catching up, cooking and playtime. I climbed Telegraph Hill and saw the parrots, finally hit the wharf, caught a quiet afternoon lunch on a pier where I feasted on clam chowder in a sourdough bowl and washed it down with an Anchor Steam as I watched fishermen repairing their boats, walked a zillion neighborhoods, hit a fabulously weird bar in SF where the bartender's boob popped out of her top and we were carded by a local crazy who may or may not have worked there (before he ducked off into the ladies' room for a while), had a fabulous, lingering dinner and cocktails at Pesce, an outstanding seafood tapas restaurant. And that was all just Friday.

Saturday was marketing and cooking, barbecuing, walking and relaxing with friends in their wonderful new house. Absolutely tops. We had crab legs longer than my elbow to fingertips, cooked up on the grill, along with piles of other goodies.

Sunday we were off to Napa. Rutherford Hill started us off with some wine tasting and a sampling of gorgeous port that is positively outstanding with chocolate. We had a picnic on their grounds with a bottle of their wine as we looked out over a valley of vineyards. Next we decided to stop off at Mumm Napa and had a sparkling wine tasting where we fell head over heels for a couple of lovely bottles of bubbly. By that point, we were up for a quiet night in, watching a movie and feasting on veggie tacos and Tucker's ice cream.

Monday was my last day in town so I ferried in early and spent the day walking myself silly. I grabbed a bus across the Golden Gate Bridge and walked across the bridge back to San Francisco. Absolutely gorgeous view and I am so glad I finally did it! The walking bug had quite taken hold by then, so I spent the afternoon walking all through the Presidio, stopping to read and to journal here and there. The trees smelled so richly of sap and the sky was so perfectly blue it was a joy to be outside. A lingery Vietnamese lunch and it was time to start heading back to the ferry over to Alameda to shower and catch my flight.

I got back smoothly this morning after flying all night. Unfortunately my checked bag is still nowhere to be seen.

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