2009 Trip West
9/2 through 10/4 In San Francisco
It's hard to believe that it's been over a month since we arrived here. We have had a great time being with our kids and just enjoying this beautiful area. We can't tell everything that we did while we were here, but will give some highlights.
S.F. CITY LIVING WITH THE ANIMALS: For 3 weeks we got to live in Dan and Carmen's apartment while they were gone on a trip to Europe in celebration of their 10th anniversary. They have a beautiful home. They even had some vases of fresh flowers for us to enjoy! They live just a couple blocks from the BART (subway) so we had easy access to go places in the city. Enzo, their whippet, and Olive, their cat, kept us company while we stayed there...and of course Steve and Emily who live in the upstairs apartment. Enzo took us for walks four times a day through their neighborhood. It was fun to see the old Victorian style apartments and buildings along the way and we enjoyed seeing all the beautiful flowers that grow here. Olive loved to be brushed everyday and she slept with us on at night. They are sweet animals and well behaved. Their “parents” have done a good job bringing them up. It was fun to live here and experience the S.F. city life.
HOUSE PROJECT: As we usually do, we worked on a house project while we were here. This year we worked on Steve and Emily's kitchen. Bruce removed a window and rebuilt the wall with two by fours and put drywall up. He did a great job with the mudding and made a nice smooth wall. He built inset shelves on the opposite side in the utility room. He also repaired some bad areas in the old Victorian wood trim around the door and another window. Emily and I scraped and sanded the woodwork and scrubbed the walls getting them ready to paint. It's now a beautiful “potpourri green”!
EXPLORING: We took advantage of having use of the kids' cars and went on some drives. Enzo went with the dog walker two days a week so we were able to be gone for several hours on those days. One day we took Hwy 1 south, a very scenic coastal drive. We went through Half Moon Bay and other little seaside towns. We stopped at Pescadero for lunch and walked around the little town. They are a farming community and are known for growing artichokes, which we saw growing along the way. On another day we drove across the Golden Gate Bridge and took Hwy 1 north. We stopped at the Muir Beach Overlook. The fog was hanging over the ocean below us so we couldn't actually see the beach, but we could hear the sea lions below us. We also saw the old bunkers that were left there from war time. We stopped at Stinson Beach and ate lunch out on the patio at the Sand Dollar Restaurant. We continued up the coast to Bodega Bay, where Alfred Hitchcock's “The Birds” was filmed. On other days, we drove out to Pacifica to check on the motor home and just enjoy the ocean. A couple times we went to the Taco Bell on the beach in Pacifica and ate on their patio while we watched the surfers “catch a wave”! We took the BART downtown a few times. Bruce wanted to see the old Mint Building and we just enjoyed wondering around and seeing the street performers and the sights of the city. One day, we went to the Ferry Building and spent the afternoon watching the ferries and sailboats on the Bay. We enjoyed walking along Embarcadero Street and out on some of the piers. There is so much to see and do here and we have only touched a part of it on our trips out here over the past 10 years.
GOOD EATS! Where do we begin to tell about all the delicious food we have had! Between Steve's cooking and all the wonderful restaurants we have gone to, we have eaten extremely well. We have experienced some extraordinary restaurants with the kids, like nothing we go to back home. Contigo and Beretta are two of the kids' favorite restaurants and they both are within walking distance. The food was amazing! Then there are other neighborhood lunch spots. Papalote's and La Taqueria are everyone's favorites for burritos. Dan and Carmen took us to a Salvadore restaurant where we had pupusas (masa dough stuffed with pork, cheese, and beans and pan fried). They were good. And, of course, we went to Toad's a few times for hamburgers. Bruce and I love to go to the Chinese restaurant at the end of their block, Wild Pepper. Steve cooked many delicious things for us; he is quite the chef! To give you an idea just how well we ate this month, I have listed what he cooked for us. Steak Fajitas, Roasted Chicken with herbs and a Bread Salad, Rosemary Cheese Torte, Mole served with black beans and Mexican rice, Venison Hamburgers, Calzones (he even made the crust), Waffles with fresh strawberries, Spinach Risotto (Bruce liked this in spite of the spinach!), Rigatoni, Peach/Plum Crumble warm from the oven with a scoop of his homemade Peach Ice Cream, N.Y. Strip Steak (seasoned with rosemary, thyme, garlic, and juniper berries) served with very creamy scalloped potatoes, Zucchini Carbonara, Lasagna, Shrimp Chowder, Bucatini with Guanciali (basically this is fancy spaghetti noodles with pork cheek and tomatoes, cheese, seasonings-very good!), Pannacotta topped with fresh strawberries, Prime Rib served with his garlic mashed potatoes, fresh green beans and for dessert warm Apple Crumble topped with his homemade rosemary ice cream. What a month! Our taste buds are still dancing.
THE KIDS: As always, we enjoyed spending time with our kids. We did many fun things with them while we were here. Emily got free tickets for the musical, “The Full Monty”, a Broadway by the Bay production in San Mateo. We stopped on the way in Burlingame and ate dinner at an Italian restaurant before going to the play. It was an interesting and fun show with great music...and, no, we did not see the performers in “the full monty” - thanks to perfect timing with the lights at that crucial moment! We did miss seeing Dan and Carmen while they were gone on their trip, but had a good time with them before and after they got home. They showed us a slide show of their pictures. They had an amazing trip visiting many cities...Brugges, Brussels, Paris, Venice, Manarola, Florence, and Rome. They hiked, went to museums, met interesting people, enjoyed wonderful food, and visited the many historical places. They brought back Belgium chocolates for all of us, along with other gifts. This year we got to be a part of Dan's birthday celebration with all of our family being together. We all went to dinner at Beretta, a nearby Spanish restaurant then came home for cake and Dan's presents. The best thing of all was just being with our kids this month...sharing in their lives for a little while. We have loving children who always make our visit very special. We are thankful.
WHAT'S NEXT? It will be hard to say goodbye to the kids, but we are looking forward to traveling again. We plan to leave on October 5 and take a couple weeks to go back to Michigan. We will post more on our log as we travel and can find internet service.
It's hard to believe that it's been over a month since we arrived here. We have had a great time being with our kids and just enjoying this beautiful area. We can't tell everything that we did while we were here, but will give some highlights.
S.F. CITY LIVING WITH THE ANIMALS: For 3 weeks we got to live in Dan and Carmen's apartment while they were gone on a trip to Europe in celebration of their 10th anniversary. They have a beautiful home. They even had some vases of fresh flowers for us to enjoy! They live just a couple blocks from the BART (subway) so we had easy access to go places in the city. Enzo, their whippet, and Olive, their cat, kept us company while we stayed there...and of course Steve and Emily who live in the upstairs apartment. Enzo took us for walks four times a day through their neighborhood. It was fun to see the old Victorian style apartments and buildings along the way and we enjoyed seeing all the beautiful flowers that grow here. Olive loved to be brushed everyday and she slept with us on at night. They are sweet animals and well behaved. Their “parents” have done a good job bringing them up. It was fun to live here and experience the S.F. city life.
HOUSE PROJECT: As we usually do, we worked on a house project while we were here. This year we worked on Steve and Emily's kitchen. Bruce removed a window and rebuilt the wall with two by fours and put drywall up. He did a great job with the mudding and made a nice smooth wall. He built inset shelves on the opposite side in the utility room. He also repaired some bad areas in the old Victorian wood trim around the door and another window. Emily and I scraped and sanded the woodwork and scrubbed the walls getting them ready to paint. It's now a beautiful “potpourri green”!
EXPLORING: We took advantage of having use of the kids' cars and went on some drives. Enzo went with the dog walker two days a week so we were able to be gone for several hours on those days. One day we took Hwy 1 south, a very scenic coastal drive. We went through Half Moon Bay and other little seaside towns. We stopped at Pescadero for lunch and walked around the little town. They are a farming community and are known for growing artichokes, which we saw growing along the way. On another day we drove across the Golden Gate Bridge and took Hwy 1 north. We stopped at the Muir Beach Overlook. The fog was hanging over the ocean below us so we couldn't actually see the beach, but we could hear the sea lions below us. We also saw the old bunkers that were left there from war time. We stopped at Stinson Beach and ate lunch out on the patio at the Sand Dollar Restaurant. We continued up the coast to Bodega Bay, where Alfred Hitchcock's “The Birds” was filmed. On other days, we drove out to Pacifica to check on the motor home and just enjoy the ocean. A couple times we went to the Taco Bell on the beach in Pacifica and ate on their patio while we watched the surfers “catch a wave”! We took the BART downtown a few times. Bruce wanted to see the old Mint Building and we just enjoyed wondering around and seeing the street performers and the sights of the city. One day, we went to the Ferry Building and spent the afternoon watching the ferries and sailboats on the Bay. We enjoyed walking along Embarcadero Street and out on some of the piers. There is so much to see and do here and we have only touched a part of it on our trips out here over the past 10 years.
GOOD EATS! Where do we begin to tell about all the delicious food we have had! Between Steve's cooking and all the wonderful restaurants we have gone to, we have eaten extremely well. We have experienced some extraordinary restaurants with the kids, like nothing we go to back home. Contigo and Beretta are two of the kids' favorite restaurants and they both are within walking distance. The food was amazing! Then there are other neighborhood lunch spots. Papalote's and La Taqueria are everyone's favorites for burritos. Dan and Carmen took us to a Salvadore restaurant where we had pupusas (masa dough stuffed with pork, cheese, and beans and pan fried). They were good. And, of course, we went to Toad's a few times for hamburgers. Bruce and I love to go to the Chinese restaurant at the end of their block, Wild Pepper. Steve cooked many delicious things for us; he is quite the chef! To give you an idea just how well we ate this month, I have listed what he cooked for us. Steak Fajitas, Roasted Chicken with herbs and a Bread Salad, Rosemary Cheese Torte, Mole served with black beans and Mexican rice, Venison Hamburgers, Calzones (he even made the crust), Waffles with fresh strawberries, Spinach Risotto (Bruce liked this in spite of the spinach!), Rigatoni, Peach/Plum Crumble warm from the oven with a scoop of his homemade Peach Ice Cream, N.Y. Strip Steak (seasoned with rosemary, thyme, garlic, and juniper berries) served with very creamy scalloped potatoes, Zucchini Carbonara, Lasagna, Shrimp Chowder, Bucatini with Guanciali (basically this is fancy spaghetti noodles with pork cheek and tomatoes, cheese, seasonings-very good!), Pannacotta topped with fresh strawberries, Prime Rib served with his garlic mashed potatoes, fresh green beans and for dessert warm Apple Crumble topped with his homemade rosemary ice cream. What a month! Our taste buds are still dancing.
THE KIDS: As always, we enjoyed spending time with our kids. We did many fun things with them while we were here. Emily got free tickets for the musical, “The Full Monty”, a Broadway by the Bay production in San Mateo. We stopped on the way in Burlingame and ate dinner at an Italian restaurant before going to the play. It was an interesting and fun show with great music...and, no, we did not see the performers in “the full monty” - thanks to perfect timing with the lights at that crucial moment! We did miss seeing Dan and Carmen while they were gone on their trip, but had a good time with them before and after they got home. They showed us a slide show of their pictures. They had an amazing trip visiting many cities...Brugges, Brussels, Paris, Venice, Manarola, Florence, and Rome. They hiked, went to museums, met interesting people, enjoyed wonderful food, and visited the many historical places. They brought back Belgium chocolates for all of us, along with other gifts. This year we got to be a part of Dan's birthday celebration with all of our family being together. We all went to dinner at Beretta, a nearby Spanish restaurant then came home for cake and Dan's presents. The best thing of all was just being with our kids this month...sharing in their lives for a little while. We have loving children who always make our visit very special. We are thankful.
WHAT'S NEXT? It will be hard to say goodbye to the kids, but we are looking forward to traveling again. We plan to leave on October 5 and take a couple weeks to go back to Michigan. We will post more on our log as we travel and can find internet service.