First Time Away- part 2

Sorry for the delay- Its been crazy getting back to normal. So back to vacation highlights....

On Friday, Tim came into San Fran and we spent most of the day at Golden Gate Park. They have a wonderful botanical gardens where we picked up lots of ideas for our yard and our pond. Every time we come out to Cali I get some great gardening ideas, but I have to try not to get too excited because the extreme heat and humidity of Gainesville means that we can't always have the same kinds of plants as Northern California. That was my biggest frustration with Sunset magazine- I would see amazing California gardens in there, and then everyone here would tell me how you just can't grow things like that here. But we try anyway.

We also checked out the De Young museum, where they were installing a new Maya Lin sculpture. If you aren't an artist, but the name sounds familiar, it is because her design won the competition for the Vietnam Memorial while she was a Harvard Architecture student. So it was a treat to see her new work be installed at the museum. I thought for a second that one of the installers might be Maya- this would have been my version of seeing some mega sports star in person. But unfortunately, a guard told me it wasn't her and when I got a little closer to her I realized that Maya would have been much older than the girl I saw.

To wrap up Friday we had drinks with Em and Ben at this great place called the Orbit Room (I lifted the photo from the Examiner- a bartender and his creation). They make tropical drinks with hand crushed ice and lots of fruit. Tim had the best bloddy mary of his life there I had a great Mai Thai. The drinks were wonderful (well worth the stomach pangs- I'm not supposed to drink hard alchohol) and the setting was a fabulous art deco building- enjoying good, fruity drinks and good architecture- I was in heaven. Tim and I spent the night at the Parc 55 hotel. It was nice and right on Union Square, but not historic or anything.

The next morning I trekked over to CB2 (http://www.cb2.com/). That's right- there IS a CB2 brick and mortar store and I was there. Actually it is store #3 in the US, the other two being in NY and somewhere else that is cold and urban. Tim and I tried out all their sofas and chairs so that I would be able to make decisions about potential dining chairs and sofas. Unfortunately, some of the chairs I liked the best visually were the least comfortable, so the search is back on for dining chairs. While we were in Union Square we went to H&M (http://www.hm.com/), a HUGE shopping fav of mine and I bought an absolutely enormous scarf. Seriously- its the biggest I have ever seen.

Then we headed over to Fisherman's Wharf to get on Em's party boat and watch the Blue Angels overhead. We nearly missed the boat, no pun, because of some crazy San Fran parking, but it was great once we were aboard. After the cruise we had bday cake and drinks on the lawn in front of the Ghiredelli building. Natalie (Em's sis who made a surprise visit) and I ran into one of the Blue Angels while sneaking into a nearby hotel lobby to use their ladies room. speaking of, thats my best traveling tip. If you are ever traveling in a big city and you need to use the restroom, but you are terrified of a public bathroom, your best bet is to walk in confidently to a hotel lobby. Walk in as if you are staying there and head for the ladies room. If you walk in a dont immediately see it, head for the hotel bar to give you time to figure out where it is. That can also throw off any suspicious bellmen. Of course, it helps if you are dressed up a little bit- I wouldn't try this if you are backpacking across Europe sporting some dreads and 50 pound pack.

So after we celebrated thouroughly, Tim and I headed to Windsor in Napa Valley to stay with a good family friend, Bill Sloan. We arrived around 9pm and went to bed soon after, completely exausted.

The next morning we enjoyed an awesome omelet with Sloan and his girlfriend Gail at Omelet Express in Windsor, then we headed for the Vino!!! We went to Sterling, of course, and took the Tram up the side of the hill to the winery at the top. It pretty touristy, but at only $20 a person, I recommend it. We also went to Clos Pegaus, a winery that features a great outdoor sculpture garden and it just happens to be my parent's favorite. We also zipped down to St. Helena to see the historic buildings at Beringer, then we enjoyed a nice picnic dinner at a little park there. We decided to skip Schramsberg because of their exorbitant tasting fee of $35 a person, plus we would have to wait until the next day, but they would charge our card that day. Um, no thanks, Schram- We'll just pick up a bottle at the Jonesville bottle shop and sip it by the pool when we get home. The Schramsberg is actually cheaper in G'ville than it is at the winery.

And finally, on Monday, Tim and I went up to Healdsburg, had lunch at a great French cafe and went back to St. Helena to meet up with Em and Natalie. We enjoyed a bottle of bubbly with them at Mumm, a gastronomic tasting at Robert Sinskey, a quick taste at Pine Ridge and then back to San Fran for dinner at Straights. At 11:30pm we boarded the red eye flight to ATL and on to Gville. We missed Davis so so much. It was heaven when we finally saw him. Jenn

First Trip Away

Davis is now 7 1/2 months old and Tim and I have gone on a little California vacation without him. Davis is chilling at mom and dad's (Pops and Grams/Gigi) while we are away. I know I am incredibly lucky to have mom and dad right there in Gainesville to care for him. He LOVES going over to their house and we have spent the night there a couple of times so he is used to sleeping there. Even though I miss him terribly, I know he is having a great time with them. I do fear that he will not remember us when we get home- he is so cute when Tim comes home or when we see mom and dad. We were in the grocery store over by mom and dad's the day before I left and we saw mom in the store. I had Davis in his new push car that he can't get enough of. I rolled him up beside her and when he saw that it was mom he shrieked with joy and raised his arms over his head. It was so adorable and I was so happy that he would recognize her even when we were in a public place. So I felt great about leaving him with them, but I still cried a little when I left.

So even though this is supposed to be a little get away for Tim and I, it is day 2 and I have yet to meet up with Tim. He is out at the Nerdery in San Jose packing up an instrument. I call it the Nerdery, but its actually a great company that Tim does a lot of collaborations with in mass spec. He is really excited about getting this instrument and I'm happy that we could tag on this bonus trip at the end of it. So I spent yesterday hanging with my good friend Emily who lives in San Fran.

Yesterday we did the informal "So I Married an Ax Murderer" movie tour. We ate lunch at Fog City Diner and took the ferry over to Alcatraz. Alcatraz was creepy, but I loved the history of the building and the island. And the self guided audio tour was really great. They rented you headsets like they have in many museums- it was included in the tour price. I would really like to see more historic sites and museums post these tours online so that people could download them to their own ipods and maybe look a little less nerdy. I also wish that I could have produced a few of these while working at my last job in place of HABS/HAER documentation, but we were never able to convince our clients that it would be as valuable as 4x5 photography. I hate doing 4x5's and the photos just end up sitting in a drawer in Tallahassee. I love how these audio tours add a human perspective to the historic structures and they can really do a wonderful job of explaining the value of the historic site to the lay person. So I highly recommend the Alcatraz tour even if you aren't an old building junkie. It was full of great scary stories and the views on the boat and on the island were incredible.

While we were in the island, the Blue Angels just happened to be practicing for the air show this weekend. It was great to see the San Francisco skyline with jets flying by and the boats on the water. It was great, except for the restrooms. Maybe they were going for the whole "prison" experience, but the restrooms outside the prison cell could have been cleaner. So as I left the restroom- the on that is located at the top of Alcatraz island- I stepped out into the beautiful California Sun and all of the sudden, this Blue Angel jet flew right behind my head. It was crazy loud and I swear I could see the whites of the pilot's eyes. Of course, I was already a little jumpy after hearing the audio tour about an Alcatraz break out attempt and the Marines coming in to stop it, so when a giant jet screamed by my head, I was a little shaken.

After taking the ferry back to the harbor, Emily and I headed for the Ghiradelli building. This is a really touristy area of San Fran, but it was fun to see it. That's when I had my second big scare of the day. I was leisurely strolling along enjoying my usual afternoon diet coke with splash of regular, and this crazy, dreadlock homeless guy (or so I thought) waving giant branches jumped out of a bush behind a trash can right next to me. I screamed out loud in front of the hordes of tourists. People, including Emily, were laughing hysterically. Emily gave the dude a buck and I realized I had been set up. That guy is a regular down there and we watched as he wedged himself behind the trash can to set up his next victim. As I wrote this posting, I have found out that this "Bushman of Fisherman's Warf" is not homeless, he is a street performer and he claimed over $60k last year in income. Only in San Francisco, but hey, I admite it was really funny. I was exhausted after my second big scare so we headed to the Buena Vista for their world famous, and much needed, Irish Coffee.

Feeling relaxed and wide awake, we decided to take the trolley home. There was a little bit of a wait, but we were able to see the sun set as we stood in line nest to the harbor. When the trolley came, Emily knew just were to sit so that we could hang off the running board in front seat of the trolley. It was a blast! By the time we made it home, we were completely exhausted so we ordered some Thai food and called it a night. I did have a chance to meet Ben, Em's new boyfriend, who was great. He is planning an awesome boat party for her 30's birthday on Saturday. So we will stay in San Fran until then, to celebrate with Em and watch the Blue Angels from the water.

I'm looking forward to seeing Tim today (Friday) and I miss Davis so much. I have a few things in mind for today, but I'll wait to see what Tim wants to do.

Jenn