Visiting Kristin in California
I've probably mentioned this to most everyone who reads this, but here it is anyway.
I arrived late Friday afternoon to a steady rain. It honestly didn't let up completely until midday Sunday. While the weather put a huge damper on our plans and ability to see sites, I still saw a lot and had an awesome time (it's Kristin, how could I not?).
Friday was Davis day. I saw campus, downtown, and ate at Burgers and Brew (which was a good bun short of B&D quality here in SLC). Everything looked so green! Of course SLC is barely into Spring, and it was rainy there instead of sunny and 100 degrees, but I still liked all the farm country.
Saturday was going to be a toss up anyway. We had considered going to the Sierra foothills to do a short hike and see California's tallest bridge (due to a lake that was never made). Obviously this was thrown out, so we went to Napa Valley. Our route there included the "back roads," which made me very happy. I think Kristin found two of the coolest wineries there. One (Rutherford Hill) had an elaborate cave system to store and age their wines. The other (Sterling) was on top of a hill and had a gondola tram up to the top. Kristin also noticed what looked like an Oscar Award placed on one of the counters in the tasting room. The hostess noted that they supplied the wine for the governor's Oscar ball, and brought us a sample of that specialty as well as an "Oscar" to pose with. Very cool! We had planned for a stop by the Jelly Belly factory, but were running short on time and skipped it. That evening one of her friends was having a dinner party, so we went to that. Believe it or not, they had pulled pork with vinegar based sauce!
Sunday we headed to San Francisco. We started off with a ferry tour around the bay. However, with the fog, most of the sites we were supposed to see were virtually invisible. This included when we sailed under the Golden Gate Bridge, of which we could only see the roadway (barely). We did get a nice view of Alcatraz. Then we went on a motorized cable car (which I forgot to take a picture of... oops) tour. This was an excellent way to see a lot of SF in a short period of time. We started in the Fisherman's Wharf area and then went through Presidio. We crossed the Golden Gate Bridge (which still wasn't very visible), and had a stop so we could walk around. Kristin and I subsequently delayed the tour a couple minutes by getting back late. The tour then went through North Beach, near downtown, by Union Square, through Chinatown, and of course we saw a few "real" cable cars along the way (the line was really long to ride those). After the tour, we did some walking around and shopping at Pier 39, Ghiradelli Square, and then to Lombard St. (the alleged crookedest block in the world). We then hopped on a bus to Alamo Square. Luckily the skies had cleared by then, because that view of the skyline with the Seven Sisters in the foreground is just classic. After dinner in a Southern-style diner we headed back to Davis. Then it was (sadly) back to SLC on Monday morning. Pictures are on Webshots.
The NWS internship is getting finalized... more on that soon!
I arrived late Friday afternoon to a steady rain. It honestly didn't let up completely until midday Sunday. While the weather put a huge damper on our plans and ability to see sites, I still saw a lot and had an awesome time (it's Kristin, how could I not?).
Friday was Davis day. I saw campus, downtown, and ate at Burgers and Brew (which was a good bun short of B&D quality here in SLC). Everything looked so green! Of course SLC is barely into Spring, and it was rainy there instead of sunny and 100 degrees, but I still liked all the farm country.
Saturday was going to be a toss up anyway. We had considered going to the Sierra foothills to do a short hike and see California's tallest bridge (due to a lake that was never made). Obviously this was thrown out, so we went to Napa Valley. Our route there included the "back roads," which made me very happy. I think Kristin found two of the coolest wineries there. One (Rutherford Hill) had an elaborate cave system to store and age their wines. The other (Sterling) was on top of a hill and had a gondola tram up to the top. Kristin also noticed what looked like an Oscar Award placed on one of the counters in the tasting room. The hostess noted that they supplied the wine for the governor's Oscar ball, and brought us a sample of that specialty as well as an "Oscar" to pose with. Very cool! We had planned for a stop by the Jelly Belly factory, but were running short on time and skipped it. That evening one of her friends was having a dinner party, so we went to that. Believe it or not, they had pulled pork with vinegar based sauce!
Sunday we headed to San Francisco. We started off with a ferry tour around the bay. However, with the fog, most of the sites we were supposed to see were virtually invisible. This included when we sailed under the Golden Gate Bridge, of which we could only see the roadway (barely). We did get a nice view of Alcatraz. Then we went on a motorized cable car (which I forgot to take a picture of... oops) tour. This was an excellent way to see a lot of SF in a short period of time. We started in the Fisherman's Wharf area and then went through Presidio. We crossed the Golden Gate Bridge (which still wasn't very visible), and had a stop so we could walk around. Kristin and I subsequently delayed the tour a couple minutes by getting back late. The tour then went through North Beach, near downtown, by Union Square, through Chinatown, and of course we saw a few "real" cable cars along the way (the line was really long to ride those). After the tour, we did some walking around and shopping at Pier 39, Ghiradelli Square, and then to Lombard St. (the alleged crookedest block in the world). We then hopped on a bus to Alamo Square. Luckily the skies had cleared by then, because that view of the skyline with the Seven Sisters in the foreground is just classic. After dinner in a Southern-style diner we headed back to Davis. Then it was (sadly) back to SLC on Monday morning. Pictures are on Webshots.
The NWS internship is getting finalized... more on that soon!
posted by Andrew at 11:39 PM
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