Our fantastic, six-day California road trip covered three cities, which are highlighted on the map below.

1. San Francisco, 2. Yountville and 3. Mountain View

Throughout our vacation, it was foggy in the mornings and sunny by noon. The temperature ranged from 45 degrees Fahrenheit at night to 80 degrees in the day time.

Tuesday, October 3 - It was raining so bad the morning that we left, traffic was all backed up and we almost missed our plane! Thankfully, we did not. It took us two planes and eight hours to get from Ft. Lauderdale to San Francisco.

Hello Shoshana!

By 4 p.m., we had rented a car and comfortably settled into a small, Victorian hotel just across from Golden Gate Park. We selected it because it was only a few blocks away from Shoshana's apartment in Haight-Ashbury. We parked the car in a nearby lot, then walked over to Shoshana's apartment. An hour or so later, Shoshana arrived and we were all smiles! She opened a bottle of 1971 LaFite Rothchild to celebrate our upcoming birthdays. It was incredible! Shoshana's boyfriend Brian arrived a short while later with cheese and fruit to go with the wine. Once it was gone, we all walked to a nearby brewery for dinner. The beer was bitter, but the food was good.

Brian and Shoshana

Wednesday, October 4 - At 9 a.m., Shoshana met us at our hotel, then walked with us to her bus stop on Haight street.We got off 20 minutes later at Union Square, where the busy sidewalks were lined with upscale department stores. Several blocks later near China Town, we entered her law firm's building.Eric and I met with one of the partners to discuss a Web design opportunity while Shoshana worked.

Shoshana's studio apartment

By noon, we were back on the street, walking several blocks to the Bill Graham Presents box office to pick up our concert tickets for the weekend! This modern office was adorned with a rainbow of promotional concert posters. Afterwards, we enjoyed sourdough pizza and sandwiches for lunch while discussing presidential politics. Then, it was back on the bus and down to Shoshana's apartment for some relaxation. While Haight Ashbury is beautiful (rainbow murals adorn this city section), it is filled with bums and beggars. While we felt uneasy about their agressive pan-handling, thankfully, no one was violent. In fact, we got to do some interesting people watching from the safety of Shoshana's bay window.

Ducks in the Park

Across the street, there is a group of 5-7 vagrants that "own" the corner. Two dogs live with them (they were just puppies the last time Tamara visited in January). When we first started looking out the window, there was a scruffy beggar on the corner who was kicked off once the regulars returned. They stopped every passerby and begged for money while their dogs slept on the sidewalk. They also bounced a lot.

Observing Interesting Plant Life

Later that afternoon, we took the bus to Golden Gate Park. We wandered through manicured lawns and pathways, admiring the labeled plant life along the way. At one point, we came across a pond filled with ducks, which was quite serene. Soon we found ourselves at the entrance of the Japanese Tea Gardens. We meandered through winding pathways that lead to waterfalls, bridges, stepping stones and Japanese architecture. Near the end of our journey, we found a pavilion where Japanese women in kimonos served tea to visitors. We ordered Jasmine, Green and Oolong tea, which was brought to us in ceramic tea pots. It was so pleasant to make conversation and sip tea in the cool air while listening to waterfalls and birds chirping. After tea, we walked across the street to an outdoor theater and further along to an AIDS memorial. After a mile or so, we insisted that Shoshana find the nearest bus stop so we could get off our feet. Later that night, we all went out for Thai food in Haight Ashbury.

The Villagio Inn & Spa

Thursday, October 5 - Shortly after breakfast, we checked out of our hotel. A thick fog covered the city, making it seem overcast. Yountville, our next destination, was over an hour away, and we were pleased that blue skies finally appeared just as we arrived. As soon as we pulled off the expressway into Yountville, it felt as if we'd pulled into a Disney resort town. There were flowers everywhere, the shops were quaint and the roads looked freshly paved. This small town included houses, cottage-style hotels and vineyards. We stopped into our hotel to get wine touring recommendations because it was too early to check in. Afterwards, we drove north about 15 minutes and found ourselves at V. Sattui, a vineyard and gourmet shop with a picnic area. Inside, there was a long wooden bar lining three of the back walls.

Lunch at V. Sattui

One was open, and several men were pouring free tastes of various wines to about 30 people. Each wine was produced on location and not available in stores. Everything we tasted was delicious, and we were indeed tempted to buy a case and ship it back home, but we were deterred by the expensive shipping and userous handling fee required by our state. So instead, we chose one bottle of red wine then headed to the gourmet shop where we selected fresh bread, red seedless grapes, green olives, proscuitto, hard salami, pate and two kinds of cheeses.We took all of that out to their picnic area and enjoyed a carefree lunch at a bench table near their vineyard.

Lunch at V. Sattui

Following lunch, we pulled into Heitz, a very small winery. We entered the single-room structure and found two men talking. One was the presenter, and he stood behind a table displaying five bottles of wine. He handed us each a glass and poured a free taste of all the wines. They were okay, but not great, so we left. The next place was Beaulieu Vineyard. We were appalled by how much they expected us to pay to taste their wines, so we left. Next, we went to Niebaum Copela. It was the same story, so we left. We drove into Caymus, but when we walked up, we learned their tastings were by appointment only, so we left. A little frustrated by this time, we pulled into S. Anderson, a small winery, and decided we would pay if it was reasonable. It cost us $5 each to taste 3 different wines. The woman presenter had a great personality, and the wines tasted good, but we didn't want to buy.

Our room at the Villagio Inn & Spa

Our balcony at the Villagio Inn and Spa

By 3 p.m. we were feeling tired, so we headed back to our hotel and checked in. We found our room was huge, and well appointed with dark wood paneled blinds and doors, marble vanity and dressing area, a large soaking tub and robes, a fireplace, a large television with FM radio, down pillows and comforter and a private balcony overlooking the vineyards and mountains. The room included a "welcome bottle" of wine, a large complimentary bottle of water and four apples. We took it easy in the room until dinner. We dined at Domain Chandon, a four-star French restaurant inside a sparkling wine winery just a mile away from our hotel. The meal was absolutely incredible! The service was excellent, the champagne was delicious, and each course delighted our palates. For appetizers, we enjoyed crawfish bisque and grilled frois grois.

Dinner at Domain Chandon

The meals were poached salmon and rack of lamb. And for desert, we devoured a chocolate & vanilla mulliyer and a crepe creme brulle. To end this wonderful day, we went back to our room, cracked opened the French doors to let cool air inside, then lit the fireplace.

Friday, October 6 - Shortly after a late breakfast, we collected ourselves and checked out of the hotel. As soon as they handed us our receipt, the power went out. We thought nothing of it and proceeded to the shops across the street. To our surprise, the power was out everywhere we went in Yountville, so we got in the car and drove to Mondavi. Their power was on, so we went inside. While their courtyard was beautiful, we were turned off by their pay by-the-glass and pay-by-the-sip prices, so we left. We headed back down towards the Yountville shopping village and found the power had been restored. We did some window shopping and discovered ridiculously high prices, so we didn't buy anything. Around lunch time, we recognized a restaurant, Live Fire, that was owned by one of our client's brothers, so we went inside.

Lunch at Live Fire

We were lead to a quaint, partially sunlit patio. A cool breeze swept through and mountains could be seen on either side. The service was great and the food was delicious. We sipped white wine while enjoying light pasta and seafood dishes. After lunch, we headed to our next destination, Mountain View. It took two hours to get there. When we finally arrived at our hotel, we checked into our suite, then went shopping for wine and snacks. When we returned, Shoshana left a note in our door that she had checked in, so we all got together in our suite for some pre-concert fun. Then, it was off to the show! Please see our Phish Shoreline Concert Review for further details.

College Reunion

Saturday, October 7 - We spent the day real easy. We slept in, had some free hot breakfast, relaxed in the room, took a Jacuzzi bath (with jets!), went out for a sushi and seafood buffet, went back to the room and relaxed some more. After watching our Alma Matar, the University of Miami, narrowly defeat Florida State (wide right!), Eric's fraternity little brother, Andy, stopped by with his fraternity little brother, Andy (and his girlfriend Rosa) for some wine and snacks. Then, we all went to the second show! See our Phish Shoreline Concert Review for further details.

Sunday, October 8 - We checked out of our hotel shortly after breakfast, and parted ways with Shoshana and Brian. We got to the airport early and were disappointed to find out that our plane would be delayed for an hour. That meant we might miss our connecting flight. This put a damper on our mood, because we knew if we missed this connection, it would be several hours for the next one. Thankfully, we were too tired to grumble and slept through the four hour flight. As luck would have it, when we deplaned in St. Louis and checked the monitors, our connection flight was still up there! We ran as fast as we could and were permitted to board. A few moments later, the captain got on the intercom and apologized for the crew's lateness because their plane from Chicago was late. What a great coincidence. We got back to Ft. Lauderdale at the expected time of 10:30 p.m., then drove home and greeted our pets who were very happy to see us! THE END.