Since I’m getting pretty
detailed with our trip, I’m going to split the usual weekly post into two parts.
So, be sure to read them in order!
Saturday, April 29th., 2023…… We were up early and ready to head out. The drive today would be 560 miles, to Napa. We stopped at Mickey D’s in Cottage Grove and got breakfast and coffee to go. We had very little issues and the drive was pleasant. We checked in to the Napa Winery Inn. We had to work our way to the check-in office, through all of the construction in the lobby. They had upgraded our room though. We now had a suite! But, as it turned out – they charged us for the upgrade! The poor girls at the counter were very nice but weren’t empowered to do anything about it. They only saw the upgrade and thought we would be happy with that! We will be using their system later to file our complaint and request a refund. It would have been nice if they would have let us know that most everything in the hotel was closed (breakfast, easy access to the pool/spa, etc.). But the girls did turn us on to one of the best meals we have ever had! They said we might like the Galpão Gaucho Brazilian Steakhouse, just across the parking lot. They had never been because of the cost (so we were forewarned it was expensive!) but said they heard it was good. We weren’t really dressed for the place but it was only 3:00pm so we weren’t concerned. Since neither of us had ever been to a Brazilian steakhouse, they had to explain how everything worked. We hit the salad buffet and were impressed. It was first class…
Then we were hit with all of the gaucho chefs coming by with meat on a skewer. There were 17 cuts of meat and seafood, plus side dishes (my favorite was the garlic mashed potatoes). We decided that of all the meats and seafood (chicken, lamb chops, beef tenderloin, sirloin, pork ribs, ribeye, shrimp, and salmon), the shrimp was by far both our favorite!
Sunday, April 30th., 2023…… Like I said, we were in no hurry today. We drove back toward town and went to a local restaurant that Cat had found when searching. It was called The Jefferson Café and was very good. There was a Chevron station in the same parking lot so we decided to top off (more on this later). It was a locally owned station complete with car wash and the pumped our gas. The lady took care of us and we got the receipt and were off. We drove about 15 miles down to Fairfield and went to the Jelly Belly factory. I had been several times but Cathye had never been. Even though it was a Sunday and there was no production today, I thought she’d still enjoy the self-guided tour. Once we got upstairs and got going, we discovered that they were on the last day of a 3-week complete plant maintenance shutdown. So that meant that everything was disassembled and cleaned and there was no product to be seen! But she enjoyed the tour and all of the jelly bean artwork and the souvenir shop. We, of course, had to buy several bags of the marked down ‘belly flops’ to bring home.
After that, we started west on I80 toward SF. I looked down and discovered that we were on an almost empty tank! What? So, I pulled out the receipt and Cat read it and discovered that it was zero dollars charged for zero gallons of gas. We surmised that the lady didn’t hit start and then didn’t look at the receipt after hanging up the nozzle. Luckily, we found another station close by and filled up and were good to go. We hit some traffic heading in to the city but still got in around 2:00pm. We were staying at the Hyatt Centric Fisherman’s Wharf. I booked it because it was right up the street from Ghirardelli Square and was in walking distance for most everything. Our plan was to leave the car parked and walk or use public transit to get around. We’ll take one day and drive around the city. We got checked in and walked down to the wharf. I had booked us a package tour for Wednesday for Alcatraz, Muir Woods, and Sausalito and we wanted to see where the pickup point was.
We walked and shopped and saw all of the crazy Sunday activity. It was pretty crowded but not too bad. There was a cruise ship getting ready to head out and they had hundreds of passengers waiting in lines for their boarding times. We came back to the main area and stopped at Fisherman’s Grotto for dinner. Clam chowder and shrimp. Yummy!
We walked back to our hotel in the wind. It
was cold but we made it. We braved the
wind and hit the spa for a bit before coming back in and back to our room and
then to bed.
Monday, May 1st., 2023…… Today was our first breakfast in the hotel. They had a buffet style and the food was ok. As we were finishing up, we noticed a sign that they had breakfast to order (included in the buffet) so we will definitely try that tomorrow. We bundled up (rain was expected off and on and the wind is always unpredictable) and walked over to the trolley start point. We bought round trip tickets and got in line. We had to wait for the second one to get a seat and were off. The ride was fun and took us up and down the hills through some residential areas and the top of Lombard St., and through Chinatown and ended up in Union Square, in the downtown financial district.
We
walked around for a few minutes and decided to find a place for lunch. We chose
John’s Grill.
This was also a very nice little place with plenty of atmosphere. After we told them it was our anniversary they sat us in the most romantic booth they had and we split a burger and a Cosmo and a beer. Very nice!
We rode the trolley back and walked home and rested for a few hours, then walked down to Ghirardelli Square. They have closed the factory (moved to San Leandro) but still have a restaurant and other shops. We shared an ice cream sundae and walked back home via the wharf. We hit a few shops and got a sweatshirt, a t-shirts, a beanie, a backpack, and a couple of caps. We went back to the room and then went down to the Brick and Beam at the hotel for dinner. We each got our own drinks but got a flatbread appetizer and a salad to share. Tv until a really early (9:00pm) bedtime.
Tuesday, May 2nd., 2023…… This morning we hit the breakfast buffet again and this time we each ordered omelets. Much better than yesterday! This morning we got the car valeted and put a few places in google maps, and took off and drove the city. We found The Painted Ladies, Haight-Ashbury (parked and walked around and shopped), Golden Gate Park, Japantown, Crissy Field, The Presidio, Fort Point, and Lombard St. Funny story – on the way to Haight-Ashbury, I made a left turn and didn’t see the red arrow until I was already in the intersection! Yep, got pulled over. Berries and Cherries! Cathye snapped a quick pic...
The guy was very nice and after I
explained and threw myself on the sword, he only gave me a warning. Pheew! Here are pics from the day…
We also saw our first pilotless car! We noticed the stuff on the roof of the car and then looked closer. No one was driving!
We searched the web and found that they are operating now in the city here. It was eerie driving along next to them but it looked safe enough. I think I would try it in the city traffic, but probably not on the open road! We drove back and they parked our car and we went across the street to The Hollywood Café, and shared a burger for lunch. We needed something to eat but were really waiting for dinner tonight!
I had made reservations for dinner at one of my favorite places – Scoma’s - so after lunch we headed back to spend the rest of the day relaxing at the hotel. It was raining so we borrowed an umbrella from the front desk and headed down the street to dinner. Our table was ready and we had a really nice meal. Still a favorite!
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