San Francisco

Colin had an optics conference in San Francisco this past week and I was fortunate enough to be able to go with him. Our hotel was in downtown San Francisco near Union Square and the trolley system, so while he was at his conference, I was able to do some sightseeing. He also had a couple days of free time so we took advantage of that. My uncle Garry (my dad's older brother), lives a couple hours from San Francisco so we were able to meet up with him and my cousin Chip one day. They are two of my favorite people. My uncle Garry reminds me so much of my dad and it was great to get a big hug from him and spend some time with him again. He was kind enough to show us around where he use to live in Crockett, and drove us through the Napa Valley. My cousin Chip drove down and met us for lunch at a great Mexican restaurant (they share my love of Mexican food). The restaurant was in Napa and is called Quinto Patio Taqueria. Check it out if you are in the area. You won't be disappointed. The owner, Ramon, was nice enough to take a couple pictures of us.

It rained most of the time we were there but the temperatures were in the mid 50's, low 60's...a far cry from the 20-30 degree weather in New Hampshire! We did have a couple of days of sunshine and it was absolutely beautiful. We walked the pier one day and saw the sea lions. We drove to Monterey and Carmel another day. Colin use to work at Livermore Labs so we drove to Livermore so I could see where he use to work and live. Colin got to have dungeness crab for dinner a couple of nights. He loves the stuff and I love watching how long it takes him to crack it and eat it!

Colin with one of the crabs that he had in garlic sauce..he prefers it with drawn butter, which is how he had it the second time.


We ate at a place called the Stinking Rose. This picture is for my brother...


We rode the trolley and went to the pier and Ghiradelli Square and Fisherman's Wharf.



We saw some really cute sea lions.



Here they are making sourdough bread at Boudin's Bakery. They make them into all sorts of fun shapes. They have a great restaurant here as well which is where Colin had his second crab dinner with the drawn butter. Of course they give you some of this yummy sourdough with your meal.

We drove along the coast to Monterey and Carmel. It was a beautiful sunny day and we enjoyed seeing the Pacific ocean again. We took the scenic 17 mile drive along Pebble Beach.




In Monterey we found even more sea lions


And a beautiful sunset


Here we are in front of the Golden Gate bridge.

We had a great week in San Francisco, but all good things must come to an end. This week it is back to the real world. Back to our doggies, work, and 20 degree NH temperatures. There's no place like home.