California Dreaming

Ok, here are some vacation pics! They're all out of order because I'm lazy and Blogger tends to throw things up in reverse order. (Is it just me or does it do that to everyone?) Here we go.


Vineyards in the Valley, we hit about 8 over the three days so I don't exactly remember which this one was.
Same here, unidentified grapevines.

Union Square in San Francisco, at the end of the block from our hotel. True story: we'd gone back to the room for a nap Tuesday after the de Young museum. We could year noise and a loudspeaker from all the way up on the 8th floor. Thinking it could be something fun we ran down to check it out. It was a worker's rights protest group picketing our hotel. They had vuvuzelas.

Robert Sinskey Vineyards, the best tasting room, without a doubt. The reservation only "Farm to Table" tour starts with some company history, continues through the kitchen garden, hits the actual winemaking area (with a taste of just-pressed-moments-ago juice), through the caves, and finally to a pergola-covered table on the terrace. Six wines paired with delicious things cooked in the vineyard kitchen all enjoyed with a view of the vines. Seriously, call ahead and make the reservation, this one was fun.

It wouldn't be a trip to San Francisco without a visit to the gay high holy ground that is the Castro. You get off the Muni train and exit Harvey Milk station at Castro and Market, and come up right smack in front of the Diesel store. Somebody knows their target market.

And we rode a cable car. I never realized the cable was underground, I always thought it was the electrical wires overhead. Do not tease, I'm a Kansas boy, we have horrible public transportation here. Different mode, now I know.

Alcatraz island. I thought it would be kind of touristy but the 45 minute audio walking tour was quite interesting. The whole thing is smaller than you'd think. The main cell house is the sort of big, blocky industrial architecture you'd expect. This shot shows the ruin of the warden's house, which surprisingly was spanish colonial revival. I never expected it, but then again it's California so it's not at all out of character.

View of San Francisco from the water.

And the California Academy of Science (which looked really interesting), taken from in front of the de Young Museum. Devoting more time to the de Young next trip as the collection is amazing. We'll also be sure to hit the Legion of Honor as well.

So there you go, a few highlights. Brett will be sorting and making galleries this coming weekend I'm sure, so if I see that I've forgotten any stand-outs I'll be sure to post.

It was a really fun trip, but its good to be home and sleep in my bed (with Alex Schnauzer!)

7 comments:

Karena said...

Fabulous trips and great images!! I bet you are glad to see Alex and vice versa!

xoxo
Karena
Art by Karena

Russ Manley said...

Cool pics, looks like you had a fab time. Tip: try selecting photos in reverse order before you upload.

Living the life in The Little City said...

Looks very wonderful. Were you staying at the St. Francis? The view of Union Square makes me think so.

Martha said...

San Francisco and Napa -- the perfect combination -- utterly urban and sophisticated and then the casualness of the valley.

We've enjoyed each and every trip there and your pictures are wonderful!

Mrs. Blandings said...

Yes, reverse order in sets of five. Like doing math. The newer version, maybe it is still in beta, allows you to load where your cursor is. And bigger pictures. I liked working with it, but it messed up formatting in the email delivery so I had to go back to the old.

The trip looks terrific. Bill was on the phone with a guy the other day for work who was driving back from Napa to SF; Bill had to hang up. So filled with envy - he couldn't take it.

Raina Cox said...

That looks like the best week ever!

Thanks for sharing your photos, David.

ChrisToronto said...

Memories (cue Barbra), you've brought back some wonderful memories. Great photos, David.