Dad, Dave and Me at Farmer's Market
We kicked off the weekend on Thursday when he arrived by walking through the neighborhood and eating locally. On Friday, Dad and I took a really great 2 hour Architectural Walking Tour that we found on Goldstar. I absolutely recommend this tour to any local or out-of-towner that is the least bit interested in architecture. The guide is full of "fun facts" about downtown SF, with the best parts being lots of hidden, gorgeous areas, called POPOS (privately-owned public open spaces), that can be found (only if you know where to look) throughout the city. They include small, well-kept parks and several beautiful rooftop gardens with breathtaking views of the city. Great tour!
Friday night, we headed to a fantastic restaurant called FlyTrap, where we spent over 3 1/2 hours enjoying cocktails, dinner and a wonderful jazz singer.
Saturday, we started out at the Farmer's Market where we picked up goodies for dinner that night. We had Chris & Valerie over for dinner (Dave cooked...obviously) including lamb, beets with goat cheese and delicious roasted potatoes with rosemary. Mmm-mmm good! After the farmer's market, we headed to Napa for the day and visited a couple of wineries to whet our palate...first we went to Acacia, a relatively small winery setting with just 10 other tasters and appointments required. We then went to the opposite type of winery, Artesa, where it's a complete tasting bar experience, full of modern architecture and dozens of tasters around you at a bar setting.
Artesa was such a small winery that they let us in the back where the barrels and offices were...
Stunning photo that Dave took of the perfectly lined Napa rows of grapes
Sunday, we went to watch the Bay to Breakers race!!! We parked the car and happened to be at one of the prime locations along the 7.5 mile route...just at the top of the "Hayes Hill" before the runners/walkers/nudists cruise into the Golden Gate Park. I will only post a few photos here because - we all know this is a family-friendly blog, but you can click here for more if you dare! The costumes were SO creative and everyone was just having good ol' fashioned (drunk) fun. At one point, Dave was standing there when he was overcome by a group of "jumpers" who surrounded him and jumped up and down for about 10 seconds, then ran onto the next unsuspecting "victim"! There were nudists, nudists, and more nudists...not always the "good kind" either! Of the 60,000 participants, here are just a few of my favorite costumes from the day:
Overview of a Slew of Costumes
A Dozen Donuts...
Yes, those are Kegs in those Shopping Carts
"Property of George"
Yep, that's a couch with a stripper pole...girls jumped on and off it for 7.5 miles
Kissing Booth....with a Keg...perhaps the only chance of someone actually utilizing the Kissing Booth
One of my favorites...check out the briefcases
After a few hours of people-watching, we finally peeled ourselves away and drove over to Tiburon (across the SF Bay, near Sausalito) to have lunch at Guaymas overlooking the water. It was a nice, relaxing afternoon with beautiful scenery (the water, not the nudists...still a little traumatized over those).
View from Tiburon, looking toward SF
Dave and I worked on Monday while Dad toured around the city on his own. We had our final dinner together on Monday night at a local Italian place that we hadn't tried before (and LOVED), then Dad, sadly, had to return to Charleston on Tuesday morning.
We had a fantastic weekend. It meant so much to both of us to have Dad come out on such a fun whim and we made sure to capitalize on every single minute! As always, we had lots of laughs, wonderful conversation and lots of hugs....we love you, Dad! xoxo
