San Francisco/Outside Lands: Days 1-3

On August 9, I flew out to San Francisco once again, this time for the weekend-long music festival held annually in Golden Gate Park, Outside Lands.  Sean had been kind enough to surprise me with a VIP ticket a few months back, so I opted to pick up my airfare.  My flight was scheduled to depart from JFK at 8:00pm (Delta).  I ordered a car, as is now standard fare for my JFK flights, and was at the airport with plenty of time to spare.  At around the time we were to begin boarding, we were informed we were waiting on the captain for our crew to arrive, and there would be a slight delay.  Approximately 30 minutes later, we began boarding.  With my special Amex status, I was one of the first on the plane and got settled into my seat for the long flight.  We had been sitting on the plane for approximately 10 minutes (nowhere near the entire plane had been boarded) when one of the flight attendants announced to the plane that we would need to exit the plane with all our belongings - the captain had still not arrived.  And you boarded us because...

We grudgingly got all our bags down and returned back to the gate, only to be informed our pilot was on a plane from Jacksonville, and it would probably be another two hours before he arrived.  Now, I'm not sure what really happened (suffice it to say I don't believe what they were telling us), but this was beyond irritating - the flight was getting in late (midnight) anyways, and this was just going to make it even more inconvenient.  They issued each passenger a $5 voucher for food, but as luck would have it, this was completely worthless, as by the time they gave it to us, all the food spots in the airport were closed.  We did finally take off, of course, and made a rather late landing at around 2:30am in San Francisco.  Sean couldn't find a cab to take him to the airport that late to come pick me up, so I ended up just getting a cab by myself.  We were both sleep-walking by the time I arrived, so off to bed we went.

We woke up Friday morning after a much-needed snooze, and made our way down the street to Cafe Reverie for a quick breakfast before heading out to the festival.  Almost every breakfast spot was completely packed with a line out the door (festival goers, no doubt), so it was lucky we found a spot where we could order and sit immediately.  I had the huevos rancheros dish, which was perfect and very filling (which was the goal, since I wasn't sure when the next time we'd get food would be).  After breakfast, we headed back to the apartment to layer on more clothes.  And thus began perhaps the most distinct memory of the weekend - it was COLD.  The sun was only "sort of" out but mostly shrouded in fog, and with the wind, forget about it.  I of course had no idea August in San Francisco was going to be like this, or I would have packed totally different attire.  It would have been comfortable out had I brought sweaters and boots.  But no, I had packed my light, flowy summer clothes and barely-there sandals.  I got lucky that I am always cold on planes, so had packed some jackets for that part of the trip.  I'm not so sure what I would have done without my 'travel jackets.'  After adding a few layers and bracing myself for the cold, we headed back out and got on the above-ground train that took us most of the distance to the park.

"The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco." - Mark Twain
 All bundled up at the festival:

  At around 1:30pm, we were making our way through the festival gates and headed straight for the VIP tent which not only provided a welcome respite from the wind at various times throughout the weekend, but also had private porta-potties, masseuses, bars and food offerings.  I'm not sure that the $500 price tag was totally worth all this, but it certainly made the entire weekend more comfortable.  The layout of the festival grounds was very spread out, so it really made going back and forth difficult (not to mention dirty - the paths between stages were incredibly dusty and we were covered in it from the knees down).  We managed to make it to nearly all of the bands we wanted to see over the course of the weekend - Wallpaper., Fitz and the Tantrums, Beck, Foo Fighters, Neil Young,  Portugal. the Man, Alabama Shakes, Big Boi, Passion Pit, Metallica, Fun., Tom Morello, Trampled by Turtles, Regina Spektor and Jack White.  The only artist we missed that I would have really liked to have seen was Stevie Wonder.  Unfortunately, we had to cut that night short, as I needed to head back to the apartment and get my bag to head to the airport.  

An aerial view of the festival at Golden Gate Park:

 

We did have time to order a delicious Italian dinner from a spot in the neighborhood on Sunday night before it was time to head to the airport -  Bambino's - which was a welcome treat after a weekend of 'festival food.'  My plane left San Francisco around 11:15pm and I was back in New York by around 8:00am.  I had enough time, fortunately, to head home and take a quick shower and change out of my plane (plain) clothes, and then off to work I went.  The redeye thing is still very difficult for me to get used to, I'm not going to lie.  I was a total zombie for the next couple days.  Overall, it was a lovely weekend, but I'm not so sure about San Francisco in the summer anymore.  Or at least I know to pack differently if I ever do have to be there in August again!  :)

My trip:

  

"I left my heart in San Francisco,

High on a hill, it calls to me,

To be where little cable cars climb halfway to the stars,

The morning fog may chill the air, I don't care..." - I Left My Heart in San Francisco, Tony Bennett

Miles Traveled Today: 5,812

Total Miles Traveled: 51,679

Newport, RI: Days 1-3

At the beginning of March, Sean and I bought tickets to the Newport Folk Festival in Newport, RI.   The festival made a concerted effort to put "younger" bands on the lineup this year, and it worked.  Not only did it make it a no-brainer for us to want to go, but clearly everyone else felt the same way - this was the first year since the festival began in 1959 that tickets sold out three months in advance!  Newport is a town I've always associated with rich New Yorkers harboring their yachts for weekend getaways, so this was the perfect excuse to get to spend some time in Newport.

A photo that really sold me on this festival:

After exhaustive research on the best way to get to Newport from Manhattan, we decided to rent a car from Enterprise.  There is an Amtrak train that can get you to Providence, and then a bus that runs from Providence to Newport, or a bus that runs from New York to a place in Rhode Island, and then you can take a ferry to Newport, but ultimately because we wanted to leave Thursday after work and return late Sunday night to avoid paying for another night at our expensive accommodations, all the options became extremely complicated and essentially impossible when we started looking at departure/arrival times for buses, trains, etc.  So with that, we booked our rental car at a four-day rate of $330.  One thing I did learn in renting this car is that your "day" begins at your reserved pick up time.  Therefore, if I were to pick the car up at 7pm on Thursday and return it at 6:45pm on Friday, I'd only be charged one day, but if I returned it at 7:05pm on Friday, I'd be charged two days.  The best part, though, is that the location I selected offered an after-hours car drop off (I was really nervous about having to find a place to park the car late on a Sunday night and have to drive it through rush hour traffic to return it on Monday morning!).  Fortunately, they let me know the parking garage next door would take the returned car 24 hours a day.  

Another big part of my planning was deciding the best way to spend Friday in Newport.  Saturday and Sunday would be all festival, all day, but Friday would be our chance to see the town, so I wanted to put a day together that wouldn't be too hectic, but where we'd still get to see a lot.  I found an awesome article in the New York Times that went through what to do with 36 hours in Newport, and I ended up taking a lot of their ideas - it was so helpful!  The final piece of the trip was booking the hotel; hotels and bed & breakfasts were incredibly expensive with this being not only a summer weekend, but probably the most touristy of the summer weekends in Newport because of the festival, so we looked at a variety of options.  We could get a very inexpensive hotel approximately 30 minutes away in Providence, but ultimately we decided if we were going to do this, we were going to do it the way it was meant to be done, so we booked the Hilltop Inn right in the heart of Newport.  The Hilltop Inn was selected based on price, availability and after reading literally hundreds of reviews of different bed & breakfasts on TripAdvisor.  There was only one room left at the bed & breakfast when we selected it, so we didn't have much of a choice as far as picking a room that was cheaper, but when all was booked, our three night stay at the Hilltop came in at a whopping $1,408.

Finally on Thursday, July 26, it was time to leave.  Of course, at around the time Sean's flight was to be landing in New York, a massive storm began rolling across the northeast, delaying his flight numerous times and keeping him from making it to the rental car spot for our 7pm reservation.  I went ahead and got the car and sat on the side of the street until he arrived, approximately 30 minutes later.  And then we were off!  Literally the moment we turned onto the bridge to head out of the city, the bottom fell out, and it would continue to pour the rest of the way to Newport.  Not a great omen!  We only hit a couple tolls ($6 and $3 if memory serves) between New York and Newport, which was a pleasant surprise - I had been bracing myself for as much as $20 or $30 worth of tolls.  We stopped at a rest stop in Connecticut for a McDonald's dinner and a little before midnight, we were pulling up  to the Hilltop Inn.  The inn had it's own small, private parking lot which was a huge relief - I had been worried about parallel parking!  I had called earlier in the afternoon to let them know we would be arriving well after the 4pm check-in, and they let me know they don't actually have anyone "on duty" after 9pm, so they would leave our keys and directions in a box at the front door.  We found the box easily and made our way to our room, the Stewart Room, which was the only room on the first floor but was well-separated from the common areas also on the first floor.  My first impression was that it actually was larger than the photos on the website had made it look.  The bathroom was gigantic with a whirlpool tub, a vanity separate from the sink area and a massive glass-walled shower.  Everything was so cozy, just like we were in someone's home (which I suppose we were).  I was also surprised (but happy!) to see a bottle of Veuve Cliquot and two champagne glasses waiting for us on the nightstand - Sean had added it on to our room reservation unbeknownst to me.  We popped it open and downed the bottle and then promptly passed out - between his delays at the airport and the long drive in the rain, we were both pooped!

A view of our cute room:

On Friday morning, we made sure to wake up in time for breakfast, which was served from 8:30-10am.  When we came out of the room, we were quickly greeted by someone who appeared to be an owner as well as a maid/cook-type person.  We grabbed plates and helped ourselves to the small cold food bar (granola, yogurt, fruit, etc. and some amazing chocolate and raspberry-filled pastries.  This would have been enough for us, but then we sat down and were informed what the two hot food options were for the day.  The breakfast was so good all three days, and it was so difficult to choose between the options every day, because everything sounded amazing!  I had a delicious frittata with toast and fresh orange juice while Sean had scrambled eggs with bacon.

Had to take a picture of our amazing breakfast:

After breakfast, we got in the car and headed for the Breakers, the Vanderbilt summer home.  Although there are a number of lavish mansions available for tours in Newport, the general consensus on TripAdvisor was that if you only have time for one, this is the one to see.  It only took about 15 minutes to drive to Ochre Point, one of the roads that literally has mansion after mansion, and we parked in the Breakers public parking lot, which was surprisingly (and pleasantly!) free.  Tickets for the audio tour were $20 per person, but I felt like it was totally worth the price of admission.  We got our headsets and began the journey through the mansion, which took us up the stairs, through narrow doorways into the children's bedrooms and even out onto the second floor balcony for a spectacular view of the sprawling backyard and cliffs dropping down to the Atlantic Ocean.  The thing that probably struck me the most about the mansion was the exquisite detail put into each and every square inch.  From the intricate angels painted into frescoes on the ceiling to the water fountain under the grand staircase and the room completely "wallpapered" in dark green leather to the gold gilding everywhere we turned, the home was truly spectacular and everything you hope a Vanderbilt "summer home" will be!

The view from the balcony looking out on the backyard:

It took approximately an hour and a half to go through the entire house.  After we finished up the tour and made a pit stop at the gift store, we headed around the side of the house to the backyard to see if there was a way to get to the Cliffwalk from the Breakers (there was, but the gate was locked).  We headed back to the car to find a place to park near one of the entrances to the Cliffwalk (most of the street parking was for people with fishing licenses or employees of Salve Regina, a university that has taken up it's quarters in a number of the abandoned mansions).  There was $10 parking available at the beach, but the beach parking was a pretty good walk from the Cliffwalk entrance, so with a little bit of patience and driving around, we finally found some street parking on Webster Street and made our way to the Webster Street entrance of the Cliffwalk.  We began walking south, back toward the mansions.  It was a beautiful day for the walk - despite the forecast of rain, the sun was out and there was a nice, salty breeze blowing in from the ocean.  To our right were the mansions (most of which could have been identified by checking the map on the Cliffwalk's website, but we choose to just oogle them without context!), and to our left were the waves breaking against the rocks below us, the water littered with surfers braving what no doubt was some icy cold water.  We walked what I would estimate to be a mile and a half or so on the winding path, peaking over the tall fences and spiky shrubbery for better views of the mansions.  We finally got to a spot where the path became all rocks, and although the Cliffwalk continued on for another mile and a half or so, this was our turn around point.  We'd seen enough, it was getting hot, and there's no way we could have gotten across all those jagged rocks in our sandals.  If you're going to try to do the full Cliffwalk, wear the right shoes!

Us at the rocks (our stopping point):

At this point, it was time for lunch, so we got in the car and drove a little ways to what I guess would be considered the trendy "downtown" area of Newport to a restaurant I had seen recommended a couple places online, the Brick Alley Pub.  Our free parking luck ran out on this one, so we ended up pulling behind the restaurant into a parking lot where we had to pay a couple dollars to park.  We made our way through the alley and up onto the main street, Thames, where we were assaulted with souvenir shop after souvenir shop and restaurant pub after pub.  Definitely a touristy area, but also appeared to be the most lively area of Newport.  I can't be sure why this restaurant came so highly recommended.  It was fine, but it was kitschy (the walls were covered with knick-knacks and vintage posters) and had the same atmosphere you get visiting a Ruby Tuesday or a Cracker Barrel.  Not that there's anything wrong with those places, but it's just not a very authentic experience.  However, the place was PACKED (had we had more than 2 people in our party I think we would have had to wait), and the menu was extensive in every way, with multiple pages devoted to appetizers or drinks or sandwiches.  I opted for the cup of the clam chowder and the "create your own" lettuce wraps which were both very good, so no complaints outside of the obviously lame environment we were in.

After finishing up lunch, we headed back to the car and made the approximately 15-20 minute drive to the Coastal Extreme Brewing Company, where I had discovered online offered rum and beer tastings.  Yes please!  We missed the turn a couple times because it literally comes out of nowhere on the highway and we didn't see any signs - just an industrial looking building and a big grain silo.  This brewery is the home of Newport Storm beer which I had never heard of, but seems to be THE beer of Rhode Island and was available everywhere we turned.  While Sean paid the $7 for the beer tasting, I splurged on the $9 rum tasting, which was comprised of three different servings of Thomas Tew rum.  One thing I learned is that Newport was at one time the rum-running capital of the world, and was overrun by pirates, so I decided in honor of that history, a little rum would be a good idea!  The rum had very strong flavors, and I enjoyed it, but after taking a sip of Sean's blueberry beer, I knew I'd made a mistake.  The blueberry beer was amazing!  Fortunately for us (me), Newport Storm is the official beer of the Newport Folk Festival, so I knew I'd be able to drink blueberry beer to my heart's content the rest of the weekend.  At 3pm, the daily tour of the brewery began.  Seeing as how we were already there, we joined the other 12 people drinking at the bar with us and headed upstairs to the viewing platform, where the distilling process was described in thorough detail.  It was very loud and difficult to hear the tour guide/bartender unless he was standing right next to us, but fortunately he let us bring our drinks with us, so I stayed occupied.  :)  After the 15-20 minute "tour" (which was just us standing on the platform and not worth actually showing up at the brewery at 3pm for, I assure you), we headed back downstairs, finished up our tasting and headed back to the hotel to nap and get ready for dinner.  Our nap could not have come at a more perfect time, either - we woke up to a serious rainstorm.  How we managed to avoid it after being out and about all day, I have no idea.

The beer:

So we got cleaned up, and as the rain tapered off, we debated walking vs. driving down to the wharf where we had an 8pm dinner reservation at the Mooring Restaurant.  However, with the looming threat of more rain, we decided to take the car and pay to park in the restaurant's lot (paying for parking in this lot is only in effect for the summer months, by the way).  The New York Times article had recommended getting pre-dinner cocktails at Fluke Wine Bar, which was conveniently located a short walk (less than a block) from the restaurant and the parking.  This was probably my favorite area of Newport - there was a great view of the harbor and all the boats sailing out in the water, and there was no shortage of restaurants and bars and shops all along the wharf.  It was a really cute place to just walk around.  We headed upstairs at Fluke (the hostess informed us that they do serve dinner at the bar so if a reservation showed up, they'd kick us out...fortunately that never happened), sat down at the bar which gave us a view of the water below and had a couple cocktails.  I first ordered the Fluke Sunset (rum, passionfruit and pom) on the recommendation of the Times writer while Sean ordered the Ocean Drive (gin, cucumber, mint).  I had a sip of his and switched to the Ocean Drive for my second drink.  While the Fluke Sunset was very pretty to look at, I didn't much care for the taste.  The Ocean Drive drink was much more summery and refreshing.

Pretty Fluke Sunset cocktail:

A little before 8pm, we headed back downstairs and over to the Mooring for dinner.  We were seated immediately, and although I had originally requested outdoor seating on the reservation, it was just too humid to sit outside, so we were seated at a table by the window instead.  We started off by ordering from the raw oyster bar (of course) - we had 2 dozen delicious, briny oysters plucked straight from the water next to us.  So good!  For my main course, I ordered the yellowfin tuna stuffed  with feta and basil, on a bed of rice and sun-dried tomatoes.  The whole meal was pretty phenomenal!  Even though we were eating seafood, we opted for a bottle of red (the name escapes me, of course).  I would definitely recommend this restaurant (if only for the oysters!), and on a summer night with more of a breeze, sitting outside overlooking the water would have been absolutely perfect!  We made our way back to the hotel after dinner - the rest of the weekend was going to be a long one filled with lots of outdoors, hopefully not a lot of rain and tons of great bands!

Saturday morning, we woke up and had another incredible breakfast at our little home for the weekend, and after debating the pros and cons of driving vs. taking the ferry to Fort Adams State Park where the festival was being held, we decided to just drive.  We'd already purchased parking passes, and there was something that made me more comfortable about just having the car there with us.  This would prove to be perhaps the greatest decision of the weekend because just as we were leaving on Saturday evening, the thunderstorm to end all thunderstorms attacked, and the line to get on the ferry was very long and very wet.  We managed to get back to the car without more than a few sprinkles touching us.  Success!  Both days of the festival were so enjoyable, and we got so lucky once again with the weather - it was overcast all weekend, but we never got rained on.  The rain only began once we were safely in our car on both days, so I can't ask for much more than that!  The way the festival had been integrated into the park was really interesting - there was literally a stage inside the fort - and with the harbor full of yachts and boats right next to the main stage, it almost felt like were on a deserted island listening to all the music.  Traffic wasn't too bad on either day (especially Sunday when we left especially early to get back to New York), and I think had it not been raining cats and dogs while we were leaving on Saturday night, we would have been out of there and back to the hotel in less then half an hour.  We managed to get to the park from our hotel both mornings within 20 or 30 minutes, which again, was a pleasant surprise.  I think so many people did end up taking the ferry or biking, trying to be environmentally-conscious, but thanks to good old Mother Nature and her fury, those of us with the cars were the ones who were ultimately rewarded in the end.  :)

In one of the common rooms at our B&B before heading to the festival:

Saturday night after leaving the festival, we headed back to the hotel to change, clean off and let the rainstorm pass, then made our way on foot back down to the wharf area (only maybe a 15 or 20 minute walk), passing lots of really old buildings with historical markers we stopped to read occasionally.   We had looked on Yelp for a while so we knew heading down to this area would be our best bet for food at this hour (10pm).  The sidewalks were also completely devoid of street lighting, which made walking down the cobblestone a little creepy.  Sean of course took this chance to scare me nearly to death as we walked past a cemetery.  We picked a random pub, the Wharf Pub & Restaurant on Bowens Wharf, to stop in and grab a quick dinner.  It was standard pub fare, so I had the fish and chips.  I'm pretty confident this was not fresh-from-the-water fish, but we were so tired and hungry that I don't suppose it really mattered.

A little bit of the wharf area:

On Sunday, we left the festival a little after 5pm, stopped in a random city along the way for dinner at an Applebee's, and were dropping off the car at the parking garage near the rental place a little after midnight.  Overall, we both fell in love with Newport and discussed wanting to go back to enjoy the actual town for an entire weekend (as opposed to being tied up with the festival).  There are so many fun things to do - beaches, boats, tours - that we just couldn't get to, and I look forward to hopefully heading back one day to take in more of the town!

My trip:

 

"Rhode Island, oh Rhode Island
surrounded by the sea,

Some people roam the earth for home;
Rhode Island, it's for me..." - Rhode Island It's For Me, Rhode Island State Song

Miles Traveled Today: 354

Total Miles Traveled: 45,867

Washington, DC: 4th of July

The second to last week of June, Sean and I started talking about going somewhere for the 4th of July.  I was ready to get out of New York for a few days, and he nixed San Francisco because of how cold July is there, so we looked elsewhere.  Having lived in Washington, D.C. for a couple years, he mentioned how much he enjoyed being there on the 4th and how he thinks it's the best city to be in for the holiday, so we started planning our somewhat last minute trip!

He first booked the hotel, the Helix Hotel, which was in an area he felt would be convenient to walking to and from the fireworks and in a good area (Dupont Circle).  The Helix is a Kimpton hotel, and having stayed at a Kimpton hotel before, I knew it would have a funky, boutique vibe.  I was pleasantly surprised to find out the rate was only $111 a night, quite a bit cheaper than I was expecting for D.C.'s biggest holiday!  We decided to stay for 3 nights - arriving on Wednesday, July 4 and departing on Saturday, July 7.  Once the hotel was booked, I tried to no avail to get put on a Congressional/Senate guest list for a Bureau of Engraving & Printing tour, the one thing I've not had the opportunity to do in my two previous trips to the city.  Each Senator and Congress person has a link on their personal website to request spots on the harder-to-get tours (White House, Capitol, etc.)  Although it is possible to go stand in line and get one of the free tickets distributed every day for the "money factory," the website indicated the line begins forming as early as 6 or 7am.  It's not that important to me.  Unfortunately, only one of the 5 or 6 reps I contacted actually responded to me; I was informed her spots for the Bureau of Engraving & Printing tours were filled up through the middle of August.  The drawbacks of a last minute trip, I suppose.  The one last ahead-of-time thing I did was get our reserved tickets online to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, a relatively new museum and the one I was perhaps most looking forward to visiting.

 A couple days later, we decided the easiest thing to do would be for Sean to fly in to D.C., and I could take the Amtrak train down on Wednesday morning, then we could both take the train back to New York on Saturday morning and have the rest of the weekend together back at home.  My Acela train departed Penn Station at 10am, and after only a few quick stops (Philadelphia, Wilmington, Baltimore), I was pulling up to Union Station in D.C. a little before 1pm.  My ticket had been in business class, which was so nice - plenty of empty seats and extra leg room.  Sean was there to meet me at Union Station, and we grabbed a quick lunch in the station's food court before hopping in a cab to the hotel.  It was a hot, hot day in D.C. - a heat wave was sweeping through the area and looked like it would be blanketing us for the duration of our trip.  It was literally like walking into a wall of heat every time we stepped outside!  Our hotel room was cute and built like an alcove studio apartment with the bed tucked away around a corner.  The actual hotel was situated in the middle of a quiet block that appeared to be residential.  We cooled down for a little bit and then headed back out on foot.   

Our room at Hotel Helix:

The tourists were out in full force today - there were people, lots of people, everywhere!  Although I've done the walk to all the monuments before, we ended up making our way to almost all of them, first heading to the White House, then to the Lincoln Memorial and the war memorials around it (this is approximately the time where we started to melt).  We grabbed hot dogs (just being the best Americans we could be!) at a little stand near the Lincoln Memorial and continued to chug water - we were sweating it out as quickly as we could drink it in it seemed - and then decided to figure out the best spot to watch the fireworks from.  We tried a couple spots (every building's lawn in the entire city was full of people, so there was no shortage of options), but ultimately we made the call that if we were going to do this, we were going to do it right, so headed up the hill to the Washington Monument and settled in right at the barricade for a couple hours before the fireworks began, cooling down and resting my poor feet (trapped in new sandals all day...ouch).  Once the sun finally disappeared, approximately 8:45pm, the fireworks began.  The fireworks were launched from the empty pool area between us and the Lincoln Memorial, so we had an incredible view, and I would recommend anyone who wants to brave the crowds and do D.C. on the 4th should watch from the Washington Monument.  The fireworks were beautiful against the backdrop of the monuments that surrounded us:

Once the fireworks wrapped up 30 minutes later, we slowly made our way back to the hotel through the throngs of people flooding every inch of street and sidewalk and lawn in D.C.  It took about half an hour to make the walk back through all the people.  Showering felt soooo good when we finally made it back to the room!

The next morning, we made the half mile walk to the McPherson Square metro station and headed toward Ballston in Arlington, where we were meeting Sean's friend for lunch at the mall.  We first made a pit stop in Clarendon, where Sean used to live, so he could show me his old apartment building and neighborhood.  Clarendon was such a nice area, with lots of cute restaurants and bars and shiny, new buildings all over.  Once we got to Ballston, it was just a short walk to the mall (Ballston Common).  After lunch, we headed back into the city, getting off at the Smithsonian station this time, and headed to the National Museum of American History, a museum that had been under renovation the last time I had been in town.  We spent a couple hours making our way through the massive museum; we saw lots of cool exhibits, spending the most time in the war exhibits partly because Sean is really fascinated by the military, and partly because it was just really well done, and of course checking out Dorothy's sequined red slippers and the rest of the pop culture room. 

My favorite part of the museum, though, was getting to see the Star-Spangled Banner.  I actually had no idea this flag existed, and it was almost an afterthought as we were walking toward the exit to jump in the long (but quickly-moving) line to see the flag.  The line wound into a very dark room, and in front of us was the biggest, most beautiful American flag I think I've ever seen.  Yes it was tattered and was becoming unwoven in places, but it was a breathtaking thing to see - such a powerful image of our nation's struggle in its beginning years, laying right there in front of us under protective glass and dim lights.  On September 14, 1814, U.S. soldiers at Baltimore’s Fort McHenry raised a huge American flag to celebrate a crucial victory over British forces during the War of 1812. The sight of those “broad stripes and bright stars” inspired Francis Scott Key to write a song that eventually became the United States national anthem.  And we were staring right at the flag!  It was definitely my favorite part of the museum, and a perfect thing to get to experience on our 4th of July trip.

Photos were not allowed in the room with the flag (the flash would damage the material), so here's a web photo of what we saw:

After we made our way back to the hotel (just in time for the complimentary happy hour in the lobby - hello watermelon sangria!) and cleaned up, we hopped in a cab and headed out to another of Sean's friends' homes out in Arlington.  Traffic was pretty bad (we were hitting it right at rush hour), but we were pulling up to this gorgeous home on a quiet, tree-filled block within half an hour or so.  To live so close to the bustling downtown of D.C., this neighborhood was peaceful and seemed like a perfect slice of suburbia.  We got the full tour of the home while the friend's wife put the two little babies to bed - complete with a sprawling, finished basement and a cute backyard with a small garden and enough space to build a pool.  We grilled out steaks on the patio and sat inside (it was still a little warm!) and devoured the delicious meal.  After killing several bottles of wine, we decided it was time to call it a night, so called a cab and made our way back to the Helix.

On Friday morning, we slept in and then walked around for a little bit until we settled on having a quick lunch at Panera Bread.  After lunch, we made our way to the Holocaust Museum.  The reserved tickets I had gotten online were convenient, in that you get a reserved time, but you can show up any time after that assigned time.  We had tickets for 1:15pm and rolled perhaps half an hour later.  After lots of laughing and smiling so far on this trip, we were immediately thrust into a very somber mood.  Going through it, I did realize there isn't much I don't know about the Holocaust, but all the same the entire presentation was very powerful and heavy.  I don't think we said a word for the entire hour plus it took us to walk through the entire museum.  There were also a number of videos that were built into the walls in such a way that children (or at least people under a certain height) would be unable to see the graphic images being displayed on them.  Scientific experiments being run on the Jews, etc...it was all very disturbing.  Near the end, there were videos the first military who entered the concentration camps took of what they were seeing for the first time.  Those videos were very emotional and it's all just so sad - the rest of world had basically ignored what was happening and had no idea how bad it had gotten.  The looks on the faces of the liberated was just heart-breaking.

 
When we walked out of the museum, we were definitely "down," and just looked at each other and said, "okaaaay...." - it was difficult to walk out of there back into the real world and just continue along on our fun getaway!  In keeping with the somberness of the day, we decided to then get on the metro and head out to Arlington National Cemetery.  We arrived at approximately 3:30pm and immediately made our way toward the Tomb of the Unknowns / Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  Although the cemetery was selling rides on their trolley that would take you around the cemetery, we decided to go at our own pace and go by foot.  Our timing was impeccable, as we were walking up to the tomb right as the Changing of the Guard was about to begin.  It should also be noted that the cemetery's trolley would have not been a bad idea at all.  The hills in the cemetery were no joke, and combined with the sweltering heat, I'm not so sure that the exercise was really worth it!  Getting to see the Changing of the Guard was really cool; everything was so precisely done, and it felt like we were getting a glimpse into a very special ceremony that these sentinels take incredibly seriously.

Guarding the tomb:

After the ceremony finished up, we started walking around.  We first saw some of the memorials, particularly the three in honor of the astronauts killed in their own disasters, and then looking at the different gravestones throughout the ceremony, noticing some of the tiny differences indicating the religion of the person buried, commenting on the various ranks of people varied there, and dropping our jaws at some of the graves that were hundreds of years old.  We made a long, uphill hike to  Arlington House, Robert E. Lee's home overlooking the cemetery and the city of D.C.  Charles L'Enfant's grave was also located in front of the house.

In the front yard of the house:

  The home was set up like a small museum with original artifacts decorating the home.  We then walked around the gardens in front of the house and finally back down the hill toward the Kennedy graves.  After reading so much about it, it was pretty awesome to get to see the Eternal Flame in person with John F. Kennedy, Jacqueline Onassis Kennedy and their stillborn daughter's graves.  We then went around the corner to Robert F. Kennedy's grave, which was so simple and understated in the shadows of his more famous brother's extravagant grave site.

The Eternal Flame grave site:

It was around this time that I discovered a huge cash cow the cemetery is missing out on - selling bottled water.  We were hot and sweaty and so thirsty, so back to the train station and then to the hotel we went!  After cleaning up, we walked a couple blocks away to Birch & Barley for dinner.  Memory is failing on what we ate, but it was tasty!  Sean did the beer pairing with his meal, but I just stuck to ordering a cocktail with my dinner.  We had been outside in the hot sun all day, so we couldn't get to bed fast enough - complete exhaustion took over, and we had an early train the next morning.

On Saturday morning, we packed up and got a cab to take us back to Union Station, with our train departing at 8:10am.  Our train back was the Northeast Regional (not the Acela), but didn't make much of a difference in time and had a big difference in price!  We arrived back in New York just before noon and literally fell back asleep as soon as we got to my apartment.  Neither of us is very good at 6am wake up calls. :)

My trip:

"Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave,
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave..." - Star-Spangled Banner, Francis Scott Key

Miles Traveled Today: 454

Total Miles Traveled: 45,513

Quick Trips: Melbourne and Foxwoods

This is more of a "catch up" post, as I did recently make a couple trips, but the first was unexpected and most certainly not for pleasure, and the other I've already covered in my blog when I visited previously, so not much to write about either.

June 1-3, 2012 | Melbourne, FL

On May 18, my cousin Cullen was tragically killed in an accident while studying abroad in China.  Because the accident happened on the other side of the world and required a lot of extra red tape, paperwork and time, there was a bit of a lag between receiving the news and the funeral being scheduled.  One thing I did look into was Delta's bereavement fare policy.    As it turns out, this fare did not qualify for a number of reasons.  First, travel must begin within three days of purchasing the ticket.  Because we had more time for planning, I had a flight booked over a week before the travel date.  Second, the bereavement fare is only available upon proof this is an "immediate family member."  Delta spells it out pretty clearly on their website - cousin is not included (but niece and nephew are, hmm?).

I had a 3:47pm flight departing out of LaGuardia on Friday, June 1.  Although there were a couple options for airports to fly in to, my family would be driving in from Birmingham and going right past Orlando, so it was determined flying into Orlando would be our best bet, and they could scoop me up on the way to Melbourne where the funeral was to be held.  I landed in Orlando at 7pm and by 8:30pm we were pulling up to City Tropics Bistro in Indiatlantic (near the hotel), where the rest of the family who had already arrived in town had gathered for dinner (there were nearly 20 of us).  The restaurant was large and not particularly crowded, so they easily accommodated our group at a long table near the front.  I had the blackened mahi tacos which were very spicy (maybe a little too spicy).  We spent the next three hours catching up with family, most of whom we hadn't seen since our trip to Costa Rica back in 2009.  Despite the unfortunate circumstances, it was kind of nice to just get to see everyone.

By midnight, we decided to call it a night and made the short drive over to our hotel, the Hilton Beachfront in Melbourne Beach.  I spent some time out on our (beachfront!) balcony listening to the waves crashing and just reflecting on the day.  The next morning, I woke up early to take a walk on the beach with my mom (not early enough, she beat me up by about an hour).  It was a gorgeous beach day, not a cloud in the sky, and it only added insult to injury to get dressed in my dark clothes and sit inside a church all day.  It was nice to have about an hour to feel the sand between my toes and the salt water lap over my feet - it's been too long, and reminded me I need a real beach trip soon!  At 10am, my parents, brother and I sat down for breakfast at Jack's Seafood Bistro, the restaurant in the lobby of our hotel.  It took quite a while for a waitress to come over, but we all ended up ordering off the menu; the buffet was overpriced and it was actually less expensive to order a la carte.

After lunch, we drove over to my uncle's home (gorgeous and right on the beach) where some other family was gathered to just chat a little bit.  We stayed for an hour and then headed back to the hotel to get ready for the funeral.  The Funeral Mass began at 2pm at Holy Name of Jesus Church, straight across the street from the hotel.  A slideshow played before the service began, which was a nice touch for such a young person's funeral.  After the service, there was a reception in an adjacent room for all the friends, and then the family went back to my uncle's house for loads of food and wine.  I had lots of time to catch up with my cousins, which again, despite the circumstances, was a welcome opportunity.  After it got dark, we went out to the beach (where we were basically eaten alive) with Chinese lanterns some of Cullen's closest friends had brought over.  We released them out over the ocean and watched them flicker away until we couldn't see them anymore on the horizon, a fitting tribute to Cullen's short life.

Chinese lanterns on the beach:

It was an early wake up call on Sunday morning for my 8:30am returning flight out of Orlando.  It was also a long day of traveling; I wasn't so lucky on getting a direct flight out of Orlando, and had nearly a four hour layover in Atlanta (more time to watch the Queen's Jubilee at the gate, though!).  I was back in New York by 3:30pm and snoozing shortly thereafter.

  

Miles Traveled Today: 2,308 (in black on the map)

June 8-10, 2012 | Mashantucket, CT

The second weekend in June found me heading back to Foxwoods Casino for another work trip.  This time, however, my boss was not making the journey, so it was up to me to figure out how to get to Mashantucket on my own.  I originally booked rental car through Hertz for the rather excessive weekend price of $356.  However, through a little finagling I discovered as a perk of being associated with a show in the casino's theater, the casino would actually send a driver to fetch my boyfriend and me from the New London Amtrak station, a 30-45 minute drive from the casino.  Had the casino not provided the pick up service, there was also a bus that could take us to the casino from the Amtrak station, but it would mean waiting over an hour at the station and a much slower journey than in the car.  It's nice to be a VIP  We took the Northeast Regional train, which left Penn Station at 5:42pm and arrived in New London at approximately 8:45pm, $80 one-way (Acela is $130 one-way).  Once we were dropped off at the hotel by our driver and processed through VIP check-in, we scurried up to our room to drop off our things to make our dinner reservation.  Since I would be working the rest of the weekend, this was our only opportunity for a proper meal, so I chose Tom Colicchio's renowned Craftsteak, which was located in the MGM Tower where we were staying.  There are Craftsteaks in a number of major cities (New York being one of them), but I've never had the opportunity to try it out, so it was a good choice.  Our reservation was at 9:30pm, and for a Friday night, the entire casino and restaurant were very quiet...still not sure why everything was so empty.  We were almost the only table in the restaurant when we were seated, and by the time we left, we were indeed the only table!  

We first got cocktails - Sean the blueberry ice martini and the craftsteak cocktail (rum and presecco) for me.  Our waiter was very helpful in making recommendations on how to order and what to order, so after a thorough discussion, we decided to take the plunge and try the 10 oz. wagyu beef skirtsteak, priced at a modest $80 (!).  The waiter also recommended having it cooked medium to medium-well to get the proper flavors and texture, so we went along with it.  In addition, we had the 10 oz. filet mignon ($55) with sides of spinach and roasted garlic potatoes.  Everything was INCREDIBLE.  If I'm being honest, I'm not sure what the big deal is about the wagyu beef; it was tougher than regular steak and although very flavorful, I don't know that it is worth double the price of 'regular' steaks on the menu.  The filet was absolutely fantastic, though - so tender and cooked to (medium rare) perfection - a good recovery from our steakhouse snafu in Napa.  It was just a LITTLE too much food, so could have probably stuck with one side and been totally set.  The bill topped $250, but luckily for me (I had offered up the meal as my treat), my company agreed to let me expense it.  

Craftsteak:

After dinner, we walked through the casino and had a couple drinks, but as per usual, the smoke was intolerable so before our clothes were ruined, we made our way back to the room.  The next morning, we got a late start and made the long trek from the MGM Tower to the main casino towers in search of breakfast (well, lunch at this point).  Not having a taste for much of anything, we settled on California Pizza Kitchen, where I ordered a Thai chicken salad I was able to save half of and store it in our room's mini-fridge for a pre-show snack later.  By mid-afternoon, I had taken up my post in the MGM Grand Theatre where I would continue to work for the rest of the evening.

The next morning, we had a few hours to kill before our pick up to take us to our train (departing at 3:15pm).  We checked out of our room and had the valet check our bags until we were ready to leave.  We then went back to the other end of the casino complex, settling in to a quiet bar and grabbing a few cocktails (because that's what you do on Sunday mornings in casinos, right?) and watched a soccer game on TV.  By 1pm, it was time to eat, so we chose to go the tourist route and got a table at the Hard Rock Cafe inside the casino.  I wasn't STARVING, so just ordered an appetizer, the Santa Fe spring rolls and a side, the twisted mac & cheese.  This was MORE than enough food and sure beats the $20 burgers.  The spring rolls were actually pretty amazing.  Tourist spots aren't so bad...chains are at least consistent!  Our one mistake was ordering two gigantic "souvenir" drinks.  I felt like I could hardly stand up after drinking that thing...way too much alcohol for one drink, and for a family restaurant, for that matter.  :)

After eating we made our way back to the MGM Tower and were escorted away in our car back to the train station.  We had a nice chat with our driver about locals in the area, the relationship with the reservation, etc.  It was a very interesting conversation!  We were back in New York and on the way back to my apartment a little before 6pm.  It was another fun weekend at Foxwoods!

Miles Traveled Today: 280 (in red on the map)

 My trips:

Total Miles Traveled: 45,059

San Francisco/Wine Country: Day 2-3

Miraculously, we were able to get up and on the road with our Zipcar (picked up from a not-so-convenient gas station) by 8:30am.  We drove through a part of the city I had not yet seen, Pacific Heights, where celebs such as Lars Ulrich and Danielle Steel reside.  The houses were gorgeous and so unexpected for a city built on steep inclines and as far as I can tell pretty much all look like rowhouses.  These were more like mansions towering above the streets and the ocean below.  Beautiful!

Driving out of the city, we cross the Golden Gate Bridge:

We were rolling in to our first stop in Napa, Artesa Winery, by 10:15am.  Sean is a member of Artesa, so it was one of the wineries he definitely wanted to make a stop at (he also had wine to pick up from there).  This winery was very unusual-looking, in that it looked almost like a fort built into the side of a mountain.  There was a beautiful walkway with fountains going up to the entrance where we stopped and looked out over the beautiful green, rolling hills that stretched out as far as the eye could see, acres and acres of grapes in the fields below us. 

The beautiful view from Artesa Winery's entrance:

Being a member (and me being a guest of a member), we didn't have to wait in the rather long lines at the main wine tasting bar, and were instead ushered into a private room with sofas, our own bar and bartender and no lines.  Over the course of the next hour and a half, we tried numerous whites and reds from the tasting list (being a member gave us access to an unlimited tasting), wandering in and out of the visitor's center onto the back terrace and enjoying the beautiful day.

A view of Artesa. Very fort-like, isn't it?:

When it was time to move on to lunch (we had a noon reservation), we hopped in the car and made the 30 minute drive to Rutherford Grill.  We passed lots of wineries on the way, and it was always fun to pass a one I'd heard of (Mondavi, for instance)!  We waited for what seemed like an eternity for a table - the place was definitely packed and was a hot spot for people bopping around Napa doing wine tastings, but it became pretty obvious after over half an hour of watching people arrive after us and be seated that we had simply been skipped (they of course denied it when I suggested that is what happened).  While there was a nice outdoor patio with lots of tables, we were seated inside at a booth, and by the time we got our food (prime rib sandwich for Sean and sashimi tuna salad for me), were completely famished.  The food was really good, but the ridiculous wait had just left a bad taste in our mouth, so we were ready to get out of there once we scarfed our food down.

 By 2pm, we were pulling up to Rombauer Vineyards, high atop a mountain at the end of a long, winding road, and best-known for their buttery chardonnay.  Sean is also a member of this one, so with his professional guidance, we bought a bottle of the chardonnay and wandered through the gardens down to the bottom of the trail where there was a nice sitting area to shade us from the hot sun while we drank our vino.  Rombauer was definitely the quaintest and most peaceful of the wineries we visited; the gardens had a trail through trees and picnic tables along the way...plenty of places to sit and enjoy nature and seclusion without being on top of people the way it was inside the tasting room.  Buying a bottle and getting away from the crowd of people was definitely the way to go.  I really did enjoy the chardonnay, despite whites not typically being my favorite these days.  It was nice to sit and just enjoy a bottle without all the jostling required in the tasting room.

Chardonnay in the shade, my favorite moment of the day:

After finishing up our wine, we took our time meandering back up the trail and back to the car.  We decided we only had time for one more winery before we needed to go check in to the hotel and get ready for dinner, so we opted to skip Sebastiani Winery and go straight to Cosentino Winery, which Sean had never been to but came highly recommended by his friends.  I was definitely starting to get a buzz by this point, but I knew I could handle just one more round of tastings. :)  Cosentino was perhaps the least remarkable of the wineries in appearance, although the reds we got to try were very enjoyable (and Sean ended up signing up for a membership).  This was a much less formal atmosphere than the others we'd been to today, and there was basically just a big room with a bar for the tastings...no pretty patios or shady gardens to wander off to.

When we finished up, we then made the half hour drive to our hotel in Sonoma, MacArthur Place.  MacArthur Place was so cute!  Although we arrived in time for the complimentary wine tasting, that was probably the last thing we needed, so we made our way through the stone path and garden to our room, located in the Manor House (room #3).  This much more closely resembled what my idea of a "bed and breakfast" would be as opposed to a "hotel."  The room had a private porch with seating and a garden and felt very secluded.  We were on the first floor, but as it turns out, lugging our bags up stairs wouldn't have been much fun, so the first floor worked out just fine. :)  The room had a very 'country home' type of feel, and was super cozy.  (I later discovered the website refers to the hotel as a "country inn," exactly!)  I was sad we'd only have one night in the room...I would totally go back and stay there again for a long weekend.

A pretty nighttime photo of the main reception building at MacArthur Place:

After a quick nap and freshening up, we were on the road once again, this time to our 8pm reservation at Cole's Chop House, approximately a 30 minute drive back the direction we came from in Napa.  We circled for a while before figuring out exactly where the entrance to the restaurant was and then headed to the bar for drinks before our table was ready.  The service was outstanding (professional and serious without coming off aloof or unfriendly) and our waiter and sommelier were very knowledgeable.  Sean opted to purchase an expensive bottle of red after an extensive discussion with the sommelier (this would later prove to perhaps be a bit of a mistake, as about halfway through the bottle the sheer volume of wine I'd consumed during the day finally caught up with me, and I could hardly keep my eyes open...woops).  We shared an appetizer of oysters and both ordered the 10 oz. filet and a few family-style sides.  The fact that the steaks were cooked perhaps closer to medium or medium-well wasn't a huge deal to me, but it was an expensive meal, and Sean got frustrated with the steakhouse's inability to properly cook the steaks.  Unfortunately, the steaks had been OVER-cooked, so they would have to start over with new steaks if we wanted it fixed.  We decided to just keep what we had.  I thought everything was delicious, but ultimately, the food didn't come out the way we ordered it, so Sean felt the whole thing was a disappointment. 

So while I'm passing out in the passenger's seat, Sean proceeded to get lost trying to get back to the hotel.  When I woke up, there was a deer's eyes glowing through a fence and staring straight at me.  Yeah, it was just one of those nights.  So we finally managed to make it back to the hotel and crashed immediately.  Long, exhausting and wonderful day!

The next morning, we slept until we woke up, packed our bags and headed into downtown Sonoma, where we parked by Sonoma Plaza (a large grassy park) and looked for a place to get some grub.  We settled on the Harvest Moon Cafe, as it was one of the few places that didn't have a line of people billowing out of it.  We were seated outside on the back patio and just ordered omelets and OJ.  Most notably, we were overwhelmed by the terrible service.  Our waitress literally disappeared for an hour, which made getting our check (and more water - it was hot!) no simple feat.

Sean then decided since I'd never seen the Pacific Coast Highway, we could take the "long way" back to San Francisco, truly the "scenic route."  I'm so glad we did!  It was certainly out of the way, but I got to see some beautiful places I had no idea could even exist in this country.  Driving down the long two-lane road deep through wine country toward the Pacific Ocean was absolutely stunning.  It's the way I picture a place like Scotland or Ireland to look, with green hills everywhere, little red barns and cattle lazily grazing by the roadside.

Not the greatest shot, but you get the idea:

When we turned south, we headed toward Point Reyes in Marshall, CA, where Sean had heard of a cool spot to get fresh oysters called Nick's Cove.  And wow, I'm so glad we stopped here!  This was so far off the beaten path and a whole little world all its own.  Nick's Cove was actually a small oyster/wine bar and a number of cottages available for rentals right on the Tomales Bay.  People were lounging in beach chairs outside the cottages, fishing off the pier and kayaking.  We walked out on the long pier, but the weather was a bit breezy, so we decided instead of eating out at the small hut at the end of the pier, we'd stay in the 'real' building and eat at the bar.

On the pier at Nick's Cove:

We settled in at the bar and ordered a bottle of Merry Edwards Sauvignon Blanc from the Russian River Valley (local!) and several dozen oysters (ordering oysters is totally our new 'thing').   The oysters were AMAZING, probably my favorite I've had anywhere.  They had prepared the raw oysters in a variety of ways, Rockefeller, with BBQ sauce, with Parmesan cheese, etc.  SO GOOD.  After inhaling the oysters and raving about them for a little while, we were back on the road.  Fog was starting to roll in, and I was amazed at the amount of people still out and about like this was a normal "beach day."  Surfers, people riding bikes...the whole community was very beachbum-y, and it was just too cold for that!  Driving along the PCH felt like we were in another country - the huge rocky cliffs, the ominous fog, and the dark grey waters breaking below us...there was something very rugged and almost Highland-esque to me about this part of the drive.  And then we got stuck in some monumental traffic.  This wouldn't have been such a big deal, except that we needed to get the car back by our scheduled Zipcar time or we'd be charged overtime for it.  And try as we might, we just didn't make it.   There was definitely a mad dash through San Francisco at the end of the trip, so we were pretty close!

We ordered some delivery for dinner when we got back home and lounged around a little bit before it was time for me to head to the airport (once again Sean ordered an Uber car as my mode of transportation).  This was my first redeye, so while I had high hopes of getting a full night's rest on the plane, let's be honest - getting comfortable enough to get a proper sleep on a plane is not one of my skills.  My JetBlue flight departed at 11:30pm, and I was excited to see that JetBlue had provided a "sleep kit" in every seat - an eye mask and ear plugs, both of which I promptly donned.  We landed just before 8am back at JFK, and while I got perhaps a couple solid hours of sleep, I was pretty much a zombie all day yesterday trying to recover from my first overnight flight experience.  I don't know how the businessmen do this all the time!

Overall, this was a wonderful trip and it was a blast getting to spend time in wine country for the first time.  I can't wait to go back - apparently it's mid-70s and sunny year round there (or so 'they' say)!


My trip:

"Warm red wine, you know that place where you take me some times
Where my cares have wings and fly right off my shoulder
Where I leave my cares behind and for a while find peace of mind
Help me friend of mine wine take me away..." - Wine Take Me Away, Merle Haggard

Miles Traveled Today: 3,056

Total Miles Traveled: 42,471

San Francisco/Wine Country: Day 1

After so many visits from my boyfriend to see me in New York, it was definitely time for me to reciprocate by heading out to his coast.  This would be my second trip to San Francisco, the first being when I met him, so was definitely looking forward to seeing a new part of the city!  As I did with my last trip (to Las Vegas), I had Carmel waiting outside my office building to take me to JFK, and I was at the airport by 6:30pm for my 7:30pm flight.  I was on an American Airlines flight this time - not earning any mileage on this one, but I also wasn't paying for it, so no complaints here.  :)  I landed in San Francisco at 11:00pm, where Sean was waiting.

He pulled up his Uber app on his phone and within a couple minutes the car arrived and we were on our way.  The Uber app has really taken off in San Francisco, and I know it exists in New York as well, but I am not really the target demographic for it (it's more for the techie-what-shall-I-do-with-all-my-money types).  It's somewhere between the cost of a taxi and a private car, and is essentially an app that shows you where these Uber drivers are on a map and then allows you to select one and have it come pick you up immediately.  We were pulling up to his apartment in an area of the city known as Cole Valley within half an hour, driving past where his new office building was located and up and down some massive hills shrouded in fog (that's San Francisco for you!). 

The next morning, we slept late and then went to brunch at Zazie, a cute French bistro right around the corner from his apartment.  The place was packed (packed for a Friday morning, at least, when all these people should be working....?!?!?)!  It was a beautiful, sunny day so we opted to sit out on the back patio.  I had the French toast stuffed with caramelized bananas and walnuts - delicious!  After eating, he wanted to show me around his neighborhood, so we first took a hike up to Tank Hill.  And when I say "hike," this was no stroll in the park - I was huffing and puffing by the time we got to the top of the street that leads to the entrance of Tank Hill.  Parking on streets like this definitely requires a special skill set!  We then made our way to the top of Tank Hill and had the most phenomenal view of San Francisco - Sean said this is a popular place to watch fireworks from on the 4th of July.  It was nice to take a little break from that crazy walk up to the hill and just enjoy the scenery; he was able to point out important buildings and areas around the city to me from our bird's eye view.

San Francisco below us and the bay in the distance:

We then continued walking around his neighborhood, this time back down the hill through the Haight.  This was the first time I had actually gotten to see the famous Haight/Ashbury corner, so I was pretty happy to be able to tick off one more "to do" from my San Francisco list!  Being that this was April 20 (4/20), the Haight was crawling with what can best be described as a "counter culture" roaming the streets with weed and clearly skipping school and work.  Exactly what I'd expect from the Haight!

After a little more walking around, we were hot and tired so headed back home for a nap before getting ready for our dinner.  We had a 6:00pm reservation at Bix, an elegant restaurant with a live jazz band performing nightly described as a good spot for "anniversary couples and first-impression daters."  After being dropped off by an Uber driver onto the cobblestone back alley where the restaurant's front door is, we were lead up a staircase to the balconied second floor and seated in a booth.  The restaurant was relatively empty this early, but by the time we started eating it had completely filled up.  I ordered the BIX rickey cocktail to start, and after a cocktail we switched over to red wine (Tierra Roja I believe) with our dinner.  We had Pacific oysters on the half shell and steak tartare for appetizers, and I had tuna while Sean had a steak for our main course.  Dinner was fantastic, the restaurant had a very romantic, sophisticated feel to it and the live jazz starting up as we sipped on our cocktails made for a fun mood all around.

Bix:

After dinner, we met up with Sean's friend Marcus to grab drinks, first at Rye and then on to Orbit Room Cafe.  I would describe both as "nothing special," but I had good cocktails at each bar, so no complaints.  We were both tired after a long day (even though we did nap!), so called it a night by midnight so we'd be fresh for our wine country adventure the next day! 

Miles Traveled Today: 2,906

Total Miles Traveled: 39,415