Our CA trip, Part 1

We had a GREAT time in California!

We got in on Saturday afternoon and Becky picked us up at the airport. We went to her house and just hung out, watching football. Of course, we were on the same page about dinner - we had thai from Toi. Mmmm, so, so good. Bethany and I used to go there back in the day. In fact, I'm pretty sure it's the first place I ever had thai food! Anyway, it was great and then John and I promptly fell asleep on her couch at 8pm. We couldn't even make it up to see Matt get home! He had been at the USC v. Cal game.

On Sunday morning, we got our butts up waaay too early (thank you, time change) and just puttered until it was time for brunch at The Griddle Cafe. Can I just say OMG about the food they serve? Truly amazing. Absolutely HUGE portions. My boysenberry pancake (yes, singlar - it was 12" in diameter!) was fantastic. After that, we retreated to Casa de Bass for some Guitar Hero (I suck, most assuredly) and later ventured out to UCLA to take some pictures for Becky's photo class and to stop by the student store. Poor Matt, I thought he was going to spontaneously combust setting foot on UCLA's campus, but he did good. :-) That night when we finally decided we were hungry again..... we took John to an LA institution: Canter's. The cheese blintzes and potato pancakes really were fantastic. Lord, our entire trip was about food! ;-)

On Monday, we packed up and headed back to LAX for a quick flight to San Francisco! Once in SF, we made our way to our hotel, the Sir Francis Drake in Union Square. Great hotel, teeeny tiny room, but super cute! Great location too. Thanks to Amy for the recommendation. Anyway, that night we ended up eating at the hotel's Italian restaurant since we couldn't find the authentic Italian John was hoping for. Had we been in North Beach, it wouldn't have been a problem, but not much in the way of "authentic" in Union Sq. ;-)

On Tuesday, we started our walking tour of SF. And man, did we walk. I was sooo sore on Wed and Thursday, it's actually really sad, lol. Anyway, we walked thru the financial district and chinatown, stopping at Chef Jia's for lunch. John found the recommendation on yelp.com and might I say, hands down the best Chinese we've ever had. So simple, so tasty. An absolutely fantastic eggroll, too. We almost went back the next night (and I wish we had.... story coming up). So, we left Chinatown, wandered thru North Beach and up to Coit Tower. And can I say, wow, what a view! Absolutely gorgeous. From there, we walked down about a million steps toward the Embarcadero and on to Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39. Totally fun! Then it was over to Ghiradelli Square for the long-awaited sundae... truly, amazing. Then walk up the hill to Lombard Street, and hoped a cable car back to our hotel. We were beat! Funny of funny's, turns out Mo was in SF for business that week (and staying literally 1 block away), so we had dinner with him and one of his friend's from Chicago. We had another good meal at a place in Union Square and then went home to crash.

On Tuesday, we had the bright idea to rent a car for the day. Cheaper than taking a tour, plus we got to be in control of our own destiny. So, we headed out around the city to Baker Beach and the Presidio for views of the bridge, then crossed the Golden Gate (too bad it was a foggy morning) and headed to Sausalito for lunch. A valet in a restaurant parking lot gave us a lunch tip - a local joint that gets written up in all the papers called The Fish. And it was great! From there, we went to Muir Woods. It was really nice, but John was disappointed there were no giant sequoias - we'll have to go near Yosemite to see those on some other trip. After Muir Woods, we threw caution to the wind and drove to Napa. Then up Napa Valley, thru St. Helena and stopping in Calistoga (omg, soooo cute!) for a smoothie and a snack. Then around to Santa Rosa and home. By this point, we were trying to return the rental car before 6pm (didn't happen) and trying to find somewhere to eat. We decided to return the car and just grab a bit near our hotel. Oh, how I wish we'd stoped at a chain or gone to Chef Jia's again...

So after dinner, which consited of a GARDENBURGER and FRIES (seriously, what could go wrong?), we went back to the room. By 9pm I was feeling terrible, and promptly threw up. That was fun. At 11:30pm, threw up again, and then from there, every hour until 4am when we finally decided this was ridiculous and I went to the emergency room at a nearby hospital. Yes, seriously. But can I just say, the lovely doctors and staff at St. Francis Memorial Hospital were fantastic. Two liters of fluids and some anti-nausea drugs later, I was feeling well enough to go home. Except when we got back to the hotel, I got sick again. Fun! Okay, so the reason why this was so horrible (aside from the chronic puking) was that we were scheduled to be on an 11am flight from SFO back to LAX that morning! Oh no! So, we checked but all the flights were sold out. No dice to move to a later flight. John strongly encouraged me to get myself together and I managed to get from the hotel, to the airport, on the hour-long flight to LAX, and from LA to our hotel in Orange County without getting sick! However, about 1 hour after getting to OC, I started up again and was sick until about 1am that night. Truly, a horrible experience. Luckily, on Friday I was feeling much improved and by Saturday completely back to my normal self. But really, I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy!

Okay, part 2 of our CA trip will be forthcoming... For now, enjoy the first round of pictures! :-)