San Fran...Day 3

 Last night or should I say very early this morning, my brother Dan and his wife Melissa flew into San Fran. The gang is all here now. One of the things Linda and Andrew wanted to do was Dim Sum in Chinatown. And it was convenient how the six of us were there so we set out to do that this morning.

Marie and Jon dropped us all off at the BART station before they left to do their stuff. The BART near their place dropped us off by Union Square in downtown San Fran. We walked about a mile and half or so, maybe even longer before we made it to the start of Chinatown. But it seemed as though the dim sum place was at the other end of Chinatown. Of course, now that we're walking through Chinatown, half our group was looking at the store front products and we ended up stopping every other shop or so. I was so hungry that I suggested that we do some shopping after we ate (which bit us in the butt later).

We finally made it to Gold Mountain and we were basically one of the first customers. Dim sum just started. Perfect timing! Good thing my brother was there because he spoke the best Chinese out of the Lai siblings. And good thing there were six of us eating because we had A LOT of food in front of us and we managed to eat it all. Ahhh, I miss dim sum and wish we had things like that around Madison.

The best part of the dim sum experience that day was Joshua imitating the Chinese words that the waiters would say when they came by our carts. Of course, by repeating what they say, it means that you want that dish. So this one certain waiter with extreme happiness came by our table and said something to which Joshua repeated loudly and the waiter got so happy that he was selling something that we were like no, we don't want it cause we already had a few of those dishes. Every time after that, the same waiter would come by and say it basically to Joshua and they both had their laughs.

After being stuffed at dim sum, we headed back toward the stores since everyone wanted to get something. This is where it bit us in the butt. We headed back the way we came from to shop around but knew that our next destination was past the dim sum place so we basically walked the same long street 3 times. We all had fun shopping in Chinatown. So many San Fran souvenirs and lots and lots of cheesy Chinese things. Melissa ended up with some t-shirts as did Andrew, Dan got a mah jongg set, Linda a couple of tea cups for my mom, I got tea leaves for my mom and a shirt for my dad (X-Mas shopping) and Joshua prolly got the best thing there. When I was getting the t-shirt for my dad, Joshua snuck into a shop and bought himself a Chinese jacket. Well, apparently Linda heard from a Chinese lady saying it was a lady's jacket. Hahahahaha! Oh well! Joshua still loved it!

Joshua in Chinatown

Joshua super excited for his jacket because...

...It's reversible!

After Chinatown, we walked towards the dim sum again and even further to get to Lombard Street, the crookedest street in the world since Andrew had never seen it. It was quite a hike but I didn't mind it because it worked off all the food we were eating. We ended up walking up two hilly blocks. It was so hilly that we took a short rest after one block before continuing on to the second one.  But we made it to the bottom part of the famous Lombard Street!

Lombard Street

Joshua

The Lai siblings

Joshua standing in one of the driveways

Love this pic of Joshua

Joshua wondering how much
one of these homes cost

View from the top...if you look closely,
Joshua's talking to the curb appeal caretaker

The guy was clipping away the flowers
and gave them to Joshua

After Lombard, we headed towards Fisherman's Wharf and encountered this gorgeous view...

View on the walk from Lombard to the Pier

We walked along the pier boardwalk and stopped by Pier 45 by the big Fisherman's Wharf sign. Even though we had eaten dim sum, we were starting to get hungry again but didn't want to eat too much because Joshua was making dinner later. So we decided to get some quick and small stuff to eat at one of the sea food stands. Joshua and I got Clam Chowder in a bread bowl and yes it was absolutely delicious. So much better in San Fran than in WI.

Attempt to get the Fisherman's Wharf sign in the back

Dan of course wanted to go to this arcade place around the area which I've never been to so we decided to head there. It was called Amusing America & Musee Mechanique (French for Mechanical Museum). Very interesting. It had many old school games from the 20s to the 90s. We had a lot of fun there. It was better than most arcades since some of the games were only a nickel but most were just a quarter with a few being $0.50.

Outside the arcade attempting to take a pic

Attempt #2...you can kinda see Alcatraz

We finally gave in to have someone else take our pic

After the pier, we took 3 different transit systems to get back to Marie and Jon's place, well to a supermarket right by their place so then Joshua could pick up groceries to make dinner. We wanted to make dinner for everyone since we'd all be there and that way Marie and Jon wouldn't have to worry about what to do for dinner for one night. 

The supermarket was interesting. For one, it was Chinese so they had a lot of Chinese vegetables and not a ton of American vegetables but we managed to find everything. We decided on fish since everyone ate that. When we got to the fish aisle, there were many many options compared to WI. However, it was whole fish so when we picked out the fish we wanted, we had to get them de-scaled and de-tailed and de-gutted and be-headed but they didn't de-bone them. It was interesting seeing the guy do all that stuff so quickly.

Joshua was Chef for the night and I was his Sous Chef :) while the other four played Mah Jongg or tried to I think. Don't worry, I didn't really make anything, I just helped cut and stuff. Joshua had a rough time de-boning the fish for some reason. They were really in there and there wasn't a lot of meat to work with so he had to be careful to not pull out all of the fish meat while de-boning them. This was where one of the wines came in handy. Joshua used it for the cream sauce for the fish and finished the rest of the bottle. Joshua made appetizers to pass the time away while we waited for the main meal. Needless to say, everything was delicious as always!

Bruschetta and Hummus

Portabella Mushrooms in Sweet Chili Sauce

Striped Bass with Spinach Garlic Mashed Potatoes

San Fran...Day 2

We woke up pretty bright and early for two reasons...we were still on Central time so it did feel like we slept until 10 and we have a full day of sightseeing. But first, Joshua made us omelets...gotta love having a Sous Chef around. On the agenda today was Golden Gate Bridge, Muir Woods and Castello Di Amorosa Winery.

Marie was trusting and kind enough to lend us her car for the day. We would've rented a car but she wouldn't hear of it. Linda started driving toward the Golden Gate Bridge but suddenly Andrew needed to stop to get some fresh air. Uh-oh! It's gonna be a long day. We exited right before the Golden Gate Bridge to take some pictures since Andrew's never been and now that I think about it, neither has Joshua the first time we came to San Fran.

We did the usual tourist pictures and enjoyed the beautiful sunny day by the Golden Gate Bridge.

I love this pic of Joshua

Joshua and I with the foggy bridge

Linda and Andrew

Landscape shot

Joshua sitting on the rail making me nervous

Two thumbs up for this bridge

Da boys

Da sisters

Joshua and I again

The cables and cables that is used for the bridge

So huge!

I took over for the driving since Linda doesn't like to drive over bridges. Weird. Onto Muir Woods! The ride wasn't too bad but then when we got 5 miles closer, it didn't look good for Andrew. It was miles and miles of twisty turns, back and forth. Needless to say, he told me to pull over where there was no where to pull over and out the window he goes. Poor guy. He was so relieved to see we made it to Muir Woods finally.

We walked the trails of Muir Woods but not too far. We did about a 2 mile loop checking out the crazy tall trees. It was really peaceful in there even with the people around. I love nature!

The Muir Woods entrance

A very TALL tree

Joshua and nature

The average tree trunk

Very important ring years

Joshua checking out the downed tree

Love this pic with the sun shining through

Tree growing between two trees

Joshua inside a tree trunk

Split tree trunk

Loving the day

Now that we saw Muir Woods, it's onto the winery. Back out onto the windy roads and Andrew's stomach not being very happy about that. It took us about an hour from Muir Woods to get to the Napa Valley area. We were starving at this point (it was 2:30 or so) so we drove around Calistoga near the winery that we had reservations for and looked for a place to get a quick bite. The small town of Calistoga didn't have much. A few sit down restaurants, some more fancy than others but we settled for a Mexican place. We quickly ate our lunch which was quite delicious. I had chicken quesadilla and Joshua had chicken tacos. Yummy!

We quickly went off to find the Castello Di Amorosa Winery and when we did, wowsa! It was certainly impressive! Pictures are worth a thousand words...

Joshua in front of the winery

The entrance to the tour

In front of the steps

Joshua standing inside that little cove

We checked in for our tour, thanks to Linda for making the reso. I did the basic wine tasting and tour but Joshua chose to do the reserve wine tasting and tour which meant he got to taste the very expensive reserve wine as well as the basic wines. Our tour was quite interesting. Not only did our tour guide tell us about how the wine was made, he gave us a lot of information as to how the castle came to be and many interesting facts about the castle.

Some interesting facts:
It was a 14 year process
107 rooms on 8 levels below and above ground
Roof tiles are casts of women's thighs
Has a 500 year old fireplace

It was very interesting seeing this castle. Even though it is fairly new, the whole place is original. Bricks were sent from Europe. Blacksmiths worked on many pieces. There is a moat, a drawbridge, defensive towers, a courtyard, a torture chamber, a chapel/church, a knights' chamber and a great hall all designed with authenticity. This winery definitely is in a class of its own. It's so unique that you can't buy their wine anywhere except from the winery itself. We took advantage of our checked bags so we bought two bottles of wine to bring back to WI and another one to use for dinner later on in the trip. I'm glad we went to this winery instead of Kendall Jackson or Mondavi or Beringer.

The courtyard

The Great Hall
Table and Chairs from movie Bedtime Stories

Sconces made by blacksmiths

Pretending I am the queen

View from one of the towers

Private Reserve Wine all locked up

Joshua playing with the dangerous weapons

Wouldn't want to get hit by that

Checking out the armored guard

Joshua wanted to play with this weapon

Torture chair

Barrels and Barrels of wine

Enjoying the tour

Taste test time

San Fran...Day 1

Today, Joshua and I woke up in Milwaukee at 6:30 so my dad could take us to the airport to catch our 9:15 flight. Not so crowded at the airport today. No gropage at the metal detectors. However, I was a bit scared when Joshua was joking around in line. There was a random check of explosives, just a simple cotton swipe of the hand. Joshua was saying that if he was picked he would say 'It's because I'm black huh?'. I told him to stop joking around cause I would get on the plane without him if he got detained.

Our flight ended up getting delayed about an hour and half because of fog in San Francisco. Go figure. We had a blizzard a couple days ago and it's fine in Milwaukee but not in San Fran. Another thing, my sister flew out of Milwaukee the day after the blizzard and had no delays. I did however ended up finishing book one of the Harry Potter series (don't ask, I never wanted to read them but now I have to).

Best flight ever minus the turbulence! Our flight was not full. Joshua and I had our own row, the row behind us was empty but not for very long as someone claimed it as their own row and the seat in front of me was empty. Didn't have to worry about bothering anyone or anyone bothering me on this flight!

While we were waiting for my cousin Marie to pick us up, I began stripping off my fleece jacket and sweater even though it was 55 degrees out. But it felt like 80 degrees considering when we left Milwaukee, it was 5 with a wind chill of -10. She took us to one of her favorite sandwich shops that we didn't have back in Wisconsin where I got an avocado, spinach, tomato, basil sandwich. Delish!

We got settled into her place but not for long because we went to go meet up with my sister Linda and her boyfriend Andrew who were already out and about in San Fran. Marie had lots of wedding stuff to do so she dropped us off near where they were.

Joshua and I met up with Linda and Andrew in the Haight/Ashbury area aka the hippie joint. It started raining pretty hard (good thing I put my fleece jacket back on) so we ducked into the first bar we saw before heading to the destination bar that Andrew and Linda wanted to go to.

Interesting bar...Magnolia Pub and Brewery. As soon as I looked at their beer board, I knew what I wanted. Cole Porter...it was a delicious porter. For those that live in the Madison area, it was very similar to Lake Louie's Tommy's Porter. Joshua tried a Winter Warmer which was a Scotch Ale. Not bad but not my style of beer.

It was about dinnertime but we weren't starving so we nibbled on some apps. An assortment of cheese, proscitto and trotter tots (which I thought were going to be tater tots and I still have no idea what it was we ate) with some bread.

We hung out long enough for the boys to grab another beer then off we went as the rain had let up.

We walked along Haight Street and could not get the boys to stop drooling. There were 'specialty' smoke shops everywhere and it was determined that Joshua would find a shop that sold the actual stuff. He actually got the address off of someone who worked at one of the smoke shops and as we walked to the next bar, he was surveying the stores and shops in hopes of finding it.

We arrived at the Toronado Pub and Joshua was sad he had passed his shop. Well, that sadness ended soon as we had a nice pick of beers to enjoy. After drinking the porter and eating, not to mention eating right after we got into San Fran, I was starting to get full so I chose a lighter beer, if you even call it a beer. Two Rivers Pomegranate Cider. It was interesting and I would stick with my Woodchuck Amber from now on, no more pomegranate in my cider. Joshua chose a Russian River Pliny the Elder, an Imperial IPA.

Drinking Pomegranate Cider at Toronado

The impressive list of beers on tap

Chimay and Lindemans are just as expensive as in Madison

Joshua's Pliny the Elder beer

After the boys had a few, they decided to look for Joshua's shop. I guess they found it and Andrew took a picture of Joshua in front of the store. I guess they couldn't go in because they didn't have a prescription.

It was definitely weird in Toronado but pretty cool. They had bumper stickers from all over. We saw a Lakefront Brewery (located in Milwaukee) and a I closed Wolski's (also in Milwaukee). I guess home is always close even when you are far away from it. Linda and I kept seeing people leaving and coming back with food. I was so confused. But I figured it was a bar that only had beer (no liquor or food).

Linda and I were getting pretty hungry so we left to look for the food that people kept bringing in. We found two, one right next to the bar and the other on the other side of the bar. We decided to get pizza instead of sausage dogs. Mythic Pizza reminded me of Ian's in Madison but whereas Ian's has weird pizza combinations, this place had normal toppings but huge slices.

We brought the pizza back and by now, the boys are pretty out of it. Good grief, we were only gone for 10 minutes! What happened? I don't even want to know. By the time we left, they were both acting goofy. And of course, we had to endure this the whole 40 minutes or so of taking public transit back to Marie's place.

What a great first night!

Linda and Andrew (and the half door behind them)

The sisters somewhat buzzed

The not so buzzed boys

The Toronado Bar and Mythic Pizza

The boys being goofy while waiting for the bus

Semester One...Done!

First semester back to school went really, really well! But I'm glad it's over. All my exams were today so that was a lot of fun prepping for this day. And since fall semester is done, that only means one thing. Tonight, we drive to Milwaukee to drop off all the kids (Bella, Teddy and Boxer) and then tomorrow, it's off to San Francisco we go! FOR ONE WEEK! One week of no work, no studying and no classes! Time to kick up my feet and relax!

I looked up my grades a few days later and kicked butt!