Vacation Month Begins

So as a treat to myself for surviving open heart surgery, I figured a little vacation was in order. Well not really a little, vacation, but rather a big one.  I had scheduled vacation in January and because I was out sick the entire month, my union contract allows me to defer it until I come back to work.  So I was able to move it to the first two weeks of March.  This was perfect timing because it coincided with Ladyfriend's spring break.  Our plan was to head to San Francisco for a few days of sightseeing.  Ladyfriend had never visited San Francisco before so she was excited about a new adventure.  Flat Stanley would also come along as well as you will see.  After that, I would head off to Southeast Asia to see my friends in Singapore.

I had won a drawing at work for 25,000 frequent flier miles, so I cashed those in so Kirsten would have a seat instead of trying our luck at non-revenue travel for her.

We booked a quaint little boutique hotel called the Kensington Park Hotel right in the heart of Union Square.  The location was perfect and right in the heart of everything downtown.

We would end up having three days to play in the city and a day of touring outside the city in the Muir Woods and Sonoma.

The first day we bit off a little more than we could chew walking wise.  Being the good Presbyterians that we are, we paid a visit to Old First Presbyterian Church, the oldest Protestant congregation in California.  After that, we planned to join one of the free walking tours around Haight-Ashbury, but I got the times mixed up and we were an hour off, so we missed it.  So we just kept on walking, and walking and walking, up and down every blasted hill in the city.

One of the highlights of the visit was Grace Cathedral.  I have visited this amazing Episcopalian church numerous times.  We attended a Eucharist service there.

One of the temporary installations at the cathedral is the piece entitled "Graced by Light".  It's thousands of multicolored streamers that hang from the rafters of the church.  The members of the congregation wrote their prayers on the streamers and as you can see, it is beautiful the way the light catches the color in this holy place.  There is a labyrinth that sits right underneath the streamers, so everything combined makes for a rather intense spiritual experience.

Afterwards, we headed to the Mark Hopkins hotel for cocktails at Top of the Mark.  This was something I always wanted to do and the prices for drinks were just as high as the bar, but the views of the city were amazing.

We also enjoyed people and dog watching at Huntington Park.  On a Sunday, the park is teeming with canines and the owners and dogs all seem to know each other.  It was fun watching them interact.

And what kind of visit would San Francisco be without a trip to Fisherman's Wharf? The forecast had called for rain that day, but the rain moved thru in the early morning and we enjoyed a beautiful day.

We took a boat out to Alcatraz for a tour of the prison.  Stanley got a little out of hand and had to be temporarily detained until he saw the error of his ways.

We spent a lot of time walking around the wharf area enjoying the beautiful weather.

One of the coolest things to do at Pier 39 is watch the sea lions sunning themselves.

Our last stop at the Wharf was Scoma's, which is one of my favorite seafood restaurants ever!  We had a very amiable waiter and enjoyed a leisurely late lunch and some Anchor Steam beers.

We spent our last full day on vacation outside the city with a day trip to the Muir Woods.  It's across the Golden Gate Bridge in Marin, and covers an area of 554 acres of protected California Redwoods.

Our next stop was Sausalito, where upon the recommendation of our driver Jackie, we enjoyed delicious hamburgers and marvelous views of the bay and made a new seagull friend (whom Kirsten named Eric).

We wrapped up the day in Sonoma visiting two vineyards.  The Jacuzzi vineyards (the family also invented the method for hot tubs, no joke) which is a mass production winery, and the Roche Winery, a small boutique vineyard that only sells thru their shop.  We enjoyed a wonderful afternoon tasting delicious vine!

The next day, bright and early, we made our way back to SFO and caught a flight home.  We hadn't been on a long trip like that since I took Kirsten on a layover to Santiago, so it was a much needed vacation.