California Dreamin'

Exactly one month after visiting California for the Robinson / Liu wedding, David and I were back in the Golden State.  David was attending Dreamforce in San Francisco, so I flew in on Thursday after work to meet him for the weekend.

The entire city was over-run with Dreamforce participants.  More than 100,000 people came into San Fran for the massive Salesforce conference.  It was so large this year that most hotels were completely sold out or had quadrupled their nightly rates to cash in on the crowds.  To combat the lodging issues, Salesforce partnered with Celebrity Cruises to dock a cruise ship at Pier 27 for conference attendees’ accommodations. 

It was insanely crowded everywhere we went.  I love San Francisco, and have fond memories of visiting with David shortly after we got married.  Aside from our honeymoon, it was our first vacation together as a married couple.  That being said, I will never visit during Dreamforce again.  David will be on his own.

We stayed in the heart of the city, at the Westin St Francis in Union Square.  The St Francis is a historic hotel that’s hosted presidents, actors and actresses, and even Queen Elizabeth.  After I arrived on Thursday night, David and I met up with one of his colleagues at the hotel’s Clock Bar.  I ordered the fruity Shirley cocktail, named after Shirley Temple, who stayed at the St Francis in the 1930s.  After just that one drink, it was off to bed as I needed to be up at 5:00 on Friday morning to prep for a meeting.

While David attended the last day of Dreamforce, I worked from the hotel.  We met up for lunch at Marlowe to commemorate National Cheeseburger Day with one of the city’s best cheeseburgers.  The Marlowe burger is topped with cheddar, caramelized onions, bacon, and horseradish aioli.  The flavors were very good, and very rich.  So rich, in fact, that we didn’t eat anything else for the rest of the day. 

After finishing up our work, we walked down to the Embarcadero via Market Street.  We strolled through the Ferry Building, perusing the various shops and restaurants, before heading to Pier 39 to see the famous sea lions.  We watched them swim around the pier, and were entertained by their constant arguing over prime sleeping spots on the docks.  I could’ve watched them all day, but the smell eventually drove us away!

On Saturday we visited Muir Woods.  Last time we were in San Francisco, we took a couple of day trips to wine country and Yosemite, so we didn’t have time to do Alcatraz or Muir Woods.  On this vacation, we made time to do both.

We arrived early Saturday morning to avoid the crowds, and be able to hike comfortably before the day got too warm.  The woods were beautiful, and the trees provided so much shade from the sun, that we stayed cool the entire time.  

Muir Woods is a vast redwood forest purchased in the early 1900s by William and Elizabeth Kent, and later donated to the government to protect it from destruction.  The Kents named the woods after their friend and conservationist, John Muir.

Coastal redwoods are the tallest trees in the world.  The tallest recorded tree to-date was discovered just within the last decade and measures 379 feet … the same height as a 37 story building.

David and I hiked along the paved pathways for a couple of hours, admiring the stunning scenery.

Before we headed back to the city, we had lunch at the Muir Woods Trading Company.  This small gift shop and café were recently featured on the Food Network’s ‘The Best Thing I Ever Ate.’  Chef Tyler Florence claims the rustic grilled cheese and organic tomato soup at the Trading Co. is the best grilled cheese / tomato soup combo anywhere in the world.  So of course, we tried it for ourselves.   Under the canopy of trees, with the weather a bit chilly, this was the perfect lunch to warm us up.  The sandwich, made with triple-cream Brie cheese was melty, crunchy, and chewy all at the same time.  The soup was the perfect accompaniment.

Once we crossed back over the Golden Gate Bridge, we met up with my cousin, Jenelle.  She’s lived in San Francisco for years, and loves it.  We were able to spend a couple of hours with her, seeing her place and then heading to a nearby bar to watch the UT vs California football game (David and I were definitely the only Longhorn fans in the bar).

Comparing this photo to our blog profile picture, we haven't aged a day! ;)

Later that evening, we met up with Connor Jay and Kenia.  Connor Jay and David have known each other since high school, and the couple visited us in London a few years ago.  We had dinner at Stone’s Throw, near crooked Lombard Street, an American restaurant featuring sharing plates like Puffed Potato and Egg with cauliflower mousse, chives, and crispy chicken skin.  We all shared the Summer Squash and Heirloom Tomato Salad to start, as well as the Puffed Potato, and then Connor and I both ordered the Brentwood Corn Ravioli with ricotta, mushrooms, and truffles.  For dessert, the four of us split the Peanut Butter and Jelly donuts. 

Before we met up with Jenelle and then Connor Jay and Kenia for dinner, we had to stop by Ghirardelli for a couple of famous hot fudge sundaes!

We still had a lot of catching up to do, and David and I wanted to give Connor Jay and Kenia more advice for their upcoming trip to Tanzania, so we headed back to the Union Square area to Hotel Zelos and their rooftop bar, Dirty Habit.

Sunday morning, we boarded a ferry and headed out to Alcatraz Island to tour the infamous prison.  We spent enough time on the Rock to learn about the daily lives of the criminals locked up, the many attempted escapes, and only two successful ones.

Alcatraz was also home to the West Coast’s first fort and lighthouse, was occupied by Indians of All Tribes for a year and a half, and hosts many protected seabirds.  It was nesting season while we were there, so there were a ton of ‘off-limit’ signs to protect the island’s habitat.

One of the most interesting parts of the tour was visiting the isolation wing of the penitentiary.  A guide explained to us that extremely dangerous prisoners were kept in this cell block, and the vilest were confined to the cells at the end.  Those cells had double-doors, meaning no light or sound could get into the empty, concrete chamber.  The prisoners were stripped and because of this, could not lie down to sleep on the floors.  If they did, they risked catching hypothermia from the cold, bare floor.  So they learned how to sleep standing up.  The guide locked David and me inside a pitch-black cell for all of one minute, so we could try and experience what it would have been like for those prisoners confined to the worst isolation.  It was unnerving, but we reminded ourselves that only the worst of the worst were sent to Alcatraz, prisoners that could not function at other federal penitentiaries.  And the worst of the worst of those were the ones that ended up in isolation.

After escaping The Rock, we met up with Connor Jay and Kenia again for lunch in the Marina.  We picked up a few gigantic Italian sandwiches from Lucca Deli on Chestnut, a neighbourhood favourite since 1929.  Then we walked to the Palace of Fine Arts for a picnic on the picturesque grounds.  Once we were finished chowing down, we headed to the airport to fly back home. 

David is traveling so much this Fall for work, that this was just the first of many trips I will be tagging along on.  San Francisco was so fun that it made me look forward to our other weekends away even more!

West Coast Wedding

Back in August, Eric and Jess (who you may remember from our Chicago blog a few years ago) got married in LA!  David was honored to be chosen as one of Eric’s groomsman, and we were both excited to spend a long weekend on the West Coast. 

As we began planning our trip, we decided to head to California early to celebrate our seven-year wedding anniversary in Santa Barbara.  We flew out on Wednesday after work, and got into LAX late that night.  We set off for Santa Barbara after a brief mishap at the rental car office …

We have been traveling so much lately that I just assumed I had booked a rental car for LA.  I had it on my to-do list along with booking a car for our trip in October to Jackson Hole.  I even remembered getting a confirmation email from Alamo with the great price of $13/day plus taxes and fees.  Well … turns out I must have dreamed up that entire scenario in my head because we showed up to Alamo around midnight and they had no reservation in their system for us.  Nor did I have the confirmation email I could have sworn I’d read a few days earlier.  Apparently I’d lost my marbles and hadn’t booked any car for LA!  David was shocked, as that is so unlike me.  

That was an expensive mistake.  

After paying full price for a last-minute vehicle (thank goodness they still had cars available!), David decided he would be the one driving to Santa Barbara that night while I ‘rested’ in the passenger seat.

Santa Barbara was beautiful!  The weather was gorgeous, the food delicious, and the scenery of the mountains against the ocean stunning.  It lived up to its nickname of the American Riviera.  David and I stayed at Hotel Milo across the street from the beach.

 
We woke up early Thursday to have breakfast at D’Angelo’s a few blocks away, behind the historic train station.  David enjoyed his eggs ‘Rose’ with Kalamata olive toast and Mediterranean artichoke spread while I devoured a ham and cheese croissant and fresh-squeezed orange juice.  From there, we walked back to the marina.  (This was my first week in the boot after I broke my foot, but I was determined to not be an invalid and walk everywhere.)  

At the marina, we boarded a whale-watching cruise in the hopes of finding a humpback.  The humpbacks migrate down the coast in the late summer, but the captain warned us that it was still early in the season so we may not get too much action.  

 
So imagine our surprise when we found a whale just a mile or so from shore!  We had only been on the boat for about an hour before we found that first humpback, and from there, we saw four more!  It was amazing how the whales, dolphins, birds, and sea lions all worked together to corral the huge schools of fish beneath the surface for lunch.

I have never seen so many dolphins before in my life!  They absolutely loved playing in the waves made by our boat and would quickly swim over any time we revved the engine and gained speed.   

 

The baby dolphins were so tiny and cute!

The sea lions were curious, and would come up to the boat to observe us.  

Usually humpbacks are a bit shy, but we were incredibly lucky to find a couple that stayed with us the entire morning and swam back and forth under the boat to entertain us.

 

They got so close to the boat throughout the morning that it almost looks as if the girls up front could high-five the tail!  And when they breathed, the water pushed through their blow holes sprayed everyone on deck!   

One of the whales had stark white pectoral fins, which made them look like they were glowing underwater.  He was easy to spot, and one of the more playful whales.

We didn’t see a full breach, although we did see plenty of the humpbacks as they ate and played.  It was a really remarkable, once-in-a-lifetime experience and a perfect anniversary gift to ourselves considering how much we love the ocean and marine life!

 

We had lunch at Brophy Brothers in the marina.  It was a great recommendation given to us by the Watsons, who got married in Santa Barbara.  I had the scampi and chips with creamy coleslaw and a local rose wine, while David had a local wine with his shark burger.

That evening, we went to Bouchon for our anniversary dinner.  This small French restaurant is just off of State Street, the main tree-lined avenue in Santa Barbara.  We split a bottle of wine and toasted to seven years while indulging in an organic mixed greens salad with goat cheese, fresh blackberries, almonds, and blackberry vinaigrette and venison medallions with white bean puree, braised black kale, and pancetta.

Before heading back to LA on Friday for Jess’s and Eric’s rehearsal dinner, we ate breakfast at Jeannine’s in the Arcadia on the recommendation of Jill and Noah, who loved the place the last time they were in Santa Barbara.  

Then we drove to the Santa Barbara Mission for a history lesson.

When I was a little girl, I loved the book Island of the Blue Dolphins.  It was an adventurous read, and helped cultivate my love of dolphins.  In the graveyard at the Santa Barbara Mission, there is a headstone for a woman named Juana Maria.  I flipped open my guidebook to discover that Maria was the Native American woman who inspired one of my favorite childhood books!  Her tribe abandoned the island of San Nicolas, in the Channel Islands off the coast of Santa Barbara, in 1835.  For some unknown reason, Maria was accidentally left behind.  Eighteen years later, a fur trapper discovered the island’s sole inhabitant and brought her to the Mission.  She lived on the mainland for only seven weeks before passing away from illness.

After soaking in a bit of culture and a lot of fun out on the ocean, we headed back down the coast to Los Angeles.  We took the Pacific Coast Highway back, as it was a beautiful, sunny day and we had time to enjoy the scenery with a more leisurely drive.

We checked into our hotel, the Sheraton Universal, and immediately headed down the road to the LA Equestrian Center so David could take part in the wedding rehearsal.  

The Sheraton was hosting The Young and the Restless convention that same weekend.  All of the stars from the hit soap opera were there, including 'Stitch,' who we met at the bar after the wedding on Saturday night.   

After ensuring the bridal party was ready to go for the big day, we had a great dinner at Pickwick Gardens across the street.  It was so nice seeing Eric’s family again.  It’d be years, since our last trip to Maine, that we’d seen them.  And it was lovely meeting Jess’s family.  Jess is so fun, and now we know she gets her great attitude from her parents and the rest of her extended family.

Jeff and Jacque flew into California on Friday night, but they stayed in Brentwood so we planned to meet up with them the next morning before David started his wedding party responsibilities (which for guys is really just getting dressed and taking pictures … nothing compared to the ladies’ schedule).  So on Saturday morning, we met for brunch at Square One Dining.  

Thrillist had recommended the restaurant as one of the great breakfast spots of LA.  It was very, very good and also kind of strange, considering that Square One is positioned directly across the street from the Scientology headquarters.  The massive, ridiculously blue building loomed over us as we ate.

The food was really yummy.  David ordered a healthy fresh fruit bowl, while I went for the pancakes with bacon caramel sauce.  The reviews raved about this signature dish, so I had to try it!  It was incredibly indulgent, but I didn’t eat it all myself – I made sure to share with the rest of the family.  To balance out the sweetness of my meal, we also ordered a side of the cheesy bacon grits.  

Once we finished eating, we dropped David and Chris (another high school friend whose wedding we attended in Chicago a few years ago) off at Eric’s rental home in the Hollywood Hills to start primping for the wedding.

Jeff, Jacque, and I decided to spend the afternoon at the La Brea Tar Pits and LA Natural History Museum.  I think I may have visited the tar pits when I was a kid staying with my grandparents in California, but that was so long ago, that I couldn’t remember.  

We walked through the park, viewing the various pits before coming to the huge lake filled with hot, bubbling tar.  It’s amazing how many animals the scientists have found beneath the sticky surface.  Did you know that LA was once home to thousands of woolly mammoths, saber-toothed tigers, and American lions?  American lions look almost identical to the African lions we see today, according to the museum’s replicas.

 

The Urban Light Fixture outside the LA Museum of Art 

After walking through the museum and back through the park, we all needed a cold treat, so we stopped for ice cream at Sweet Rose Creamery.  The creamery specializes in all-natural cream and ingredients sourced from the nearby Santa Monica Farmer’s Market. Full of ice cream, we headed back to the hotel to get ready for the wedding!  

The ceremony was so nice, and a true testament to the couple’s style.  The reception was held on the equestrian grounds as well, and featured a great band, lots of dancing, eating, drinking, and being merry!

About halfway through dinner, David went to the bar to grab a drink.  A couple minutes later, he came running back to the table asking, ‘Guess who I found at the bar?!’  I had no idea what he was talking about, so I spun around in my seat to find Ross standing there!

Ross and Amy had been invited to the wedding also, of course, as they were neighbors of Eric’s in Boston and the Houses and Robinsons have been family friends for years.  But they sadly declined, as they weren’t able to make it … or so we thought!  As luck would have it, Ross just happened to have a last-minute work trip to LA come up so he crashed the wedding!  (Although technically, he was invited, so I guess he didn’t really ‘crash’ the event.)

Jess and Eric had some really fun touches at their wedding, like a donut machine and a photo booth.  We ended up camping out next to the donut machine for most of the night, and when Ross realized that I still had my boot on (even though I was trying to be sneaky by hiding it under my long dress), he declared, ‘Das Boot in Das Booth!’ and we made our way to the photo booth to take some goofy family photos.

It was a TASIS high school reunion with Eric, his sister, and their good friends.

After partying the night away, we spent Sunday before our flight at the Liu’s open house for brunch, and then soaking up the sun at Manhattan Beach.

It was a weekend of celebrations – from our anniversary in Santa Barbara to the Robinson/Liu wedding in LA.  Congrats to the happy couple!  We can’t wait to see you again soon!