WWQP Bulletin Board Chat

checking in from Fla.

People who know we went to San Francisco keep asking me if I liked the trip--well, yes and no.  Going away for a vacation, even a short one, is fun.  But flying from the east coast to the west coast of USA with the time zone changes in 5 days is a bit much.  Thankfully the media group paid for most of everything.  We stayed at a luxury hotel right on Union Square, the Westin St. Francis.  The group that put the tour together met us at the airport the early morning we left, had us check in on the computer, and our boarding passes were printed right there.  We didn't have to take off our shoes, as the group went through the pre-screened area.  We went to wine country in Napa Valley the Wed. we were there.  (bus with driver provided) There were about 12 of us from Jacksonville,, and we met up with about 12 more from the Orlando area there.  If I were a wine snob, and really liked red wines it would have been so wonderful.  Alas, red wine, even the expensive ones give me a headache.  So the tour was beautiful, gentle rolling hills.  The 2nd winery had a beautiful picnic lunch for us, white table clothes, they had a special gluten free sandwich for me.  :).  Beautiful rose bushes and all.  The cave where the wine was stored was interesting.  A "wine blending" hour or so, where we were divided  into tables of 8, mixed wines, etc.  I let DH do it, I took pictures.  Again Merlot and etc.  The people who really enjoyed the reds loved it.  They could tell the differences in the types, etc.  I smiled.  On Thurs we went to Alcatraz prison.  Ferry ride out to the island, and headphones to hear the tour, (there were about 12 languages to chose from)  I would say "interesting" and I'm glad we did  it.  That night a fancy dinner - now I usually have dinner at night between 6-7 PM.  On west coast time 7 pm is 10 pm for my body.  There was much wine flowing, again all reds. :(.  The steak was good, it was on Washington  Square where we watched the little Chinese ladies do Tai Chi in the park.  OK, know this is too long.
We paid for a separate  trip to Muir Woods with a small company on Fri.  S.F. is a small, compact city, so over the Golden Gate Bridge, to that area is about 1 & 1/2 hr. drive.  Multi-million dollar houses in the woods, the island of  Sausalito was pretty.  We had about 1 hr. to eat a quick lunch, look in shop windows.  They were having their version of a "heat wave".  About 85.  Beautiful place.   The tour driver said S.F. and area is the 3rd most expensive place in U.S. to live.  I believe him.
The bad part was coming home---leaving there at 11:00 AM west coast time.  Fly to Atlanta, quickly run to the "plane train" to go to another gate way away.  pack in like sardines on both returning flights.  Arrive back at 10PM our time, drive home -
Sunday pick up dogs, who were traumatizes by being left for so long.  The dog place I took them had a doggy door, which they learned to use, but there were too many dogs there (16) and poor Polly was a mess for 2 days after.  She would go to our back door and sit and look.  That and the real estate people coming in almost every other day is getting too much for her.
I had a head injury on Wed. hit my forehead hard on bike rack in garage.  Ice, Tylenol,   3 days of lying around on the couch.  Now my neck is stiff, so probably a minor whiplash.
(The best part of S.F. trip was going to fabric store)  Off union square , next to the fancy Chanel, Jimmy Choo's   shoes, etc. is Britix Fabric, went there once to look around, went back and bought 2 yards of "San Francisco" fabric.  I'll either make place mats or a travel bag, maybe both.
Getting late.
More Tylenol before bed, etc.  Good to go, better to be home and sleep in my own bed.
Sara in Fla.

posted by Sara in Florida @ 9:11 PM