We headed off to San Francisco on October 3rd for Mike to attend deCarta Developers Conference 2006. We got in mid afternoon on Tuesday and took a cab over to the Hilton in the Financial District at the base of China Town. The hotel was so new half the cab drivers didn't know about it! After getting settled in I headed for the Fitness Center for my Tuesday workout and then we went to the Conference Reception there in the hotel. Wednesday and Thursday morning Mike was off to the Conference for the day and I was off wandering after my morning workout in the Fitness Center. After a 20 minute walk there was a new Wesfield Shopping Center in town to check out where I bought a rain coat (predictions of rain - and protection for my camera) and then took the Trolley up to Ghiradelli Square. The crystal shop where we bought my Mother's hummingbird was still there all these years later. The biggest mill building was under rennovation for individual shops instead of big open floors so there was less potential shopping. After leaving Ghiradelli with only a little chocolate sample I wandered down Fishersman Warf taking pictures as I went. Ended up with lunch at Tarantinos which was a wonderful seafood chowder. Headed on down the Embarcadaro and had originally planned to walk all the way back to the Hotel. (Yeah Right). However once past Fishermans Warf walking became a necessity for quite a while until I finally found a free cab. Wednesday it rained so it was a Mall Walking Day and I roamed about the big new department store and bought some odds and ends along the way. Found a jacket for Brittany but decided to wait until I got back to Charlotte and have her go try it on. Surprise: She liked it!.

Friday morning after exercise and breakfast we headed out for wine country. Our bed and breakfast was in a little town called Willitts in the north middle section of Wine Country. We were an hour from the Coast through the redwoods to a small town called Ft. Bragg (CA not NC). Disappointed that we couldn't see the coast. Once owned by Georgia Pacific RR to transport lumber it is still private property though not used. Shame to tie up so much coast line for something no longer in use. The drive through the redwoods was spectacular though.

Saturday morning we headed inland over to Clear Lake and then down toward Sonoma and Napa. The drive was gorgeous, the weather was perfect. We stopped at a few wineries along the way and did a little bit of tasting. As most of the wineries in this area are Reds we didn't do a lot of sampling as we stuck to white wines as I am so allergic to the Reds. It was a beautiful drive on a beautiful day.

Sunday morning we started off bright and early in the dark and fog to head back to San Francisco Airport. We couldn't, for once, print out boarding passes ahead of time and had luggage to check (all those Estee Lauder creams and Redkin shampoos). Our plane change was through St. Louis and onto a much smaller, one step up, from a puddle jumper! We arrived home late Sunday night exhausted after the long day of traveling but also after a wonderful and relaxing trip.

From The Back of the Trolly Car headed Toward Ghiradelli Square

Alcatraz Island