SUMMARY

San Fran is ocean water, beautiful weather, really big trees (like BIG), the best wine vineyards, lots of people, amazing food and simple syrup. I believe I am in heaven.. You could literally visit a hundred times and never do the same thing twice. You could probably live here and never run out of things to do.

Nights in Cali definitely get brisk, so at all times you pretty much need to have something to put on or take off because the temperature fluctuates that much. Think high 60's or low 70's in the day, and high 40's or low 50's at night. Its actually pretty perfect.

FRESNO STATE BULLDOGS (Fresno)

People everywhere! Walking around the stadium means walking up and down huge inclines. The entire stadium was a "black out" which means all the fans show up wearing black.

They had this cute bulldog as their mascot. I guess they don't live that long which is sad. Bulldogs have a lot of genetic defects that make it tough for them. The good news is this bulldog is supported by a football team, so I'm sure he's living better than a lot of people do!

RAIDERS vs. EAGLES (Oakland)

You think of a black hole as something in outer space that you'd like to avoid (complete destruction, super big, nothing escapes, etc). Well, same theory applies to the black hole at the Raiders stadium. Its a group of crazy mob people that are really big home team fans that you don't want to mess with.

I'm not an Eagles fan (thanks mostly to Vick, the worst person on the planet.... OK maybe not the entire planet, but definitely in a large geographical area), however it felt weird to route against Philly. Eventually Philly totally killed the Raiders and I just had to route for them, however quietly. Quietly because the Raiders fans are all dressed in skulls, those bandanna things and face paint like death and they do not seem thrilled to be losing.

They even had this really tall guy dressed up like Beetle Juice in all black. Even the girls looked like tough mobsters. Probably not the right day to wear pink, but hey, it was cold and it was not Eagles green!

MICHAEL restaurant Top 100

We got lobster pot pie, and they gave you grilled cheese with tomato soup while you waited for your entrée. This is not your mama's grilled cheese, this was TO DIE FOR.

It was my first experience with simple sugar too. I asked for sugar and he handed me a syrup holder. Assuming it must be sugar, I decided to dump it in my iced tea. Thank goodness I was right. I am still working on the whole drink-to-syrup ratio thing.

BOAT RIDE (San Fransisco)

This is pretty much the only way to get on the water because you can't swim. The waters are shark infested and its just too cold anyway.

I was taking pictures with one hand (super cool angles from under the Golden Gate bridge) and holding hot chocolate in the other. I was deeply concentrating on getting some good pictures, and almost completely missed a giant wave that would have likely sent me flying. Thank goodness Greg was there....

SEGWAY TOUR (San Francisco) Electric Tour Company

We were in front on the tour, probably because we were the experienced ones. I also like to think it was because we were the most photogenic. Whether or not that is true, well, it is, hehe. Its a good thing we did this in TX before getting to San Fran, because doing a Segway your first time here would be VERY intimidating.

We went down SF's windiest road (see facebook pics!) on those Segways. You look down, and you can't even see the bottom of the road because its that windy. It was cold, and my hands were sweating. I was so nervous that someone asked me if I was okay, and I just completely ignored them. Mostly because I was scared of imminent death by Segway. They must've asked me a second time, and finally it registered that I should say something, so I said yes ... or I think so.. or something like that. Whatever came out, I was still in "Oh my God the road is a giant cliff" mode.

Unfortunately for the group (and for me), I was in front and had to lead to the way. So, everyone followed me down the hill at an incredibly slow pace. Tourists were laughing, probably at us, and taking pictures of us too. Not sure if it was because they thought the Segways were cool, or because we looked ridiculous going down the hill at snails pace.

We also saw the statue of the pyromaniac fire lady, and so many incredible views of SF. This tour is an absolute must!

We learned that September and October are the warmest months in SF, so all you future travelers, definitely the best times for a visit!

Our tour guides name was Brandon. He was joking around on the way back and said that if we had a good time, make sure to mention him. If we didn't have a good time, then his name was John.

As we were leaving, I yelled "thanks John!" and got some funny looks. It turns out that it took a few people awhile to get my joke. Greg says these are the best kind of jokes... probably true. I can't help but wonder if the tour guide ever did get that joke. Maybe one day he woke up and it finally dawned on him....

BOULEVARD (San Fransisco) Top 100

Parking, just go with valet, its worth it! You will need a tour guide to find the restrooms. (like 5 turns and an elevator).

This is where I decided to dump the whole simple syrup into my tea. The waiter looked at me and said "I can see you are serious about sweet tea." Is there any other way???

NOAH'S NEW YORK BAGELS & STARBUCKS (Foster City)

Its breakfast and latte HEAVEN and they are right next to each other! Hello pumpkin bagels and pumpkin lattes!

Every time I went to Starbucks I had to listen to Greg making fun of everyone there. I wonder if its because we are all lunatics addicted to caffeine?

SHARKS, SAP Center

The Sharks game was actually one of the most fun games we went to. It was just SO suspenseful! The game was close the entire time, and everyone was really into it.

It was actually kind of surprising, hockey sometimes isn't the most popular of sports when there are millions of other things to do however the fans had tons of spirit! Which of course, is completely contagious.

The game went into overtime, and sadly the Sharks lost. Take aways are they should have just sent the visiting team players off for "swim" in the ocean. That would have solved their problem (the waters are "shark" infested..haha! cheesy, I know..) Oh, and their Zamboni has shark fins on it!

ROBERT MANDAVI VINEYARD (Napa Valley)

Hello yummy wine! This vineyard is one of the oldest. The views were beautiful, its incredibly scenic. Somethings about this place feels like you are escaping the world. And no, that is not the wine talking.

So, there is a difference between a tour and tasting. Although they have tastings ON the tours too. I think part of me was expecting to just drink wine the whole time. At some point when our tour guide was talking about grapes and leaves and soil and growing seasons I had nightmare flashbacks of being back in high school and listening to my teachers drone on (*sigh*). Also, he felt the need to insult prior people on his tours that asked about earth quakes in California. Like this is a totally foreign idea. As we stand not that far away from a big volcano.

Somehow, this guy has only experienced one earthquake in his many years... yet last time we were in CA there was an earthquake, and when we got home, Greg saw on the news SF had another one. I think the tour guide has been sipping too much of the product, if you know what I mean.

Anyway, he was obsessed with this wine. I believe the term is "wine snob". There were two other pairs on the tour that had these intelligent questions and made these intelligent sounding comments regarding the flavors of the wine. It takes like "oak" or something... what the heck does oak taste like? I just thought it tasted fruity... meanwhile Greg was like "it tastes good" and chugs the glass.

The good news is, we did learn how to detect corked wine, how and why to "smell" wine and how to taste it (sip it, wait 45 seconds, then sip again. And yes, it works). The best part of the process was watching Greg swirl and sniff wine, I never thought I would see the day.

MUSTARD'S GRILL (Yountville) Top 100

Get the crab cakes. Oh my LORD, TRUST ME AND ORDER THE CRAB CAKES. They are the best ever, Greg ordered them and I wish I had! I got the risotto, which was also awesome, however the crab cakes reached an insanely high level of awesomeness which was previously unachieved.

OH, and we learned that "simple syrup" is 1 part sugar to 1 part water. Sugar water, YUM.

GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE

We took the scenic route and drove across the bridge on the way back. Its not as long as the Oakland Bay Bridge. Check it off the bucket list!

STANFORD STADIUM

Most of the time I think I'm pretty smart (this is the part where Greg references the time I wanted to stop the car and stand next to the tornado..). For the sake of being insanely mature, I'm just going to stick my tongue out and move on.

So, I'm thinking I'm pretty smart, and then I get to Stanford and realize these people are like protégées. They are just little computer brains running around. Nerd nation fits them, and they totally embrace it. I kind of like it too.

We took a tour of the campus, and its absolutely beautiful. Amazing architecture, cool history, national political leaders as teachers (Condoleezza Rice.. etc), beautiful trees..

The game was fun, they totally killed the other team. The guy next to me was mocking the crowd, then his team started getting crushed. Then he smelled way to much like alcohol. Then people made fun of him, and he left early.

Nerd nation = Fear the Tree! Only in Standford would this make sense.

OAKLAND ZOO

Its smaller however still worth a visit!

FLOWER AND WATER RESTAURANT (San Fransisco) Top 100

This place is so awesome that a line of people wait outside 45 minutes before they even open their doors. And its is not that warm to be standing outside at 5pm!

We decided to get the tasting menu because when else are we going to taste so many different things at an amazing restaurant?

It was nice to do it once and I'm glad I did. I just had a hard time with certain things. Like lambs tongue or duck... or veal... or anything else like that. I just kept picturing the cute lamb at the zoo, or the ducks in Flying hills.

There was this pumpkin/sweet potato pasta that was absolutely to-die-for. The saddest part of the whole thing was knowing I'd likely never get to eat it again! They change their menu around pretty often based off of what is available in their local markets.

The cool thing is they are one of those restaurants that believes in using all parts of animals they cook and not wasting anything. Admirable, its true. However... there is no way I'm eating a lamb's tongue.

That being said, if you could stomach what you were eating, Greg said it was incredible. Everything that I could eat was incredible too, so its definitely worth checking out.

Reservations are made months in advance, however they reserve 1/2 of their tables for walk ins. The only way to get a table is to get there insanely early. Don't show up at 5pm, or you will leave very late and end up at a drive through.

CALIFORNIA MEMORIAL STADIUM

thoughts coming soon...

ZUNI CAFE

The food was amazing. We had a good time too, except for the part where I somehow managed to project a glass of water from our table onto the guy at the table next to us (oops). Thank goodness he was pretty nice about it.

49er's CANDLESTICK PARK

This stadium has the most beautifully amazing views of any stadium I've ever seen. I can't believe they would actually build a stadium somewhere else. Its way to gorgeous, can't they build next to it?? 360 degrees of breath taking views of the water, mountains and the city. It doesn't get any better.

The views make up for the lack of inside to the stadium. The walkways are TINY. I am shorter than most people so I can usually weave a crowd pretty well, but when I'm with Greg that doesn't work so good.

Our seats were not the greatest, and the guy next to me was chewing and spitting tobacco (ugh, I hate to even think about how gross this was). However, besides that the game was very cool.

Farewell Candlestick park, we will visit the 49'ers in their new stadium!!!

FINAL THOUGHTS

Amazing food, tons of restaurants in the Top 100 . Crazy food too - lobster pot pie, who knew??

SF is a slightly chilly, windy version of the perfect place to live. Oh, and shark-invested-waters version of it.

Wine country makes me happy. Napa Valley is just peaceful in a well known to the world yet still kind of secluded type of way.

People here are probably the perfect blend of Texas and the North East. Not too overly friendly in that they drive you crazy, but also not too cold and impatient and sometimes just rude like us NE'ers.

If you need further proof, try walking in front of a moving vehicle in Philly - even if its a crosswalk - and not ending up in the hospital. Also, try driving your motorcycle down the middle of two lanes in Philly and not getting smooshed (chances are they will intentionally smoosh you just to teach you a lesson). In Cali, its totally normal.