I've been putting off doing my post about our trip to San Francisco because it's one of those things that seemed such a daunting task, I wanted to give it the proper time and energy to give justice to just how fantastic of an experience it really was. I still haven't had the time to put the thought and organization to this that it deserves, but these have been the craziest two weeks and I fear that if I don't just go ahead and share, I might never get around to it!
Under the guise of a work trip for RRO, Anthony and I hopped on our first together plane ride to spend 5 days in beautiful San Francisco. Anthony's boss Travis and his wife Kristi joined us and we happily gave them sole custody of the hotel room as we had the opportunity to stay with some locals, Ant's good buddy Brett and his girlfriend Kelsie.
It was such an amazing trip. For both of us, it was our first visit to the West Coast and San Fran is such a unique place where we got to experience so much in such a short time.
The work portion of the trip was actually really fun. The guys had a quick meeting or two a few of the mornings, then the big event was the Oysterfest event at Waterbar on Saturday afternoon which was incredible!
We spent an awesome day in Napa, or as I like to call it, my mothership. We were touristy and strolled on the Golden Gate bridge, we ate great food and drank lots of fantastic wine, we visited Hog Island Oysters which was such a cool experience, I dipped my toes in the Pacific Ocean for the first time, we trudged up and down the steep hills for which the city is so well known, we bundled up in Northfaces and Patagonias to weather the chilling late August evenings for which the city is also so famous, and to end the trip, we shucked a WHOLE. LOT. OF. OYSTERS.
Anthony and Travis had great contacts there, and at both Waterbar and Hog Island were given the VIP treatment with complimentary food and drinks sent out, as well as behind the scenes time with owners and head chefs. Kristi and I give them a hard time for thinking they're such "ballers" as they like to say, but we'll admit we were prety impressed : )
Napa:
We started at Cakebread Cellars which was lovely but pretty corporate and other than the fact that we were in Napa, nothing about it made it a unique tasting experience. We lunched at Rutherford Grill which was amazing and we'd do that again in a heartbeat. The next stop was Rombauer, which seemed all too appropriate as it was the same day Anthony's Uncle Meatball passed away, and Rombauer Chardonnay was in fact, his absolute favorite wine that he bought by the case. This fact, in addition to the gorgeous scenery at the winery made this a great stop for us. The final winery stop was at Vincent Arroyo, a small winery off the beaten path that Krisi requested we visit, as it's a favorite of her brother's. This was hands down the most memorable stop of the day. We were given lots of individual attention, tours of the grounds, at least 8 diferent wines to try (free of charge I might add), and our tasting guy was just a great time.
Hog Island:
On the way out to Hog Island, we stopped to be touristy at the Golden Gate Bridge. Pictures weren't awesome the because the ever present "marine layer"( San Fran code for fog) was heavy, as it always was before 11 am and after 6 pm, but it was still incredible.
By the time we got to Hog Island things cleared up and it was beautiful out. We were shown around by one of the owners, Terri, who then sent out drinks and snacks for us which we enjoyed on one of the picnic tables (which people book MONTHS in advance!) over looking Tomales Bay.
Leaving Hog Island, we drove back south, stopping at Stinson Beach to check out the Pacific. It was so strange to be on a beach in late August and not see one person in a bathing suit!
From there, we took the Pacific Coastal Highway back to San Fran. After about 5 minutes of that drive, the novelty wore off and it was all I could do to not get carsick. ha You're so high up and looking down at the rocky shore below, it's twisty and turny and you don't have guardrails for most of the drive. ugh. Getting queasy thinking about it. hah Beautiful though!
We had great dinners out with Brett and Kelsie, who unfortunately had to work the whole time we were there, but Saturday we all got to spend some time together at the Oysterfest.
Held at Waterbar overlooking the Bay, this 3rd annual event sold out weeks in advance and featured wine and food vendors, mostly local, except for good 'ole RRO representing the East Coast : ) The event was packed and we all shucked our little hearts out for the 3 hours that it lasted.
That evening, Waterbar hosted a dinner for the Oysterfest participants, an amazing family style dinner where the staff of Waterbar just made the 4 of us East Coasters feel like rockstars. There was always someone pouring us more wine, bringing us more food, doing public thank you's and mentioning us all by name, it was very cool.
Not a bad view either : )
Perhaps the craziest moment of the entire trip occurred on the way back East, upon arriving in the Atlanta airport. We landed and made our way to our departure gate for Richmond, with only about 15 minutes between the flights. When we reached our gate I decided to run to the restroom really quick before boarding and came back minutes later to find Anthony talking to.... BEN! Ant's brother Ben has been in Thailand for the past year, and was coming home for a month's visit in late September but made a split second decision to come home early to attend Uncle Meatball's funeral. He'd only told his parents he was coming home so imagine how FLOORED Anthony (and I!) were to be standing in Atlanta talking to his brother in person for the first time in a year. It was crazy and we were practically speechless with surprise.
Great end to a fantastic trip!
Thanks RRO for the awesome opportunity and HUGE THANKS to Brett and Kelsie for their amazing hospitality during our stay!
