California Winter 2025 - Part II - Where We Go to San Francisco for the Weekend

San Francisco Sunset

Sunday March 2

Well the restaurant last night was great. The Morris, near the Mission on Mariposa. Highly recommend! We had a variety of small plates and they were all good, although I wasn’t crazy about the duck pate, Lee liked it. We got radishes with an anchovy dip, a little gems salad, a citrus/halibut cerveche, mushroom profiteroles, and a tortellini main. I also ordered the donuts with whiskey anglaise for dessert and managed to eat 3 of them, leaving 2 for Lee to eat for breakfast. The portions were all very manageable, so we were satiated without being uncomfortably stuffed.

In the morning I am still waking up at 5, but it’s ok. I had a room Keurig coffee and Lee bought fruit and croissants yesterday so I had 1/2 a banana and a croissant. When room service opened I ordered a latte, delivered by a robot. The robot was adorable! It squeaked at me when I said thank you, lol.

We had reservations at Yang Sing for dim sum at 10:30. We walked there, about a mile and a half. We met Daniel, Kelsey and Emi there. They came into the city to hang with us for the day. Their friend Joss joined us as well. Dim Sum was good. I was very hungry so I needed some dumplings and Lee and Dan knew better than to give me free rein because I would order anything that came by! I did manage to control myself and save myself for the things I really love. I got egg tarts, yay! Emi liked the egg rolls and the soup dumplings. She didn’t like the bbq pork buns. I was surprised, cause they’re sweet. Maybe she’s more of a savory girl, because she didn’t like the crust of the egg tart either. Or maybe she was just getting full!

Afterwards we walked over to the Salesforce Garden, the Highline-like place on top of the bus terminal. We walked around the loop, stopping at a little playground for a while so Emi could play. Then we walked  back to Luma, stopping to get a coffee and say goodbye to the others. It was nice to see Joss, and we’ll see Daniel, Kelsey and Emi again tomorrow.

Emi at the Salesforce Playground

Monday March 3

We Ubered to Hog Island Sunday evening for oysters. We got a citrus salad and the halibut entree too. It was fine, not incredible, but decent.

This morning I ran along the Embarcadero. It started out pretty chilly, 41F, so I wore light gloves, my vest and a headband. It started warming up though and I shed the gloves and headband pretty quickly. Nice run, a little faster than usual. The Embarcadero is one of my favorite places on earth to run!

Then after a shower it was time to walk to brunch. We tried a place called Town’s End Brunch. I got the french toast and it was excellent! I ate it all! Lee got a burger and said it was meh.

We’ll head back to Los Altos around noon. Tomorrow we get to bbsit for Emi!

Along the Embarcadero

Meeting Emi - California February and March 2024 Part I

Saturday February 17

On Friday, February 16th, we flew from Minneapolis to San Francisco. Our flight was supposed to leave at 6:15 pm. It’s always a little riskier flying later in the day; this United flight was a cheaper option so we decided to take the chance. Was what happened worth $200? Probably but it’s a close call!

Right as we get to the airport we find out our flight is delayed. Sigh. Now it’s supposed to leave at 7:20 PM. Oh well. The delay is due to runway construction in San Francisco. Oh yeah, I remember hearing something about that.

We go hang out at a restaurant, have a drink and a burger. Lee forgot to bring a ball cap so we meander through some stores but he doesn’t want one with a blatant Minnesota theme so pretty soon we’re on our way to the gate.

We are delayed further. Our estimated departure time is now 7:48 PM. Ugh. We text Dan and tell him we’ll take an Uber from the airport. No need for them to stay up so late.

United got hit hard by the 737 Max fiasco, so they’ve had to pull those planes and are using small regional jets instead until Boeing can guarantee the safety of the larger jets. Smaller planes get less priority for landing at SFO’s congested runways, so we keep getting bumped. Soon our estimated departure time is 8:15 PM. (The reason I remember all these delayed departure times is that United helpfully sent us a text every time our flight was delayed again. Very nice, in a depressing sort of way!)

We finally board. But wait! We’re not finished with this delay stuff yet. The captain tells us that our route has changed so we need more fuel. The fuel guys are asleep or something and it takes forever for them to finally come and service us. THEN we have to be de-iced. But why, it’s not snowing or raining, but it is pretty cold. No other planes are being de-iced. Lee was so irritated by this that he looked it up. The big planes have heaters on their wings and don’t need to be de-iced as frequently. No such luck for little planes. I guess better safe than sorry.

Finally we’re on our way. A darling family with 3 little girls and a mom and dad occupy the seats behind us and across the aisle. The little girls (8,6 and 4 years old is my guess) have never been on a plane before and are VERY excited. They make the experience of taking off fun, since I found myself seeing it through their eyes and reminiscing about my first flight, way back in the early 60’s.

The flight itself wasn’t too bad, at least at first. I slept a lot in the first 2 hours. Then things got bumpy, I mean REALLY bumpy. Not so bad that we couldn’t stay in our seats, but kind of amusement ride-like. As we descended into San Francisco, it was pretty bad. The dad, and two of the little girls got airsick. We were surrounded by vomiting and crying as we landed. A perfect ending! But I felt sorry for that family. The mom kept telling the little girls that flying wasn’t normally like this! I hope they don’t have trouble getting those kids back on an airplane to fly back to Minneapolis. And I hope they all take some dramamine before they do!

The rest of the night was uneventful, thank goodness. We got our checked bag in record time and had no trouble getting an Uber to Palo Alto (a Tesla, that was cool). We were at their house by midnight. Of course Rossi barked when we arrived but only Kelsey woke up. I think she’s a pretty light sleeper, kind of like me. 

Before too long we were in bed. Both Lee and I managed to sleep a decent amount, 6:30 am  for me, 7:00 am for Lee. It’s nice to be here and see how much Emi has changed in a month. She’s got smiling down, that’s for sure!

Note: Dan and Kelsey don't want pictures that show Emi's face on social media so I will only use pictures that don't show her image. Sorry!

San Francisco and a Bike Trip 2023

Tuesday February 21

We’re not leaving until Thursday, that is IF our flight doesn’t get canceled, and our plane can get here. There’s a huge snow storm, beginning this afternoon, and not ending until sometime on Thursday. Hopefully Thursday morning. We could get upwards of 20 inches which is a LOT of snow for Minnesota. We’ve already gotten over 50” this winter. Nothing to rival 2015 in New Hampshire, but that’s OK! I don’t want to ever experience something like that again!

Right now the weather in California doesn’t look great either. Cold and rainy. Darn it! I think next year we’re going to go to San Diego. And maybe a short trip to Austin too. 

I bought clipless pedals for my bike, and shoes to match. It's on the trainer, so I can spend the next couple of months getting used to them so I won’t kill myself when I go outside.  So far I have no trouble clipping out, but clipping in is a challenge cause I have no idea where on my shoe the cleat is! Once I find the cleat it goes in easily but I need to figure out how to find it. 

I’ve started Sophie’s Universe, a massive, complex crochet afghan. Its beautiful and I’ve been eyeing it for at least a year now. I’m really enjoying the pattern. I hate to have to leave it behind when we go to Cally, but even though right now it's small enough, it's just too complicated to bring along on a trip! The instructions are a BOOK. So instead I’m making a few dog sweaters. Sophie (the new puppy) will need a few in different sizes. I made her one but I think it's a little big, so I’m going to make her another that is smaller. And one for Rossi too.

 

Friday February 24 San Francisco 

Well we made it! We were so very lucky. The giant snowstorm started Tuesday night. We got 3.5 inches, not too bad, but there was a lot more coming. It started up again Wednesday afternoon and all we could do was watch the weather, keep checking the airport and our flights, and keep our fingers crossed. About 350 flights were cancelled out of MSP on Wednesday, but our plane was staying out west and made it to San Francisco Wednesday night. It wasn’t supposed to fly to MSP and land until after 1 so hopefully it would be ok. 

There was a lot more snow Thursday morning, and it was still snowing. At 7 we had another 9.5 inches. We probably got another inch or two after that for a total close to 15. That’s the most snow we’ve seen since we moved here. Nothing will ever match 2015 in New Hampshire, but that’s ok by me!

Lee plowed the driveway. I dug the path in the backyard for the dogs. I fed the birds one more time. They’ve been being little pigs! At 11 I loaded up the truck and took the dogs over to Rita, our dog sitter. She lives right around the corner but when I got there her long driveway wasn’t plowed! So I drove on to the next side street, pulled over and called her. “I’m so sorry! My husband works for Delta and because of the snowstorm they won’t let him come home so we couldn’t plow the driveway!” We agreed that she and her daughter would tromp out to the end of their drive and grab the dogs and their supplies there. They had to carry both dogs; that snow was WAY over their heads!

Off we went to the airport. The roads were ok, not great, not terrible. We parked in Park n Ride, an economical alternative to airport parking or Uber. Their parking lot was cleared, barely. It was a little dicey finding a spot for the truck but we did. Everyone on the shuttle was a little giddy at our good luck. The airport had just opened back up.

I’ve never seen an airport so empty, except in the middle of the night. It certainly made things easy to navigate. Our plane arrived without incident, we boarded, and off we went, us and the St. Thomas baseball team, off to play a series of games in Sacramento.

It’s rainy and chilly in San Francisco but we don’t care. We ate Fresh Green salads for dinner with Dan and Kelsey and chatted until Lee and I couldn’t keep our eyes open anymore. We made it to 9 pm, which was our goal. Of course here I am up bright and early as usual. I made it to 5:30, more or less. Maybe I’ll go run in their fitness center in a bit. It’s pretty wet out there right now.

It stopped raining so I went for a run outside. It was nice, low 40’s, sunny. We went to Japantown and had ramen for lunch. I was stuffed. We bought cream puffs to have for a snack later. We took Rossi for a nice long walk. She was very happy! She kept checking to make sure all her people were still coming.

I got a Blue Bottle coffee at the end of our walk and took it back to the apartment to drink with my cream puff. We sat around the rest of the afternoon. I crocheted and played around with my iPad but I was so tired . I finally laid down for a nap at around 3:45 and Lee had to wake me up at 5:15! Yikes.

We went to a Jazz Club for dinner. Mr. Tipple’s. It was great! They had a  really good female singer. We had cocktails and ordered dim sum. I was able to just eat a little, have a Manhattan, and enjoy the music. It was a perfect way to end the day.

Saturday February 25

Sunny and cool. No running, just some PT exercises. Around 11 we walked very to the ferry building to the farmer’s market. We got lunch from the Mexican place and brought it back to the apartment to eat. We watched Mizzou play Georgia, and beat them.  Just enjoying their sunny apartment  and hanging out. This evening we’re going to a Vietnamese restaurant in Sunset that is famous for its garlic noodles and roasted clams. ThanhLong. 

Sunday February 26

ThanhLong was good but imo not great. It’s out in Sunset, so a fairly long drive for us, through downtown, through Golden Gate park, almost to the ocean. I like that drive though, the houses and apartments are so interesting to look at. This really is an amazing city. Sure it has problems with housing and homelessness, but it has also managed to preserve some beautiful and unique living spaces. I hope they find a solution that doesn’t destroy that.

When we got there we discovered that they no longer had valet parking. Trying to park in San Francisco is sometimes a real challenge and if we had known we might have taken Uber instead. But Dan found a spot not too far away. Lucky! 

ThanhLong is famous for their garlic noodles, and their noodles are great.  They are also famous for their roast clam. Daniel ordered a clam and shared some of it with Lee and I. It was ok, not amazing, but I almost always think clam is more work than it’s worth. I got prawns with my noodles. They again were ok. I thought they were a little tough. That’s it.

We decided to go get ice cream after. We went to a place called Hometown Creamery. https://www.sfhometowncreamery.com/flagship It was really good! I got the bread pudding ice cream. Wonderful.

This morning I went for a run. I headed toward Oracle Park, as far as Crane Cove Park and back, about 5 miles. It was 45F, but no wind, and even thought it was cloudy it felt a lot warmer than Friday. I ended up removing layers, taking off my buff, my ear warmer, my gloves. Good thing I had spacious pockets!

California 2022 - San Francisco Part I

We flew to San Francisco on Thursday February 24th. We dropped the dogs off at Rita’s  (our dog sitter) in the morning, and then took an Uber to the airport. Their care has gotten so complicated as they’ve aged! I had to write out the instructions for their food and medications and she was a little intimidated. But it’s like anything, you do it for a couple days and then it becomes second nature.

We got to the airport pretty early. We really liked our Uber driver. He was smart and interesting and we enjoyed talking to him. The flight was long but uneventful. I spent most of the time watching episodes of Call the Midwife and reading my New Yorkers. I’m impatiently waiting for the next set of instructions to drop online for the afghan I’m making but it hasn’t happened yet.

Dan picked us up at the airport in San Francisco. It’s sunny, but chilly for the next few days, 40’s and 50’s. That first night it was windy too. 

We got to see their new apartment. It’s so pretty and a great design with a lot of nice touches. The fridge is large and built in so it looks like just another cabinet. It has a big island and the living room is roomy, with floor to ceiling windows on two sides.  They have automated shades that startle me every time they go up or down. The guest room is small but they are going to get it redesigned so that the closet is smaller and then it will have more space. It’s in a new building, on the 19th floor, with beautiful views. The only thing is, the building kind of pops and creaks now and then, which is kind of unsettling. It doesn’t sway at least! They are on the 19th floor.

We walked over to the ferry building for a coffee at Blue Bottle. Later we drove over to the Mission for dinner at a Mexican restaurant. It was very good, but Dan accidentally chose a vegan restaurant! Vegan Mexican, a new concept, at least to us. We didn’t care, it was delicious.

You have to show proof of vaccination to eat in restaurants in San Francisco. I used the Docket app on my phone and it worked great. It’s only available for some states. I’m glad MN has implemented it, it’s very handy.

Friday February 25th.

I wake up early, my body is still on Central Time. No matter, I hadn’t run in 2 days so I decided to go ahead and do my 6 miler today. I wore my normal running outfit for 40 degree weather, but added a running jacket because it was in the low 40’s to start, and windy. The sun was just coming up over the Bay Bridge. I ran to the big hill just past Fisherman’s Wharf, where you can first see the Golden Gate bridge and then turned around and came back. I took my jacket off on the way back.

We decided to do part of the cross city hiking trail today. It was lots of fun! We did Section 2, that started at the Glen Park Bart Station and ended at the Forest Hills Muni station. It went about 3 miles, going from one green space hiking trail to the next, skirting Twin Peaks, with nice views and woodland trails.

We brought Rossi with us. She had never been on Bart before and she was pretty alarmed by the experience. She loved the hike, however. She’s only a year old and has lots of energy, but Dan said it was the longest hike she has been on, so far.

We found out that fares for seniors on Bart and the muni are super cheap, so Lee and I both got Clipper cards (free for seniors) and put $10 on each one. That was way more than we needed but we’ll leave them for Dan and Kelsey to use for their guests, or we can use them the next time we’re in town.

Dan downloaded the map and I had the written instructions which were very clear and easy to follow. It’s the kind of thing I love, like deciphering a puzzle while walking.

When we got to Forest Hills we were all hungry. There was a highly recommended burger place right there so we sat outside in the sunshine and ate hamburgers, and then rode the muni back to the Embarcadero.

We were going to dinner that night with Kelsey’s parents and I realized that my plan to wear a skirt and sandals was highly impractical in 40 degree weather, so I stopped at a Walgreens on the way back to the apartment and got myself some black tights to wear with the skirt. I always seem to have trouble planning for the weather in California!

For dinner we went to a Peruvian restaurant overlooking the bay called La Mar. Turns out Peruvian food is highly influenced by Japan and Mexico, so it was their take on nigiri, ceviche, empanadas and other delicious stuff. Dan and Kelsey ordered us lots of small plates and everything was great. I especially liked their empanadas, made with mushrooms, corn, steak or chicken.

We went back to the apartment after and sat around and talked for awhile. By the time we went to bed it was long after 10 pm. I was really tired and slept right through to 4 am, and then dozed until 5:45.

Saturday February 26

I was tired after running and hiking and walking around a lot yesterday. I did some PT exercises in the morning but that was it. We went to the farmer’s market at the ferry building for breakfast. I got empanada’s (the one's last night were so good!) and everyone else went to the Mexican place. The empanadas were yummy but then I kind of wished I had gotten the Mexican breakfasts instead. 

We went back to the apartment to chill for awhile and listen to the news. It’s all about Ukraine, so very sad. Kelsey went to get the first fitting for her wedding dress. I've seen a picture now. So pretty! I’m starting to get excited. Lee, Dan and I went to get oysters for a late lunch. 

That evening we went to Belota, the Spanish place we tried to go to last year when we didn’t want to sit inside. It was so delicious! We got different tapas and a half chicken, half pork paella. My favorite tapa was the Brussels sprouts that were crunchy and very flavorful. Lee liked the lamb meatballs with lentils best. We also got potatoes, anchovies, and accidentally got a beet dish we didn’t order but since we didn’t have to pay for it nbd.

Sunday February 27

I ran 4 miles in the morning. It was warmer, and very sunny. Then we went to Hong Kong Lounge for dim sum. It was right at 10 when they opened and there was no line, which seemed strange, but it was still as great as always so who knows. By the time we left there was a line. Maybe it was just early for a Sunday.

In the afternoon we went to an exhibit at the Asian Art Museum. It was an interactive art/video/3D exhibit by a group from Tokyo called teamlab. The exhibit was titled Continuity. We got there a little early so first we went into an interactive area where you could decorate an outline of a fish any way you desired. Then they scanned it and it was entered into the exhibit. The fish first "swam" around in the room where they were decorated and then later some of them would appear in the main exhibit. This sounds strange but it was very neat. I decorated a squid with one of my abstract doodle designs. It came out looking like one of Picasso’s ladies, totally by accident!.

Then we entered the exhibit. Beautiful colorful birds, flowers, and fish move on the walls  and floors. You could interact with it. The schools of fish would divide when they encountered you. It you touched a flower the petals might fall, or a butterfly appear.

There was one room that was vertigo inducing. You had to wait in line to get into the room, and then sit down to watch it. It was hard to describe except I kept thinking of LSD experiences in my past, so you get the picture! 

Lee made chicken a La Becca for dinner. Why is this dish called by this name? I thought you'd never ask. When Sarah was very small her friend Becca and her sister Stephanie came to spend the night. Lee made this chicken dish for dinner. Chicken roasted in a tomato sauce and served with lots of french bread to soak of the gravy. When Becca got home she asked her mom and dad, "Why don't YOU ever make something this good?!" And so the name. And yes, it was delicious.

California Part II - San Francisco

Thursday April 8th.

On the way back to San Francisco we stopped in Bakersfield. This was a little out of the way, but they have a max vaccination site that said they had extra vaccines and were accepting walk ins so we decided to see if Daniel and Kelsey could get vaccinated there. Lee and I took care of Rossy while they tried their luck. It worked! They got their first Pfizer shot. I am so happy for them. Soon our whole pod will be vaccinated, except for the little kids, and maybe there will be a shot available for them by this summer.

While we were waiting we sat outside at a nearby Starbucks and talked to one of the volunteers. The reason they have so many extra vaccines is that there is a lot of vaccine hesitancy among the local population. A lot of Latinos, a lot of migrants, a lot of poverty. It’s too bad, because they are among the people that need it most, with crowded living conditions and unsafe work environments. The volunteer said she has been trying to convince her 80 year old mother to get the shot, without any luck so far.

Finally Bakersfield started advertising their extra vaccines on the news and the internet and now people are going there from all over Southern California to get vaccinated. That’s great but they really need to work on educating the local population so that they won’t be afraid and will get vaccinated too. That’s how we will finally beat this thing.

It was a long drive back to San Francisco, but we finally got here around 6. Carryout Chinese for dinner, and I slept through the night, never waking until almost 5:30. I got up to pee and went back to bed and slept until 6:30!

I did my tempo run today, 5 miles with a 1 mile warmup and 1 mile cool down. It went very well, all at pace, but the warmup and cool down were too fast. I need to cut that out because it’s going to hurt me down the line. But the tempo part felt really good. We’ll see how it goes next week when I’m up to 8 miles.

Saturday April 10th

Yesterday I ran 5 miles easy, all too fast. We got very good sushi for lunch, and later walked over to the Giants stadium. They were playing the home opener. Usually there are free seats where you can wander into the stadium and watch the game for awhile, but they are closed right now because of Covid. Oh well. We stopped at an open air bar to get drinks. I got a Manhattan, pretty good. 

We tried to go out to eat at a place that’s known for their paella. Unfortunately we wanted an outside table and there were none to be had. We ordered some very good Indian food for carry out instead.  No biggie.

This morning I ran 6 miles, and finally ran it slow enough. I went south this time along the Embarcadero, past Giants Stadium, through a bayside park. There’s a lot of construction going on, and when I got to Crane Cove Park it was blocked off at the far end so I turned around.

We met Daniel and Kelsey’s friends, Natasha and Shyam, and walked over to the Farmer’s Market. San Francisco has seemed fairly quiet until now, but the farmer's market was hopping. Everyone was wearing their masks but there were a lot of people out. It was sunny, a beautiful day. I got a very messy grilled cheese sandwich that included sausage and a fried egg. Lee got Turkish dumplings, Daniel got a grilled cheese with avocado and Kimchee, Kelsey got a beef wrap. After that we went to an outdoor wine bar and shared a carafe of Rosè and some olives and burrata. 

That evening we drove to Burlingame and had dinner with Kelsey’s parents. We met at a great Italian restaurant, sat outside. Her mother is fully vaccinated, her dad has had his first shot. We are getting there! We had a really nice time, talking and eating. We have known OF each other for a long time, but this is the first time we have actually met. We got along great. It will be fun to plan a wedding with them, when the time comes.

Sunday April 11th

I ran 10 miles this morning at a long run pace, which is a little faster than an easy run. It took me a couple miles to settle down and then I aimed for around 12:50 mpm and stayed pretty close to that for the rest of the run.

We went on an expedition for lunch. Daniel, Lee and I got bahn mi sandwiches from a little restaurant in Sunset. I got a bubble tea, just because I’d never had one before and I was curious. The milk tea part was good, and the bubbles were novel. They are basically tapioca. They are slightly sweet and chewy, and they give you a wide straw with which to suck them up. After awhile I got tired of them, however. I’ve tried them now and that’s enough.

We’ve been lazy all afternoon. Lee and Dan are making pizza for dinner and tomorrow we head home. It’s been a great visit. We’ve had beautiful weather, great food. The weather in Minneapolis is rainy and chilly. We might even get snow showers on Monday? But I miss our dogs, and the kids. I’m ready to go home.