San Francisco and A Bike Trip: The Biking Trip Part I

Monday February 27

It was a rainy morning in San Francisco. I finished Rossi’s sweater. It came out cute and she enjoyed wearing it. We tried to take her for a walk when the rain let up for a minute but it started raining again so we had to cut it short.

Daniel drove us to the rental car place at 11. It was pouring, but it stopped just long enough for us to get our rental car. Whew! We headed north on 101 to San Rafael. We ate lunch at a Peruvian place called Sol Kitchen. Their specialty was roasted chicken and it was delicious! Instead of fries I tried their plantains. I got both the garlic and the sweet ones. I liked the sweet ones better. I got a cafe con leche too, which was fabulous!

Sol Kitchen Lunch

Then we drove the rest of the way to Healdsberg. Such a cute little town in the Russian River Valley. We stopped at Getaway Adventures to check in and get oriented. So far I am not impressed, although my bike is nice. They are kind of freewheeling, which some people might enjoy but I like structure, especially when I’m biking around an unfamiliar area. He showed us in a general sense where to go and suggested some wineries. We had trouble getting the directions into Google maps, but finally got that figured out. 

Tomorrow morning is probably going to be rainy so we’re not planning on starting until the rain lets up around noon. Unclear if we will eat lunch along the way or before. They gave us water bottles for tomorrow but no snacks. And their itinerary says we have a guide the first day but there was no mention of that today. 

I know I need an attitude adjustment. I wasn’t in charge of organizing this, so I really should try to chill. Maybe after tomorrow I will have a completely different feeling about it. I hope so.

After that we checked into our b&b, The River Belle, right on the Russian River. It’s nice. Our room has a beautiful view, even if it’s small. Breakfast is included but the earliest we can get coffee is 7 am. Ugh. Maybe I’ll sleep til 6. We can hope!

Tuesday February 28

The b&b has a happy hour every afternoon at 5:30, so before dinner we went to that for a bit. There was a nice plate of snacks and I had a small glass of wine.

Then we walked the 1/2 mile to dinner at Lo and Behold Kitchen and Wine Bar. They have an eclectic menu. We got a few small plates and then split an order of their noodles with kimchi. The hostess here at the b&b recommended it. Sounds weird but it was really good! The noodles were perfect, the kimchi was fresh and tangy and the water chestnuts added a nice crunch. We got their eggs rolls and a pea shoot salad for the small plates and they were very good too.

In the morning I almost made it to 6, 5:45 anyway. Then I patiently waited until they brought coffee to our room at 7. At 8 we went downstairs for breakfast which was delicious. It was raining off and on, but Lee looked at the radar and said we’d have a window with less rain between 10 and 1 so around 9:30 we went over to the bike shop, got on our bikes, and off we went.

First we stopped at Oakville Grocery and got sandwiches and other snacks for lunch. Then we rode about 12 miles up Dry Creek West to Bella Winery. It was a very pretty drive, but hardly flat, as the bike tour said! I guess maybe by local standards it was flat, I don’t know. It rained off and on, briefly fairly hard, but never a real downpour.

We reached the winery around 11. They let us sit inside their wine cave and eat our lunch and then we did a leisurely wine tasting, about 8 wines. I bought 2 bottles. All day it rained, off and on. By 1:30 we were ready to head back into town. We could have gone a different way but we were wet and kind of cold and didn’t want to risk getting lost, so we just rode back the way we came.

We stopped in town for a coffee and then went back to the b&b. A hot shower felt really great!  Now we’re relaxing until it’s time for happy hour and then dinner with George and Lori.

Wednesday March 1

At happy hour yesterday we chatted with a couple from Europe that were also doing a bike tour but they were going from one place to another, spending each night in a different inn. That would be fun too, more like what we did in Italy.

We met George and Lori at Sweet T’s in Windsor, a little town about 10 minutes away. It was still raining when we got there. It was so nice to visit and catch up. The restaurant is known for their bbq.  Got a small plate with smoked brisket and Mac and cheese. Very good. I didn’t have any alcohol, I had enough thank you! But that meant I got to drive back to the b&b. It was dark but at least the rain had stopped. It’s getting harder and harder to drive at night. Sigh.

This morning I managed to sleep til almost 6. The coffee came at 7 and I had an energy bar too. Then we went to breakfast at 8 and I had a Belgian waffle. 

We waited to get started riding til almost 10. It was pretty cold, but sunny and bright! And windy. Like really really windy. The wind was out of the north and all morning we rode straight into it. It was very tiring. I felt like an old woman. It was a beautiful route, not very hilly, with lots of flowers and snow capped peaks in the distance. 

By the time we got to Geyserville for lunch I was hungry and worn out. We got a pizza and a beet salad and then I felt much better!

It was about 15 miles to Geyserville but only 10 miles back and we were riding with the wind. It probably took half as long! We got ourselves another coffee and then headed back to the b&b to rest.

View From Our B&B Window

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!