I'm back from the warm

I'm back from the warm and sunny San Francisco to the cold and sunny Austin (I know, that sounds weird). So what was I doing in SF? Well, let me begin with last Thursday...

After we got home after the Tempest on Thursday and Jennifer headed straight for the bed, I told her that we still had chores to do and that she needed to pack for a trip. A trip? Well, I didn't elaborate on the destination and insisted she take a passport (a misdirection), but pack we did. The next morning we dropped off Homer at Meredith's and I drove us to the airport. We checked in for a flight to San Jose - Jennifer wasn't all that impresses, but a trip is a trip - and made it past the national guardsmen to the airplane for an uneventful flight to California.

On the tarmac in San Jose Jennifer asked just how far San Jose was from San Francisco. Not far, I replied and told her more about our plans. We picked up our rental, and Dollar upgraded us to a Jeep Wrangler for no additional fee. The weather was absolutely stunning, blue sky and hot, so we immediately took down the top and headed out to San Francisco taking route 9 for the scenic trip over the mountains. It probably took us three hours to get to SF, and we drove on HWY 1, saw the Seal Rock, drove through the Presidio and, after figuring out the bizarre numbering scheme on streets off of Market, we arrived and checked in at Hotel Triton, on Bush and Grant, just across from the entrance gate to Chinatown.

For that evening, I had arranged for us to meet with my friend Meg and some other people for dinner. They took us to Suriya for some excellent Thai food. After dinner with Meg, Jody, Martin, Brad, and Andy and wife, we drove back to our hotel to crash.

Next morning, still as glorious as the one before, we walked through Chinatown, took a cable car to Fisherman's Wharf and walked to Pier 39. There we admired the sea lions for a while and checked out some of the stores. On the way back to Fisherman's Wharf we rented some bicycles and headed for the Golden Gate Bridge. Along the way there, we had to struggle up two very steep hills while more expert cyclists were zooming past us effortlessly. We also saw this artist who was balancing rocks on the beach - quite stunning, really.

We crossed the Golden Gate Bridge on our bicycles, stopping at several places along the bridge. In the very middle of the bridge, I asked Jennifer if she would marry my and she said YES! (Here's a a look at us on the very spot). So I continued from the bridge, with my fiancee :-), to Sausalito from which we took a ferry back to San Francisco where we dropped off our bikes.

Back to the hotel and off to our dinner at La Villa Poppi. The tiny place (20 people max) was very nice and the food with matched wine was delicious, but we were too tired to really appreciate all two and a half hours of it. Still, a memorable dinner.

On Sunday we missed getting to church on time, so we drove down Lombard Street and up Telegraph Hill to see the Coit Tower and enjoyed the view from up there. Afterwards we went over to Jody's house to meet up with her, Meg and Nina and Sonia for our trip to Muir Woods.

We drove to Muir Woods in Meg's van. Once there, we took the 1.5 hr loop walk (which took us a bit longer ;-). Muir Woods is a forest of beautiful redwoods and it's not to be missed if you're in the area. One could spend the whole day on trails in and around the park. After Muir Woods, we went back into the city where Meg dropped us off at our car. We then raced up to Twin Peaks where we just managed to catch a great sunset.

After that, it was down to Haight and Ashbury where we finished off the day with a pizza at North Beach Pizza. Then it was back to the hotel.

On our last day we went by Union Square, which is currently a construction site, and by Nordstrom and its circular escalator. We then checked out of the hotel and drove through the Golden Gate Park to HW 1. There we watched surfers for a little while before saying a wistful goodbye to San Francisco and heading back home.

Overall, the weekend was a smashing success. The weather couldn't have been better, the entire time was relaxing and we are now engaged! Take a look at some of the 100+ pictures we took.