Trip to San Francisco to sail...

Last weekend I took a day off work and made a three day weekend trip to San Francisco to do some sailing. The plan was to sail up the delta and over night Friday and Saturday on my brothers boat. We had it all planned, distance and marina lined up, weather was to be great. Then the wind... Yes we wanted wind to sail, but we ended up with to much. 20 to 30 knots of wind, way to much to have a comfortable sail and spend nice nights on the boat.

Friday we decided to wait till Saturday since the wind was to die down. Friday ended up being a road trip to the Napa valley and a stop at Rombaour Winery, private tasting and tour by the owner's son and a 30 year old bottle to take as a gift. Lunch at a new restaurant in Napa and a nice drive up and down the vine covered valley. Friday night we went into the city for dinner, an Asian place on Clement was the stop, then we went to an old watering hole, Trader Sam's on Geary. Lots of memories in that place.

Saturday turned out to be too windy as well, still in the 20's wind speed. A short trip to Tomales Bay for oysters was decided and off we went. First we ordered 12 smalls at the Tomales Oyster Company, ate those way to fast on the spot. Then we got a 50 count bag, eat as much as possible then take the rest home. We sat down and went at them, about an hour later we had gone through about half the bag. These were big ones and I was way to full after all those plump oysters. We got in the car and headed to Stinson Beach, stopped for a coffee and relaxed for a few minutes, then continued back. When we got to my brothers, we BBQed about 15 more oysters and ate those, plus we made dinner on top of that. Again way to full...

Sunday turned out to be OK for wind, it was still windy but we were going to go out anyway. About 15 knots of wind and out we went, sailed around for about an hour and a half or so, it was nice and we had full. Put the boat to bed and clean up, then we slowly headed to Oakland and the airport. One final stop at the Saki brewery for tasting and to the airport. It was a very good weekend though we sailed very little.

Next time we will not go crazy with oysters and we will sail more. I could have gone back into the city, I love it there and I can always find many things to do and see.I am hoping I can do another sail this summer, but actually sail more than the few hours we sailed. I just love to sail in the bay and the surrounding area has so much to offer it is hard to choose an activity.

Drive to the beach...

So I went on a little drive to the coast, two hours or so in the car and winding road through the trees. Destination was Pacific City, a little coast town in northern Oregon. The plan was to find a condo and take some picture, but after the drive out we couldn't find the condo. So a stop at a coffee cart and a quick talk gave us the location. Back up the road and we found the place, a quick few pictures and a look at the beach.

Then back in the car and two hours back. This was a kind of work trip so it wasn't really a fun day. Well at least we had sushi for dinner.

Holiday weekend

On a nice Friday afternoon, my brother and two girls flew in for a holiday trip up to the Seattle area. The plan was to spend the night in Portland and then head out Saturday morning. After getting everyone at the airport, we headed out for a BBQ and a relaxing night. Before the BBQ started, we had a chance to relax and play around. Roller skates, big beach balls and other forms of play were involved.

But the BBQ was calling so we started to cook a varied selection of vegetables and thick steaks, plus a nice fillet of Salmon. First artichokes and asparagus went on, followed by par cooked potatoes, then the steak and finally the fish. Bread and cheese filled the time before the food was cooked. After a good dinner, we decided to drive down for desert. We piled into the car and headed off to a place on 23rd ave. A few slices of cake and we were heading back, to large of a crowd, but it was fun. The cake was good and we all were tired after so off to bed.

The next morning off.. Well no, we had to make breakfast and have a run before heading out, finally we were off only about 4 hours behind schedule. Once on the road it should be a nice easy drive, well an accident slowed us down, crawled along for 45 minutes. Finally got some open road and off we went. A beautiful day and the mountains still had a lot of snow. After about 3 hours we arrived and it was time to really relax...

Canoe was calling, BBQ was calling, the golf cart was calling... So much to do and we did it all.
Cooking, eating and just hanging out was the order of the day.