Woods & Waterbar

Dear Reader!

We are on the road again!!!!  Bob & Boda Bing! & the Barbs & my Mrs (who as yet does not have a reportable nickname :) --

We are in California.  Staying at the Hyatt Regency out at the SF airport -- and it's nice.  We decided it is likely to be the nicest place we stay -- Bing said "it's all downhill from here."  But four nights there, so...

I'm going to try to keep these shorter than in the past, for various reasons (one MIGHT be my advanced years and inability to stay awake late enough to do more).

I was going to start in chronological order, but dinner was sooooo good, according to Michael, that I thought I'd start with the food porn.  In fact, there was jocular discussion of going home tomorrow as we couldn't top the first day.  Yes, "it's all downhill..." may become a theme.

We returned tonight to the restaurant where we finished in 2014 -- I thought an interesting tie-in between the trips.  It's the Waterbar, and it's right on the bay, almost under the Bay Bridge (as you can see from the photos in the link).  But here's the most visually interesting dinner -- Michael's salmon with beans and potatoes.

The video is of our waiter filleting Karen's Greek seabass (I can't remember it's name).  It was pretty interesting.

I had the ono, a "pink tuna, not like the red of ahi" and Barb had the halibut -- just for the "halibut." :)

We had two bottles of California wine -- the first a sparkling from Domaine Carneros in Napa, where we sat and sampled two years ago. It was a brut rose and quite good.

Then desserts -- Karen and Michael had the blueberry tart with lemon sauce; I had the berry sorbet; Barb the chocolate assortment, and they gave Michael and Barb the pavlova with ice cream and kiwi for their anniversary (yes, it was their anniversary).

Here's the link.

Okay, now for the chronological.

First today we ate in the newly restored hotel atrium for breakfast.  Then went and picked up the rental car -- the guy at the desk was impressed that two years ago we got all our luggage and four people into a Toyota Corolla (there were pictures, which are still on the blog if you scroll back far enough).  Rather than challenge that kind of acumen, he gave us the pre-scribed Hyundai Santa Fe, which seems to be plenty big enough for moving our six bags and four people when the time comes to leave SF.  Monday.

Then to Muir Woods.  Which Michael, who did not really sing all day, kept calling something like "Mirror Woods."  It's not clear where he thought he was going -- somewhere out of Grimms?

Muir Woods was added to the national holdings before the National Park System was begun, in 1906, and is named after the naturalist and activist John Muir.  As the ranger guide explained, it's not the biggest, etc, redwood forest but it is so close to San Francisco it gets a million visitors a year.

No picture will do the trees, which rise to above 250 feet, justice.  Here's one of the burl on one -- Barb's line of the day is it look like something she didn't think grew wild.  Michael said they just ARE wild...Freud was having a post-humous field day --

And now for the first food porn of this trip!  To go on a hike (such as us old folks do), we stopped for snacks and water and got this: trail mix.  For the trail (both times this was said, Michael did a drum rim shot) --

Today's "funnies":

It was Michael and Barb's anniversary.  It was partway through breakfast before one of them (I'll not give it up who) remembered that!  Awkward turtle.  :)

In giving our email address to Barb, Karen gives it "p-t-d...Peter, Tom, Dick" and Barb (ah, yes, a "Barb") says "Gee, where's YOUR mind at?!?!"  This line of witticism became the motif of the day.  And maybe longer.

Michael let me drive all day.  Whoops!  Reminiscent of Scotland, I was not used to the car's size.  As we came out of a Starbucks (yes! they have them here!!!), a car seemed to let me into traffic, then not.  I gunned it to get into the open spot and...jumped the curb with the right size (it's not the same length as my Cadillac!).  There was this yelp from the back seat and Barb with "I guess we're paying the cleaning fee"...Karen's viente, yes, VIENTE iced coffee was all over the floorboard!  We stopped and tossed out what we could (the delightful Hyundai from Fox rental (motto -- we are as chintzy as we are cheap -- had no floormats!), but the SUV now smells, and probably will for two weeks, like cold brew.  I told Michael I like the smell of coffee. :)

And that, my readers, was day 1 -- wood, wine, and dinner on the water.  #