when the lights go down in the city, i'll be sitting on the dock of the bay wearing flowers in my hair

[please excuse the ridiculously long title...I'm just a music geek...]

WEDNESDAY:

*Arrive in San Fran!

*San Fran - dinner at Home with Cherie, Krystal, Meg & Kim;  traveled to Meg's to pick up an air mattress (our saving grace considering the room only had two twin beds)

*Chancellor Hotel - the night of mini-disasters: 

1. the realization that my small digital camera was missing (luckily recovered by the Glen Ivey Spa staff!)

2. Krystal's almost-lost prescription meds ("did it go down there?"...we all took turns looking 6 stories down from the bathroom window into the back alley...fortunately the meds were safely in the bathroom) 

3. the first broken drinking glass...which led to our introduction with Mehari (the adorable, elderly bell hop/custodian/etc) who, with intelligent insight/foreshadowing, offered us two glasses to replace the one lost

THURSDAY:

*Sausalito - breakfast at Cibo; pictures on the pier; the cutest bus stop ever; the almost breakfast at the Lighthouse Cafe

*Santa Rosa - caught up with a friend at Kendall Jackson Winery & checked out the garden tour

*Healdsburg - Oakville Grocery for lunch; explored Bella Wine Caves (they had hula hoops!)

*San Fran - 1st stop at the Golden Gate Bridge; recommendations from Matt (the awkwardly endearing concierge) and his "i'm not insinuating anything, but...." comment; dinner at Cafe Claude w/cute, lonely boy (who we almost invited to join our table)

FRIDAY:

*Hotel - 2nd broken drinking glass (I think little giggles escaped when we heard the glass break...like "really, did that just happen again?....someone call Mehari")

*Muir Woods - the "hiking" experience, which can't be too legit since there was a guy in a suit there

*San Fran - 2nd stop at the Golden Gate Bridge; lunch at Cioppino w/our cute waiter/hockey player; Fisherman's Wharf; breakdancing dudes; Pier 39; saw Alcatraz from a distance; the quest to find Chronicle books (where I bought this hilarious little book); shopped at the Blue Jean Bar with "Dustin Bobby" (the Justin Bobby look-a-like) and his dog Penny/Penelope; got poor bus instructions from "Dustin Bobby" ("yeah, just go right outside there and hop on the bus" ...no bus number, no sign w/schedules, etc...we should've known better!) and ended up on the other side of town; walked back to the hotel to avoid any further unwanted detours;  shopped/explored Union Square; laid-back dinner at Chipotle; hung out at Dueling Pianos at Johnny Foley's and listened to a lot of songs by Lady Gaga & Queen 

SATURDAY:

*Hotel - Krystal departed at 4:30am

*San Fran - Cherie ventured out to the ferry market while I headed out to look at art in Union Square; I walked the air mattress to Meg's office to meet up with Cherie; quick breakfast at Posh Bagels before we loaded up for the airport; farewell to the nice guys in the parking garage (these older gents called me "nice lady" and knew me by name during our stay)

*SFO Airport - watched USA and Ghana battle it out surrounded by numerous others in the airport

*Austin - made it to my lovely apartment sometime around midnight  :)

+Click here for Additional Photos

++If you're interested, you can listen to my 'CALIFORNIA: by plane, train & automobile' playlist below: