San Francisco December 2015

San Francisco

Christmas 2015

Back on the Southwest express for the 50 minute BUR-OAK jump. Last year we ran (walked)  the Jingle beer 5k which coincided with SantaCon, so we headed back for a repeat performance. We landed on a Friday and of course bee-lined it for Hog Island for an always enjoyable lunch watching the Bay Bridge. It's just become our go to place and seems the right way to kick

Marriott Marquis and St. Patrick's

off a trip to SF every time.  We wandered back up Market Street and got ready for our first theater visit in SF. Turns out the theater is walking distance from our favorite
hotel the Marriot Marquis.  #MarquisSFRocks...Can't say enough about this flagship Marriott property. If you can, go! And look for Rosana at the front desk. She will make you feel so welcome... That evening, we took a brisk weather walk to the beautiful SHN Orpheum Theater to see the much anticipated, Gentlemen's Guide to Love and Murder. We had seen a performance on the Tony awards last year and couldn't wait to catch it live. A quick search and I found it was playing in town, near our hotel. How had we overlooked this local theater all these years? No matter, we will be back. The play was wonderful from reasonably priced (in theater terms) tickets in the balcony.

Saturday morning it was time to repeat our not last place finish from last year at the 6th annual Jingle Beer Run from Marina Park. The goal this year was to beat the
strollers. It's a quick run/mostly walk around the wharf and embarcadero, a beautiful SF walk regardless of the blaring number on our chest that says we should be running. We arrived at pier 23 safely for our included-in-our-entry-fee bloody mary. We collected our awards, sipped our drinks and watched the real runners receive their bottle of wine trophies. We were then called up and recognized for traveling from LA for the run. Then someone said Denver then someone else said England...so we grabbed out bottle award and ran

Luigi and Pierre outside Macy's. Another Corgi sighting on the road.

Hopped on the F car and headed for Union Square to immerse ourselves in SantaCon 2016. It met expectations with young and old dressed for the day in Santa suits and interpretations. Even naked old guy with the strategically placed holly leaf was smiling for photos with anyone who dared. Its a cacophony of seasonal revelry with groups walking to bars and bus loads of St Nicks pub crawling.

After a brief retreat to our room at the always magnificent Marriott Marquis #LoveMarquisSF, we took the bus to our favorite dim sum spot for lunch. Great Eastern Dim Sum is a 2 story palace of cheap and delicious authentic lunch on a cart.

But back to the Marriott Marquis...the employee ginger bread house contest was in full swing so we cast our votes for our favorite front desk friend R. She always takes great care of us and we return to the Marquis a few times a year partly because of her!

Strolling back to the Marquis on foot to take in the sights sounds and tastes of Chinatown, even buying a strange candy spun from a taffy made of nuts. Makes a sweet crunchy taste that is unusual. The senior most family member was in the window making them by hand.

Dinner was planned at Pacific Catch to try the poke. We cabbed it there then tried to transit back when a local pointed out we were 1 block form the N line back to Powell Street. Doh! We are using this train more in the future. We had used it once before to get to Cirque Du Soleil and Pac Bell Park but not since. Time to explore soon...

Then in the middle of the night... I had flu or food borne illness. I suspect the later as it came and went in less than 2 hours. But Sunday was a loss for me and T got to shop. And shop all day in SF is not difficult. Ok so it worked out well for her. Fortunately we had a wonderful room (Thanks R!) and I watched NFL and nibbled a banana. T made dinner from the concierge lounge which does not suck at this Marriott. In fact, the lounge here is one of the best in Marriott country. Breakfast, snacks, light dinner and appetizers always make a convenient go-to when out of time or maximizing our eat out budget.

Monday we strolled the area around the Moscone center and walked to the Embarcadero and back through some new-ish shops and areas we hadn't explored before. We saw the sign in the Ferry Market tower changed to 50 and thought it was for 50 years but it is over 100 years old so wtf? Then it hit us, Super Bowl 50 was being played in Santa Clara and city preparations had begun.

Pinot in a can!?

BART-OAK-BUR and home. Christmas in SF 2015, check.

Employee Contest at the Marriott Marquis. Smells good too.

San Diego November 2015

San Diego Business and Pleasure

November 2015

Off to SD, Americas accurately named finest city. T had an interview at the largest auxiliary in the CSU and of course we wrapped a couple play days into the road trip. 

We booked into the La Jolla Marriott (sounds much nicer than it actually was, a rare let down) and headed over for the interview while I killed some time at a nearby sushi joint. The interview went great, a close second in the end but more to come perhaps.

The next morning it was off to beautiful La Jolla shores for some sun and a long walk along the beach from the Scripps pier to the Marine room taking in the breath taking views of the pacific and the water adventurers in scuba gear or with kayaks or stand up boards. This place is filled with fun and beauty only rivaled by Hawaii. 

The lunch goal was to try to get into Blue Water Grill.  It was a goal since the parking is the challenge in order to join the out the door line. Their slogan is "All we do is fish" and that is an understatement since all they do is make fish incredibly delicious and very reasonable prices. The system works great too, dont sit until you order and tables will appear. We had the ceviche, oysters, fish tacos and a clam and muscles in broth that compels you to dunk and eat, dunk and eat, repeat. Sounded like we over ordered but utilizing a team work mentality we devoured every bite. Cant wait to return to this iconic delicious eatery.

Our next stop was to head downtown and walk around Little Italy. Another nice area of downtown as the area has transformed from sailors and hookers to the cool Gaslamp area and apparently thousands of new condo units are about to appear. Our search for goodies brought us to Extraoridnary Desserts on Union Street. This place was a find! Incredibly beautiful cakes and pastries stole our attention and insisted we buy probably too much. We managed. And, we will be back to this great find. Downtown needs more of our tour attention and will get it next time we can.

We spent the evening at Georges on the Cove for happy hour drinks and yummy bites that filled us up for $10 each. The parking Gods
were with us so we left the car and strolled La Jolla popping into a couple bars and once again finding a corgi, her name was Molly. 

Our meandering walk brought us into The Hake Kitchen and Bar.  We spotted two seats at the mostly empty bar in a mostly packed restaurant and ordered drinks. Then the fun began. Our bartender brought us our order and we watched him prepare concoctions from the interesting drink menu.   We commented on the drink and he handed us the remainder to sample. Then he began a lesson in tequila that included shots of mezcal and tequila. All tequila is mezcal but not all mezcal is tequila. Well ok then. They tasted smoky and great. The entertainment continued with food recommendations and a spice book that ended up making a great Xmas gift for T. They opened a container and produced fried and candied basil leaves to taste. Creative and interesting, it was like taking a master class while at a bar.

The final morning was spent walking on La Jolla shores and peeking in the windows at The Marine Room famous for waves crashing against the windows. An old school spot that has fallen in quality but still offers the best dining view at sunset anywhere. The sun was shining and it was another beautiful San Diego day.

We found a new breakfast spot, Shorehouse Kitchen, and it was fantastic. Great food in a patio setting on a sunny day. Nice to break out from out 30 year tradition of the venerable Harry's in La Jolla. We headed back up THE 5 to THE 405 and THE 118 home.

Chicago Oct/Nov 2015

Chicago

 Halloween 2015

Another smooth non stop flight from LAX to Midway. #LUVSWA. Always grateful for how Southwest operates with efficiency and courtesy. But this trip was special. T found us $86 fares. Roundtrip! Yup. Non-stop day time flight for under $90 there and back to Chicago. I cant repeat this enough. We watched a movie (Glen Cambell doc) and we were there. Hopped on the EL for the orange line ride to just south of the loop.

We booked a new to us hotel at the wonderful Marriott Renaissance Blackstone for a different vantage point of this beautiful city. We are usually River North or the Marriott on Whacker-also beautiful-see past posts for wonderful experiences there. #MarriottRocks. We checked into this smaller and historic hotel and we were treated to a room upgrade facing the lake over Grant Park. It was night when we checked in but before we finished our pre dinner cocktails with Elisabeth, fireworks erupted on Navy Pier. It was a great view of a great show for Halloween night. 

Dinner was in the hotel at the anticipated yet underwhelming Jose Garcas Mercat a la Planxa. It was tapas that left us wanting for Purple Pig. It was very good but the bar is high in Chicago.

Lis and I headed to a Scouts, a local watering hole, to take in the Halloween vibe and watched ND football and World Series at the bar. It was a blast and the costumes were everywhere.

Great vibe, great service.

Set the clock the next morning to see sunrise over Lake Michigan then took the train to Mass at St. Clements.


We walked through the beautiful Lincoln Park neighborhood checking out the spooky decorations on our way from the train to church. A beautiful and brisk Chicago morning, we are appreciating the 40 plus degree
weather.

Off to brunch lunch at Little Bad Wolf. This is a small fantastic place serving great eats and featuring inspired cocktails. What a great combo to share with Elisabeth pal Katie not far from the Hollywood Beach Palace. We would go here again, we wish we had a place like this near home. Our Sunday stroll continued spotting not one but two corgis!


It is an obsession and we probably have startled more than one dog owner with our star sighting reactions. Of course we meet and chat and photograph. Winston and Molly the cardigan were more than happy to say hello as we share corgi stories with
their owners.

Back to the Marriott for evening views and concierge snacks in our beautiful panoramic room. We watched the sunset light up soldier field while the Bears were trying their best. We headed to a bar to take in the world series and munched on wings for a light dinner. 

Monday morning was sparkling and we stuck to our plan to walk Grant and Millennium parks. The fall colors were in full glory and the skyline followed us along our path.

   A great way to start any morning with a walk in this amazing city. After getting cleaned up we met Lis at the train station to transfer to the green line out to Garfield Park Conservatory. It was like a paradise in the middle of a soon to be bleak winter. Flora and fauna were spread over an acre and we walked for a couple hours enjoying the sights and snapping cell phone pics at every turn. Like these.





I got a hankering for a Chicago dog and with a quick yelp search and an Uber tap we were off to Jimmys Red Hots for a stand in line and know your order dog that included fries in the bag. Maybe not the best dog we have had but it qualified and hit the spot only the way a true Chicago dog can.  Back to downtown for a some shopping and walking and shopping and more walking.

Looks like broccoli, tastes like amazing.

Evening was spent in paradise which is of course The Purple Pig. #PurplePigAmazes. This is a must try spot which will require an hour in line outside in the cold but they have added cocktail service while you wait and a tent outside adds some much needed table space. The food is out of this world and the tapas dishes and great brews are fun to share and fawn over and post and text.

The last day we spent wandering through Old Town and exploring another Chicago hood. We bought olive oil and fudge. Sounds like necessities to me.




A short walk from our hotel to the orange line for the goodbye view of the city back to Midway.

Another great outing to one of our favorite places. We'll be back.