God bless America!

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2011. New Zealand. Not quite 2 years had passed since I hung up my travel boots upon returning to Auckland from the UK. Itchy feet? A little. Travel bug back? Maybe. Time to organise a wee adventure to far-off lands? Yes please! Friend to accompany me? Hello Nat!

And so Road Trip Californ-I-A was born. After many months of careful planning, hours of googling and numerous spreadsheet updates later, we were ready to go.

"Road trippin' with my two favorite allies (Nat + Sirius Satellite Radio)
Fully loaded we got snacks and supplies
It's time to leave this town
It's time to steal away
Let's go get lost
Anywhere in the U.S.A"

First stop, San Francisco, with friends Michelle and John from Washington DC. Michelle, John and I arrived in the morning, and while we were waiting for Nat, set off on foot from our hotel in Presidio in search of the crookedest street in the world, Lombard St! (First item ticked off the spreadsheet). I'm not sure how the inner city 'hills' rank internationally in terms of incline, but going up and down a few would raise the heart rate of even the most seasoned hill climbers!! Random fact #1 - it is a ticketable offence to not curb your wheels when parking on a hill in San Fran.

From there it was all downhill (literally) and we ended up wandering through Chinatown and onto to Fishermans Wharf. Chinatown was like all other Chinatowns I've encountered - noisy, bustling, and full of interesting sights and smells. The Wharf was definitely geared towards the tourists, with lots of bars, eateries and souvenier shops. It is also home to the famous Boudin Bakery, which served me up my first gastronomic delight - clam chowder in a sour dough bread bowl. Delish!

By this time Nat had arrived from Chicago, so we headed back to the hotel to layer up for our Alcatraz Night Tour. Turns out that Nat and I were a bit green when it came to packing appropriately for the San Francisco temps; we were expecting warm, balmy evenings at the tail-end of a Californian summer, which was not the case in SF! Random fact #2 - San Fran's 'summer' is Sep-Oct. Not August. Or even July! So on went the layers, and off we sailed, 2.5km into San Francisco Bay to Alcatraz Island. Alcatraz's biggest claim to fame is, of course, its stint in the 1930s-60s as a maximum security federal prison, and home to some of America's biggest baddies. The evening option definitely gave the tour the right amount of 'spook' and we also had incredible views of the city at dusk.

Back on the mainland we went in search of somewhere for a bite to eat, and stumbled across The Pub at Ghirardelli Square , where I got me some sticky spare ribs. Plus enough sides and cornbread to feed a small village.....oh America, you had me at RIBS! Dinner was then followed by an Irish coffee at the cozy Buena Vista Cafe (famous for bringing Irish coffee to the US) on the corner of Beach & Hyde. If you like coffee, you'll love this place, and if you don't like coffee, you'll still love it - watching the white jacketed bartenders make the coffees was entertainment in itself.

Day 2 saw us off to Napa Valley, for a tour through some of the vineyards that the region is famous for. We saw four wineries - Andretti (as in the racing car driver), V. Sattui, Whitehall Lane and Fransican Estate. You really can't beat a wine tour on a beautiful, sunny day, and Napa didn't let us down. Nat and Michelle left the region with a cellar full of wine to each of their names, and monthly memberships to see them through the next couple of years. And I managed to commit to sending a local fudge confectioner a copy of the Edmonds Cookbook, in exchange for a delivery of his finest fudge when I got back to NZ - which I did. Thank you Gary and Beth at the Napa Valley Fudge Company! After a ferry ride back to the bay, we headed up Chestnut Street for our evening meal, and ended the night with movie (and some late night Walgreens shopping. Hooray for 24/7 pharmacies!).

Day 3 began very virtuously for Nat and I, with a run through the Presidio of San Francisco - a park and former military base near the Golden Gate bridge. That turned out to be my first and last run, but at least I started my holiday with the best of intentions! Calories out, calories in - next on the 'to do' list was the chocolate shop Ghirardelli Square. Hershey's out, Ghirardelli is in! The next couple of hours were spent wandering through town, just enjoying that freedom of not being in a rush to get anywhere or do anything. Some of the older apartments and terraced houses we passed by were really beautiful, and later in the afternoon we did find what I'm sure is high on the list of must sees for all 'Full House' fans to San Francisco - the Painted Ladies near Alamo Square (which feature in the opening credits). It's always a novelty to spot something that you've only ever seen on the TV or at movies!

That evening was the last one for all 4 of us together, so how else to end it than with a bang? We had 2 requirements for the evening: to 1) have a nice meal and 2) find a bar with cheap drinks that played classic rock. We got both! Thank you The Tipsy Pig for your posh pub grub and thank you Horseshoe Tavern for your juke box. Lets just say that the evening ended in the wee small hours of the next morning on our new friends' (Catie, Erik and Eric) apartment balcony......good night San Francisco......

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