Category: Travel

Christina and I went to Napa for a date day about a month ago and I never got around to posting the pictures.  While we were there we went to the Culinary Institute for lunch and then we stopped off at Dean and Deluca’s.  The Culinary Institute was fun because it isn’t something you do every day and it is fun to watch the students cooking in the open kitchens.  Dean and Deluca’s was also fun because I’m a grocery geek and they take gourmet foods to a whole new level.  The only thing I could practically afford there was a soda so I decided to get the Cock and Bull which is probably the most manly soda money can buy.  It has a very strong ginger taste to it and I was barely man enough to drink it all.  😉  After Dean and Deluca’s we went to Mondavi and walked toured the winery grounds because when you are in Napa you just have to go to Mondavi right?

On our way back from visiting Portland, we stopped at the Sutherlin, OR McDonald’s for a potty break.  Tyler and I conquered every playground on our way back.  You haven’t lived (or broken the playground rules) until you’re 6′ 2” and crawl through the playplace.  By the way, I would recommend more parents crawl through them because they are absolutely disgusting, but it didn’t slow us down too much.  After I went down the slide after Tyler, I proclaimed, “my life is now complete”.  I don’t remember stuff like this when I was his age.  Come to think of it, I don’t remember much about being three.  Bring on the motorized toddler monster truck!

I have to get to bed here shortly but I figured I’d get the pictures up and I can write more later.

Here are the rest of the pictures, according to Google Maps we walked about 8.6 miles but it likely was more because we did some weaving.  Bernal Hill Park was really nice because it has a 180 degree view of the entire city.

I had heard about Humphry Slocombe’s from word of mouth and knowing we’d likely be in the area today we were able to stop by and try it.  I had the chocolate ice cream with smoked sea salt and it was amazing.  Christina had “Elvis has entered the building” which has banana, bacon, and peanut brittle ice cream.  As you can see the line was 10-15 people out the door and we passed by it twice and each time the line was still just as long.  It was recently featured in the NY Times and I seriously think it is our generation’s Ben & Jerry’s.

While walking through the city today we stumbled on an alley filled with murals.  Ironically one of the murals was featured on the cover of a book I’ve been wanting to get called Street Art San Francisco: Mission Muralismo.  It was probably my second favorite part of the day because I love seeing art out in the open for all to enjoy.  The Clarion Alley Mural Project (CAMP) was established in 1992 by a volunteer collection of six North Mission residents. The founders of the project were Aaron Noble, Michael O’Connor, Sebaiana Pastor, Rigo 23, Mary Gail Snyder, and Aracel Soriano. Directly inspired by the mural cluster in Balmy alley, CAMP determined from the outset to be as thematically, culturally, and stylistically varied as our North Mission neighborhood.

Christina and I went to Blue Bottle Coffee in the Ferry Building today. I had heard about the rave reviews of their coffee and it is good but I still like Gaylord’s Coffee on Piedmont the best (followed by Stumptown) in Oregon.

My sister and brother-in-law are in town.  We had a great time last night with them in downtown Walnut Creek and today in Monterey.  We went to the aquarium, rented a 4 person bicycle, played some frisbee on the beach, and had an awesome dinner at a German restaurant which we thought was a pizza restaurant according to Yelp.