One of the fine views from the Top of the Mark

Had a Fab-u-lous Time in the San Francisco Bay Area. Firstly we ate in a lot of fun restaurants, and secondly I celebrated my birthday 3 times (not something one should be doing at my age!) On the first night we had a banquet for the project at Piatti in Danville (this is a great Italian chain, we have one in Denver, also.) The food was heavily drenched in garlic which is always a great beginning.

The next night Esperando and I celebrated my actual birthdate with my brother and his wife at another Italian restaurant, a bit more homey and local—Forli—in Alamo. My brother and I ate the Sole Meunierre. It was wonderful. When the wait staff discovered it was my birthday they also brought me an au gratis tiramisu, and then the owner brought four aperitif glasses and 10 Italian liqueurs to the table, inviting us to indulge ourselves from his larder. He didn’t know what a bunch of drinkers he was serving for we tasted everything, all in the spirit of good fun. The best part was when they sang “happy birthday, dear bella,” and brought a candelabra to the table in lieu of birthday candles.

Then on Friday we drove into San Francisco and took the youngest child along to North Beach, first having a bottle of champagne and snack at the Top of the Mark in the Mark Hopkins Hotel on Nob Hill, then moving on to North Beach to The Museum Bar, a historic Beatnik bar, just block east of Broadway on Columbus at 12 Adler Street. Esperando and I always go there if we can. Then we moved on back a couple of blocks into North Beach to eat at Mona Lisa, a vibrant eclectic Italian restaurant with an extensive menu. Esperando ate an entire bowl of roasted garlic (at least three heads of garlic) by himself. We had planned to continue on to the Buena Vista Café for a nightcap Irish coffee, but my clock started winding down, so we returned to the Mark Hopkins where we were staying, gave the daughter money for her cab back home, and expired on the bed. The next morning Esperando was seriously smelly from garlic.

When I booked the room at The Mark, some of the reviewers on Trip Advisor were not so happy with it. We had a fine time and felt we had real value for our money. We had a package both nights that included free breakfast, and a really great one it was: Eggs Benedict, dim sum, corn beef hash, sausage, bacon, scrambled eggs, excellent pastries, hot cereal, waffles, smoked salmon, etc. all for free. On Saturday the meal was in the Top of the Mark (excellent views), on Sunday it was superceded by the fancy brunch so the same great breakfast was served downstairs instead. The service couldn’t have been more pleasant, and what a joy each morning to look out our window at the views of the City on to Grace Cathedral and the Pacific Union Club.

We drove over to Marin County the next morning and spent sometime enjoying our grandchildren, then drove back to the City to ready ourselves for our next party—the private Esperando & La Dueña de la Casa affair. San Francisco is such a happening place, after a brief nap we had a few hours to kill so we walked through the ferry building to admire all the food stalls and further down the pier, the Mexican tall ship Cuauhtemoc which was to set sail the following morning. They were having quite a celebration on the pier with costumed Aztec dancers performing to a drum beat. Then back to the room to get ready for dinner. Initially we planned dinner at Fournou’s Ovens, just a block away from our hotel—I even made reservations earlier in the day! But when we got there it turned out they had been closed for two months!! So on we ventured to our next planned stop, The Tonga Room at the Fairmont Hotel. It was a lot of fun—great Polynesian food, rain showers in the room every 30 minutes, a live band and dancing.

The next day we had a great BBQ compleat with children, grandchildren, nieces and my brother and his wife at their home. The 100F weather made their pool a great cool retreat and my brother kindly provided some wonderful Rosenblum zinfandels—my favorite wine. This morning it was back on the airplane early to Denver where Sweet Pickle told me how much he had missed me.

View of a "polar bear' basking in the sun, one of the hardy swimmers that meet each week to face off the frigid waters of San Francisco Bay at Aquatic Park.

Today I am excited to start off on a week’s vacation to the San Francisco Bay Area and meet up with Esperando who will be working there for a couple of weeks. We are meeting up at the airport as we both arrive at about the same time. I still have to pack and do all my exercises, but I am being very lazy this morning sitting around in my nightgown. It will be nice to return to old stomping grounds, see my brother and his wife, kids, grandkids and a couple of old friends. Inspired by the Brainy Blonde’s honeymoon location, we also plan to spend a couple of nights celebrating my birthday in The City at the Mark Hopkins hotel where we have never stayed before. We hope to check out the Tonga Room across the street in the competitor Fairmont Hotel, a Polynesian theme bar/restaurant with rain showers off and on all night and at the Mark Hopkins, the Top of the Mark. You’d think after all the rain we have had this summer in Denver, I wouldn’t need to experience phony rain, but there you go. When I was growing up in San Francisco back in the 1960’s this was the ultimate high-brow location, I hope they are not too snotty! From reading recent reviews it sounds like the service has declined. Our room is quite affordable for a luxury hotel in San Francisco—and includes breakfast in the room.

A few days ago my sister, mother and I had lunch with my nephew who is in the hotel financing business and he told us the bad economy was really affecting the luxury hotel market and there were real deals to be had out there, so I guess this is an example of one of them. I am starting my travels out in style; for some reason the travel agent was able to put me in first class (including dinner!) on my trip out, but like Cinderella I return in economy. This is the first time I will not be going to physical therapy every day, it is sort of scary to get separated from my caretakers—it seems strange. Not too much longer and I will be on my way back to Mexico, so I guess this is a good dry run for that.

I am not sure how I will fit everything I need into my suitcase. I am not good at packing light as there is always one more thing I need to squeeze into my bag. Last week when I was mentally packing I realized I had not made any plans for anyone to take care of Sweet Pickle. Fortunately my pet sitter who is usually booked months in advance was free—what luck for Sweet Pickle, otherwise he would be doing kennel duty. He loves her, so he will have a good time being a spoiled dog.

La Barca de Guaymas

Esperando was ratting around Mexico City for meetings and decided to fly to Guaymas and spend the night coming home on the Ferry instead of flying. I received this missive from him this morning describing his trip by boat ferry from Guaymas to Santa Rosalia yesterday.

“Estimados:

Since many of you have expressed concern over my decision to take the ferry from Guaymas to Santa Rosalia I would like to take a moment to tell you how it went. First of all I survived the ordeal and am here, save and sound, in Santa Rosalia. Secondly I would say the voyage is not much different than a typical ride in a cross country bus in Mexico, which I have done to La Paz and Tijuana a few times.

I took the AeroMexico flight from Mexico City which arrived in Hermosillo about 4:30 pm. I arrived at the Hermosillo airport and got a bus to Guaymas. There are at least two bus companies doing this and they leave from the airport. The bus left within 15 minutes and the ride to Guaymas was 1.5 hours with no intermediate stops. At the bus terminal in Guaymas I had to take a taxi to the Ferry terminal. No problem as there are many taxis at the bus terminal.

I arrived at the Ferry Terminal about an hour before the Ferry was to leave which was scheduled for 8pm. There is a two hour time difference between Mexico City and Guaymas. I had a first class ticket which had been prepaid so I got my boleta at the entrance to the ferry terminal and then proceeded to the waiting area. All the passengers and their luggage were inspected by the Armada (Navy) and their drug dogs before entering the Ferry. All the passengers entered at 8pm and they began boarding the freight which consisted of two large (18 wheeler) trucks, a long straight truck and a car. I think there might have been room for another car. It was amazing that they got all this onboard.

I was the only Gringo on the ship. Actually I had not seen another Gringo since I left Mexico City, including the plane flight to Hermosillo. I think all the turistas have been scared off with the Influenza Porcina. I went to my First Class Cabin which had been pre-arranged. It consisted of a double row of 14 seats in an air-conditioned area. I was the only person in this salon. When I got there the air conditioner had been turned off and it took a while to cool off the area once turned on again. I have to tell you it is really hot in Hermosillo. Probably just as hot and humid as Santa Rosalia but somehow since it is “over there” it seems much hotter.

There were staterooms “camarotes” available which hold about four people that allow you to stretch out in a private bed. Only one of them was occupied and they looked comfortable. They have air conditioning and are only 100 pesos more. I would try and reserve one of them next time and hope no one would want to stay with me.

At any rate the ferry finally left and the air conditioner took control of the salon and I had an eight hour trip not much different from a cross country bus ride or tourist class on an airplane. The motion of the ship and the minor noise of the engines was quite relaxing. There was a “Puente Capitan” or Capitan’s Bridge just outside of the First Class Salon and I went there various times during the night. Unfortunately it was either totally dark, no moon, or overcast so I couldn’t see the stars so the voyage was not as romantic (even though I was by myself) as I had hoped. We seemed to slow down for quite a while near Santa Rosalia as I think they can not enter in the dark. We entered the harbor and docked about 630 am. The Capitan is very skilled in docking this vessel without tugboats or modern gadgets such as side thrusters. I think this Ferry is from somewhere in Scandanivia judging from the labels on the electrical equipment and probably quite old. I have been told that it is a lake ferry, not ocean going which is why they will not go when it is windy in the winter.

We docked and the freight (trucks) were disembarked before they would let the passengers leave. Upon disembarkation we passengers were presented to the Armada for a luggage inspection then to an entirely new group of inspectors before we could enter the country. This was the most rigorous inspection I have encountered in Mexico and it seemed like the Cachanillas (residents of Santa Rosalia) do not want the Chilangos (Mainland Mexicans) entering their territory. I would say this was a good experience and I am likely to repeat it. I don’t recommend it for people who have big expectations. Like I say, if you have been on a cross country bus trip in Mexico this is not much different.”

The ferry schedule can be found here.