After getting up so early yesterday for the wine tour, we decided to sleep in a little bit this morning. We were still up around 8:30 a.m., but it was nice to get some good rest.
Once we were showered and ready, we walked down Powell to hit up Sears for breakfast. We had heard from multiple people that they have the BEST pancakes, so we figured we had to judge for ourselves (I am a big pancake enthusiast).
When we arrived, there was a pretty long line waiting outside, but it was moving quickly and we didn’t mind waiting.
Once we were seated, we made our decision on what to get pretty quickly. We were going to go with the “World Famous” mini pancakes… a whopping 18 of them.
But I am going to be brutally honest. When this was set in front of me, I was sort of disappointed. I’ve had short stacks more substantial than this. I have *never* had a pancake breakfast, at any restaurant, EVER, in ALL my years of pancake eating, that didn’t leave me feeling full all day long. Nor have I ever had a pancake breakfast that I could actually finish. Not only did I finish these, but I was only marginally full after eating my entire meal. And for $10 pancakes, I expected more.
Sure, they were pretty good pancakes, but the best? World famous? Not really. And I love me some pancakes. It was fine, and we were glad we ate there to see what it was all about, but we wouldn’t necessarily ever go back. I’m just sayin’.
After breakfast, we decided to walk to Lombard Street. We certainly worked off the vast majority of our pancakes by walking up and down many hills on the way.
We eventually arrived at the world’s most crooked street! (If you’re keeping score, we hit up the world’s most narrow street AND the world’s most crooked street… all in the same trip. Go us!)
It was pretty funny watching all of the cars make their way down it. I have to assume that most of them were driven by tourists, because I can’t imagine many locals having the patience for that on a regular basis, like, EVER.
From there, we walked down to Fisherman’s Wharf.
We wandered in and out of many of the shops down there, and fought through the crowds. We checked out menus for restaurants, and even picked up some salt water taffy (yum).
We eventually got down toward Pier 39. Here was our view of Alcatraz.
Sooo many people. We took one lap around Pier 39 and then left because we couldn’t handle the crowds. Considering it’s Saturday, I’m guessing it was a little busier than it may be on weekdays. We’ll try again before we leave.
We walked back down to try to catch a trolley, but the line was so enormous that we gave up on it quickly. I can’t believe how long people wait to ride. Insanity. We ended up walking up towards another “end of the line” stop (different trolley line) and we were lucky and got right on.
If I haven’t mentioned it already… we bought a Muni pass that allows us to ride all public transportation in the city–buses, trolleys, and trains–an unlimited number of times. Even though we’re only here for four days, we bought a 7-day pass (instead of a 3-day + additional 1-day pass) because it was the most economical at $24. A trolley ride (ONE WAY!) costs $5, so we figured all we have to do is ride at least once a day. We’ve definitely taken advantage so far, so the pass has been completely worth it.
A pic of me riding on the trolley. The outside/standing positions are the best! It’s fun to stand on the outside and get the full experience.
Back at the hotel, we rested for a few minutes before heading out again. This time, we were headed for AT&T Park for a Giants game. We purchased tickets online last night.
After talking to our concierge this morning, we decided to head down toward the Park early and get dinner down there before the game. We ended up eating at a Mexican place called Tres Agaves. It was really good, but slow. We were glad we had allowed ourselves some extra time, because otherwise we probably would’ve been really late to the game.
This is a view of the Bay Bridge as we were walking up the ramps at the Park to get to our seats on the top level.
It was pretty funny, because we were in the last possible row. We couldn’t have been any higher up in the stadium, or any further away from the field, for that matter. I guess that’s what you get when you buy $15 tickets? ;) Good thing we don’t really care all that much about baseball.
One good thing about being up in the nosebleeds: This was our view. We couldn’t complain.
We also could barely see the players. But that’s OK.
There was one really bad thing about being in the last row. The wind. It was already cold out, and having the wind blow on us relentlessly was too much to handle. We noticed that there were empty seats a few rows down from the top in the section next to us, so we eventually moved there. It was still cold, but it was 10x better with no wind.
From there, we sat back and enjoyed the game.
After the 9th inning, the Giants and Rangers were tied up, and we aren’t enthusiastic enough about baseball to stay for extra innings. Instead, we decided to try to beat the crowds and leave to catch our train.
After the train and yet another trolley ride, we are safely back in the hotel, and finally getting warm again. We have cool summer nights back home, but this is incredible! Once the sun goes down, it is f-ing COLD! So pardon me while I go thaw out my toes.
Today, we were up bright and early at 7:30 a.m. so that I could call the rental car places as soon as they opened.
Very cool. And did I mention how gorgeous the weather was today? Look at that sky!
The “tasting room” wasn’t at all what I was expecting. It was wayyy better. I’ve been to several wineries at home–we have our own little “wine country” close by in the Fingerlakes–so I thought it would be similar out here, but I was wrong. We didn’t just stand around a bar with our wine glasses in hand. Instead, we were seated, as if at a restaurant, and given a menu. Quite lovely!
Note to self: When giving camera to waiter and/or strangers in the future, put camera on “auto” setting as to avoid overexposed photos like this one. Oh well. I was able to save it (somewhat) in post-processing. It’s still cute.
Check out our view from the “tasting room” at Mumm. Gorgeous.
From there, we headed out to St. Helena to grab something to eat. We had heard (from yet ANOTHER blog reader) that we should stop at Taylor’s Refresher for a bite to eat. We didn’t want much–just something to hold us over until dinner–so it seemed like a reasonable place to stop. Little did we know that it would be such a popular place!
The line was huge, and we ended up waiting about half an hour. At a burger joint! Oh well; it was worth it for our delicious milkshake (perfect for the 90-degree weather) and garlic fries.
And who can complain when you have views like this?:
Actually, I did have one teeny-tiny complaint. IT. WAS. OH. SO. HOT. The 90-degree temperatures definitely started getting to me. Especially when out on this terrace area just BAKING in the sun. But it was gorgeous, and HELLO, we were in Napa, so we fought through it.
After we were done with tour, we were led into a tasting room and were served far more wine samples than I had been expecting. I was downright tipsy by the time we went back out into the heat. I enjoyed quite a few of them!
Once done with our tasting, we rode the gondola back down the mountain.
By the time we were done, it was 5:00 p.m. (where did the day go?!) and we realized that most of the wineries were actually closing for the day. Not only that, but I was still feeling the effects from our tasting at Sterling (no doubt it was exacerbated by the heat), so I didn’t know if I even wanted to attempt another tasting anyway. We were getting quite hungry, so we decided to head back south to get dinner.
Without going into a ton of detail, my loving relationship with Priceline almost came to an end this morning. Thankfully, after a few hours of turmoil, they redeemed themselves (or, I guess I should say, they finally did what they should’ve done from the very beginning of the situation) and all is now right with the world.
Because of my dealings with Priceline on the phone (that took way longer than they should have), and problems catching a trolley (we had several pass us by at max capacity), we got a much later start to our Napa trip than we had hoped. But once we were on the road, it was all good.
Our GPS wanted to take us in the opposite direction of the Golden Gate Bridge (it wanted to take us over the Bay Bridge, actually), but we knew we wanted to drive across the Golden Gate. After overriding our GPS and using a good ol’-fashioned map, we were able to experience the bridge in all of its glory. And, of course, I had to snap a few photos as Michael drove us across:
Very cool. And did I mention how gorgeous the weather was today? Look at that sky!
Once we got into Napa Valley, we kind of lolly-gagged around for a while, sort of driving aimlessly and just checking out the sights. Going off of another blog reader’s recommendation, we decided that our first stop would be at Mumm.
The “tasting room” wasn’t at all what I was expecting. It was wayyy better. I’ve been to several wineries at home–we have our own little “wine country” close by in the Fingerlakes–so I thought it would be similar out here, but I was wrong. We didn’t just stand around a bar with our wine glasses in hand. Instead, we were seated, as if at a restaurant, and given a menu. Quite lovely!
We settled on our “order,” and we were able to taste four champagnes. Wonderful! I thoroughly enjoyed them all. Our waiter actually let us taste a 5th, too… shhhhh! :)
Note to self: When giving camera to waiter and/or strangers in the future, put camera on “auto” setting as to avoid overexposed photos like this one. Oh well. I was able to save it (somewhat) in post-processing. It’s still cute.
Check out our view from the “tasting room” at Mumm. Gorgeous.
After our tasting, we walked around the grounds a little bit.
From there, we headed out to St. Helena to grab something to eat. We had heard (from yet ANOTHER blog reader) that we should stop at Taylor’s Refresher for a bite to eat. We didn’t want much–just something to hold us over until dinner–so it seemed like a reasonable place to stop. Little did we know that it would be such a popular place!
The line was huge, and we ended up waiting about half an hour. At a burger joint! Oh well; it was worth it for our delicious milkshake (perfect for the 90-degree weather) and garlic fries.
Our waiter at Mumm had recommended we visit Sterling, so after our little snack, we decided to check it out. While it was expensive, it did seem to offer quite a bit of bang for our bucks.
We rode the gondola up the mountain and tasted several wines as we guided ourselves through the “self-guided” tour of the winery.
And who can complain when you have views like this?:
Actually, I did have one teeny-tiny complaint. IT. WAS. OH. SO. HOT. The 90-degree temperatures definitely started getting to me. Especially when out on this terrace area just BAKING in the sun. But it was gorgeous, and HELLO, we were in Napa, so we fought through it.
After we were done with tour, we were led into a tasting room and were served far more wine samples than I had been expecting. I was downright tipsy by the time we went back out into the heat. I enjoyed quite a few of them!
Once done with our tasting, we rode the gondola back down the mountain.
On our way off of the Sterling property, we pulled the car over to take a few more pictures of the scenery:
By the time we were done, it was 5:00 p.m. (where did the day go?!) and we realized that most of the wineries were actually closing for the day. Not only that, but I was still feeling the effects from our tasting at Sterling (no doubt it was exacerbated by the heat), so I didn’t know if I even wanted to attempt another tasting anyway. We were getting quite hungry, so we decided to head back south to get dinner.
A few months back, when I asked for Seattle/San Francisco recommendations, my friend, Lesley, told me that her fiance’s uncle owns an Italian restaurant in Napa, and said that if we had the chance, we should eat there. We figured, what the hell? Might as well check it out, right? Plus, we were in the mood for Italian anyway.
And so we plugged the address into our GPS and wound up at Piccolino’s, right in downtown Napa.
Once we were seated, I asked the waiter if the owner was around today. I explained that we had a “family connection,” and he said that he would check, and if the owner was there, he’d send him out to talk to us.
A few minutes later, Joe came by to introduce himself to us, and actually joined us at our table. We talked for quite a bit of time–I’d say at least 10 minutes!–and discussed everything from Lesley and Steve, to Western New York, to careers and how Joe got to be where he is today. It was a nice conversation, and cool to meet someone from “back home” way out here in California. To top it all off, Joe treated us to some complimentary appetizers! Bruschetta, crab cakes and a cup of potato garlic soup–everything was fantastic. We were stuffed before our entrees even came out! I had chicken marsala, and Michael had fettucine with bay shrimp. By the time we were done, I practically had to be rolled out of there. So good! We highly recommend Piccolino’s.
After dinner, it was past 7:00, and it was unfortunately time to bid farewell to Napa and head on back to San Francisco. We had a lovely time, and will hopefully go back some day!
Now that we’re back in the city, it’s time to explore it a bit more. We haven’t really had the opportunity, so we’re looking forward to tomorrow.
This morning, we woke up, packed, and headed to the airport for our flight from Seattle to San Francisco. It was nice because we didn’t have to be in too much of a rush; our flight was at noon.
We ended up at a place called Hunan Home’s, which was actually recommended by a blog reader (thank you!).
After a smooth and (relatively) short flight, we landed in San Francisco by 2:30 p.m. After retrieving our luggage, we got on BART to transport us from the airport to our hotel in Union Square. We got off at Powell, and were immediately thrust into the heart of the city.
Since we hadn’t figured out the whole trolley system yet, we figured we’d walk up Powell to our hotel (located at the intersection of Powell and California). Little did we know that this would end up being a HUGE mistake, as our trek up Powell was both longer than expected AND on quite an impressive incline. We lugged our suitcases ALL. THE. WAY. UP. a gigantic hill, and I’ll confess that it was not without plenty of cursing along the way.
But we made it.
We checked into our hotel, The Stanford Court, which we “won” for $85/night through Priceline. Its location atop a hill is quite nice (aside from the lugging suitcases thing), and the lobby seems new, and is nicely decorated. We were given keys to our room, which is on the second floor. I’ll admit I am not so impressed with the decor in the hallways. The carpet seems outdated–not sure if it’s actually old, or if it is just a poor choice. Either way, once we got into our room, we were fine with it. The room is pretty spacious, with nice bedding, a nice bathroom, etc. And it’s clean. Can’t complain!
After getting settled in, we decided to get out and explore a little bit. We walked down to Chinatown to get some dinner.
We ended up at a place called Hunan Home’s, which was actually recommended by a blog reader (thank you!).
After an enjoyable meal, we spent some time in Union Square just to check everything out. We realized we were pretty beat, so we decided to come back to the hotel to relax for a bit and try to figure out a plan for tomorrow (we’re renting a car and either going to Napa or Sonoma Valley… haven’t decided yet!).
It will probably be an early night, as we want to get up early tomorrow to get a good start to our day. ‘Night!
Today, it was back down to the Space Needle. This time, for a Ride the Ducks tour. :)
Sure, it was cheesy. And totally, completely touristy. But you know what? It was also a lot of fun. We probably should have started our trip to Seattle this way, instead of ending it, but I digress.
Here are some of the things we saw along the way…
Pier 70. This is where “The Real World: Seattle” was filmed. The “seven strangers” lived here. This was back in the day when I still watched The Real World, so that was sorta cool.
This is Edgewater Hotel. The Beatles stayed here back in their heyday, and apparently caused a huge ruckus. The hotel had to build a tall fence around the whole property, just to try to keep out the crazy fans. Also, there is a famous photo of them fishing through a hotel window (I can’t seem to find the photo, what the hell? Damn you, Google Images!), and that was taken here. Kind of interesting.
We went past Safeco Field (Mariners) and Quest Field (Seahawks). And you just know we loved the football part.
Looks like a silly car wash, right? WRONG. When Elvis was filming “It Happened at the World’s Fair” in Seattle in the 1960s, he had his pink cadillac washed here EVERY DAY. Also? This is the only car wash in Seattle that is certified to wash presidential (yes, that’s President of the United States!) vehicles. Too funny.
A nice view of Lake Union.
Of course, we had an even better view of Lake Union once the Duck actually took us out ONTO Lake Union. Here is Gasworks Park, viewed from the water.
One (or both?) of these ships is apparently featured on “Deadliest Catch.”
Here was the highlight of my Duck Tour! The floating house featured in Sleepless in Seattle! Oh, how I love that movie. Sam and Jonah Baldwin lived here. ;)
A sea plane took off right over us.
Back near the Duck base, this is the building that is apparently used for many of the exterior shots on Grey’s Anatomy. I’ll have to pay more attention next time I watch.
After it was over, we snapped a few more photos of our truck. Boat. Duck. Whatever.
We then headed back to Christy and Mike’s to relax a little bit before dinner. Christy, Mike, and Cameron took us out to a place called Arnie’s on the Puget Sound. It was really good, and it was a nice way to spend our last night in Seattle.
A ferry leaving from essentially right next door to the restaurant.
Back at Christy and Mike’s, we had to snap a few pictures of Bear, their monster German Shephard. During our time here, he liked to bark at us, which was admittedly a little intimidating at first (he’s HUGE!), but he is really a sweet dog. We’re sad to leave him, because I think he is just now getting used to us! :)
Our flight to San Francisco is at noon tomorrow, which is nice since we don’t have to get up too early. Seattle has been good to us, but we’re off on our next adventure!
After the exhausting day we had yesterday, we took our time getting out of the house this morning. Another overcast day. What a shocker.
On our agenda? The Space Needle.
Self-portrait with the Needle. To get this, it took about 5 tries. :)
Despite the less-than-ideal weather, we decided to fork over the dough to go to the observation deck.
The view was still pretty cool, but it could have been better. We couldn’t even see the mountains!
The sun did peek out a few times.
We spent a good portion of time up there, just enjoying the view. I also read up on the history and construction of the Needle, which I had forgotten since my last visit. It really is quite fascinating!
When we put our feet back on solid ground, we decided to grab Subway for lunch and take it up Queen Anne’s Hill to eat overlooking the city in Kerry Park.
Pretty cool view of the skyline, huh?
After that, we decided to head back down into the city and check out the Science Fiction Museum (SFM) and the Experience Music Project (EMP). You pay one fee to get into both places, so we took advantage and checked them both out.
The SFM had some pretty cool sci-fi paraphernalia. We’re not really that into sci-fi, but it was fun to see some of the more mainstream things, like say… the Ninja Turtles! They also have a special Jim Henson exhibit going on right now, so there were lots of Sesame Street characters, Muppets, and FRAGGLE ROCK (my favorite!).
We made our way over to the EMP, and ran into this really cool guitar sculpture-thingy:
They have a lot of space dedicated to Seattlite Jimi Hendrix, so that was interesting. Lots and lots and lots of guitars in there, too. The exhibit displaying the history/evolution of the electric guitar was cool.
Our favorite part, though? The playground!
OK, so it’s not really a playground. But it felt like one.
They have all of these sound-proof booths set up that you can go into and play around with instruments. Drums, keyboards, guitars, even just microphones for singing. In the microphone/singing booth, they have a system set up where you can play around with different effects on your voice. There was one that made me sound like I was possessed by a demon, especially when I laughed. It was awesome.
We could have stayed here and played for HOURS, but we were running out of time on our parking, so we decided to call it a day.
So that we weren’t trying to drive home in rush hour traffic, we had asked Christy for restaurant recommendations downtown. She also polled some people at work, and everyone came back and told us to go to Benihana. Sounded fun, so we decided to give it a go.
We loved it! I had actually never been to a Japanese restaurant at all, let alone one where they cook all the food in front of you at your table. I had obviously heard about it, just had never been. Anyway, our chef was entertaining, and the food was delicious. Mine was HOT (spicy, not temperature), though. Holy hell. The chef asked me, on a scale of 1 to 5, how hot I wanted my dish. I generally like spicy food, so I figured it’d be safe to go with a 3. It was SO GOOD, but it was right at the threshold of what I can handle in terms of heat. Dear lord. So, word to the wise: GO WITH A LEVEL 2. :) It took a few hours for my mouth to regain all of its feeling.
Afterward, someone told us that Benihana is actually a chain restaurant. Who knew?! We didn’t; we don’t have them at home. But hey, we really liked it, and it was new to us, so who cares, right? HA!
Once back home, we relaxed with Christy and Mike with a few drinks out on their patio.
And so ends another day in Seattle…
About
I'm Heather. I'm 33 and have been married to Michael for seven years. Together, we have two beautiful little girls we love more than anything, and a miniature dachshund who drives us crazy. I'm a full-time working mom who has very little time for my own "stuff" these days, like home improvement, cooking/baking, cake decorating, and photography. Despite the team not making the playoffs since 1999, I'm STILL a Buffalo Bills fan, which I think speaks to my loyalty AND sense of humor. I can't wait to pick up the pace with travel again some day... you know, when we're done being ruled by tiny fists. Welcome to my blog.
