It's been an exciting year and both Yener and I
sure needed a break. As luck would have it, his twin brother
just bought a house out in California, so we figured we could
go out there and pay him a visit over the holidays and help him
out getting his house prepared. What follows are some pictures
from the event.
Having arrived at 9am California time at the San Francisco
International Airport, we figured that we would waste the day.
Off we headed to Monterey where we walked around in the busy
shopping district by The Cannery. |
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We walked down to where the beach was and got this
picture taken. Apparently, this is a popular place for photos
as we ended up helping other groups get their photos taken as
well. After walking around some of the shops, we decided to take
off for a trip down to Carmel. |
On our way to Carmel, we decided
to drive through the Pebble Beach area where we stopped at
this area and got our pictures taken. It was an excellent
opportunity to enjoy the weather a little and stretch our
legs from the
car ride. |
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| The whole point of going to Carmel was to go running
into the Pacific (VERY cold water) barefoot. I told Yener's brother
Eser that if he did it, I'd go with him. That's us waiting for
the next wave to come in. It was a really nice place to relax,
even though it was a bit chilly. |
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So I wasn't quick enough and the bottom part of
my rolled-up pants got soaked with VERY cold sea water. Ah well...felt
good to soak my feet in the cold water after all the walking
we did earlier that day. |
| The following day, we took the Caltrain into San
Francisco and headed to Chinatown for lunch. Pictured here is
the gate to that area of the city. It was filled with all sorts
of shops and restaurants. We ended up having lunch at the Four
Seas restaurant that had, apparently, been visited by the Television
chef Martin Yan. The food was really good; probably better due
to the long stair case we had to climb to get up to the restaurant! |
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So we climbed to the top of one of San Francisco's
many hills and looked down. Can you see the fatigue on Yener's
face? I was panting and trying to get my ears to pop from the
pressure differential! ;-)
Whose idea was it to build a city on all these hills?!?
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| Yener told me that this would make a good picture,
so I took it. |
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At the Fisherman's Wharf area, there was this cool
mechanical arcade that had all sorts of mechanical entertainment
pieces in it (predecessors to the modern video game). I tried
out the "Guide to Romance" and was rated as "uncontrollable".
I needed proof, so I got it on the camera. Unfortunately, Yener
scored "clammy" so he asked that we not capture that! |
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I figured we should try a different
machine and see if we could improve Yener's score. As you can
see here, this machine rated him as "Mild". Although, to be fair,
I did touch the machine briefly to explain its operation. Perhaps
that threw off the result. ;-) |
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You can't go to San Francisco without taking a
picture of Alcatraz. I didn't pay to go visit, though. |
| On Friday, 12/26/03, we took a trip up to the Napa Valley in
California. After drinking many of their wines, I thought it
would be great to go see the actual vineyards. Our first stop
was this great winery (V. Satturi Winery) that had a picnic area.
We tasted their wines and then had a great picnic of cheese,
salami, bread, olives,
and
drinks. It was wonderful! |
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After stuffing ourselves with fantastic foods and
having a bit of wine (Our driver, Eser didn't drink...don't worry!),
we took off for the rest of the valley.
I was riding in the back seat of the car, enjoying the ride
and thumbing through the literature about the area. I discovered
this winery called Cuvaison on the map and remembered that I
had their Chardonnay a long time ago and LOVED it. The problem
is that I couldn't find it back home. |
| So off we went to Cuvaison. I was very excited and I enjoyed
getting to taste their wine again. Here, you can see me in front
of their small tasting room. I brought a bottle of that chardonnay
back with me and I'm looking forward to enjoying it. |
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| After this winery, we decided to visit Clos Du
Val on our way out of the Valley and back home. Here, we tasted
many wines and purchased one for the wine rack and another for
a friend. It was a great day for this trip and I had a spectacular
time. You can see me at Clos Du Val in the pictures below. |
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On Saturday (the last full day before we returned
home), we took a trip up into San Francisco together but we
traveled along the coast. Now and then, we would pull off
the road and
relax a bit. It was good to get out and relax a bit. The coast
was so beautiful! You can see Yener and I at an outlook point
below.
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| I want to take a little space here to thank Yener's
brother Eser and his roommate for their hospitality. We were
treated very well and I had a fantastic time! |
