My first stay-cation

This past weekend was a unique vacation for me, in fact it was a stay-cation! I almost forgot that I needed to pack also, and I did so last minute. Of course I forgot a handful of things, but what's new? LOL. I put in my time at work early on Friday at picked Victor up from the airport in the afternoon. We headed back to the city to check in at The Clift and drop off the car. For dinner, we walked to Fish&Farm, where Victor had some San Francisco salmon for the first time -- and approved! It was delicious, and appropriately (as the way a good vacation should start) I'd never eaten there before!

Later at night, we went to RN74 (also had never been there before) in SOMA where we met Victor's friends from Philadelphia. They turned out to be quite the delightful couple! Very lively and interesting, one was an architect and the other a chef! I think that might be the perfect pairing. That part of the night was pretty fancy, with wine and escargot and all of the niceties that are required when getting to know new people.

And then we went to Harry's Bar and the realness came out. Without getting into details, I'll say that we were a lot louder and less polite there. Although, it was in a good way and I really enjoyed their company the entire time! The contrast was comical, though.

On Saturday afternoon, we headed up to Napa for some wine tasting! The destination location turned out to be V. Sattui, the winery I went to a few weeks ago for Cindy's birthday, but Victor's friend's friend invited us into the special people tasting room so the experience was quite different. I found something I like even better than the Fantasia! It's a Moscato and it is DE-LICIOUS. The tasting was very pleasant, although I still like Castello di Amorosa better -- but then nothing beats a castle.

We stopped at Robert Mondavi where I wished it wasn't pouring rain! The rows of vines were still gorgeous in the rain but I'd love to go back and walk through the greenery. We drove through the mountains to Sonoma but didn't make it in time for one more winery stop. For dinner, we came back to the city and went to Ryoko. It was delicious as always! After dinner, we barely had time to rest before going to Sugar Cafe. We stayed there the rest of the night and Alex, Andy, Janet, Kevin, Chad, and Priscilla came out to play! Lots of drinking and even a little bit of dancing. Good times!

On Sunday, we checked out and went to San Mateo to get some Ramen Dojo. The wait was ridiculous and I honestly don't think the Spicy Garlic was worth the hype. Victor enjoyed it though, and that's what matters most -- since people in Seattle don't get quality ramen! I still prefer Himawari or Santa Ramen. We came back to the city and hung out at Japantown with Andy and Janet, where we perused an aquarium and wandered the streets a bit. We ended up at Zeitgeist (never been there either!) where we started drinking in the early afternoon. Brian joined us a bit later and we ended up at his house eating grilled cheese and tomato soup!

Instead of leaving on Sunday night as planned, Victor ended up staying an extra night and flying out on Monday morning! It was a really fun weekend and very worthy of being my first stay-cation. And here I am, molesting a pig at Robert Mondavi.