San Francisco and surrounds

Yesterday and today was spent exploring more of San Francisco. First stop was a walk over the Golden Gate bridge. Equipped with a camera and lots of clothing layers (it was very windy!), I ventured across with mum and most of the family. Once again the bridge was enveloped in a layer of fog but it gave it an almost mystical appearance. The walk took about 40 minutes and was well worth it for the amazing views of the bay along the way.

After the crossing, the next stop was the Sonoma Valley for a spot of wine tasting. The vineyards around this area were on the smaller side and had a more quaint feel to them. They were all in close proximity to the cute little town of Sonoma, full of lots of gourmet treats. I tasted lovely tiramasu icecream and not so lovely lavender cheese (it reminded me of either soap or drawer liners, I can't work out which!) We then travelled to Ravenswood winery and tasted an amazing Zinfandel, amongst others. We then continued along to the Napa Valley, this felt like the richer older brother of Sonoma Valley. Many of the vineyards were much grander and had a more sophisticated feel to them. We went to the gorgeous Castello di Amarosa (Castle of Love?); it was a real castle built into the vineyard! According to the tour, the castle is a mere 10-20 years old, but is made out of bits and pieces of old castles from Germany and France. The owner must have gone to a few "garage" sales! Despite its relatively young age, the caste has a surprisingly authentic feel to it. The highlight of the winery was sampling some wine direct from the barrel.


Mum and I also visited a Farmer's Market early on Sunday morning. It wonderful sights, sounds and tastes were definitely worth the early wake up and vigorous walk! The market had lots of fruits and gourmet breads and foods. I dined on fresh peaches and banana bread muffins. Among the interesting sights was a shitake mushroom farm that you could take home and cultivate yourself. If only Australian custom's department would allow us to bring this home!

Sour dough aligator (or crocodile?)

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DSC_0037, a photo by natalie.counihan on Flickr.

Beer tasting

San Francisco, the windy city?

SF is a beautifully unique city. The hills, the artistic community, the piers, sour dough, the hills.....
I thought it was a good idea to go for a run this morning, but the hills definitely got the better of me. How do the locals do it? I did run past the bendy street, so that was a nice distraction.

I am visiting SF with family of varying ages, so we decided to go on a tourist bus to take in some major sites of the city. It was a good way to get around, and we saw many of the famous sites of the city including the painted ladies, Golden Gate bridge, Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39. I enjoyed tasty sour dough from Boudin's bakery, a crab sandwich from Nick's Lighthouse at Fisherman's Wharf, a glass of Sauvingon Blanc from Ferrari-Carano winery in the Sanoma Valley and delicious tapas at Cha Cha Cha on Haight St. I especially loved the fried platanos maduros. Deliciously sweet and crispy with a black bean sauce. Yum!

Top three things so far:
1. Seeing tenderloins in the Tenderloin region
2. Being blown away while crossing the Golden Gate bridge
3. Californian Sauvingon Blanc tasting at a wine bar at Pier 39 with mum.

More SF to come tomorrow.....

four times the fun

After celebrating July 4^th with Americans (and some Aussies) it was immediately obvious that the national day of both the USA and Australia are spent in nearly identical fashion; BBQ-ing slabs of meet over fire, drinking beer and throwing a ball around a patch of grass. Instead of thick steaks and sausages from Coles as we do in Aus, baby back ribs and hot dogs were the order of the day in the US. The beer aspect was unchanged, but backyard cricket was replaced with backyard volleyball.

However, the US has something else to offer, fireworks! Yes, I know Australia has fireworks, but not the type that you can set off yourself (well, in Victoria at least). I am not talking some small pathetic looking firework that resembles a large sparkler, I mean a huge multicoloured explosion in the sky that challenges the yearly extravaganza at Queens Park in Melbourne. These things were impressive! I am not sure that giving the general public access to explosive devices in the middle of a hot summer is such a great idea, but hey, it’s fun! Oh, and there were also fireflies. Not sure if they were especially ordered in from Amazon for the 4^th of July, but they were there and they were almost magical. I use the glowing stuff from fireflies all the time at work (to make viruses glow in the dark) but I had never seen the actual bug before. I was told by very reliable sources (young cousins) that the glow is observed after the flies fart, sounds plausible! So, after sunset, I perched myself on a hill overlooking a beautiful valley and watched home fireworks displays with a sprinkling of fireflies. Watching farts and explosions has never been so beautiful!

and i'm off

After quitting my job in Connecticut, the time has come to hit the road. Today I am packing up and leaving a semi-settled and comfortable life for a slice of the unknown, and I cant wait! Hubby is already off hiking in the Californian wilderness but my start to the trip will be a little less adventurous. The first destination of my 6-month adventure will be in Pennsylvania to visit family for a few days. Most of the trip will be done by car, so I began packing our Subaru with all the essentials including the tent, Miles (our trusty GPS) and vegemite until it was bursting at the joins. It was a strange feeling looking my life packed into a car. I hope it doesn’t get stolen!

The relatively short trip from CT to PA went extremely smoothly, especially considering my lack of any ounce of navigational skill. Yes, I can get lost even with a GPS! I didn’t eat anything near tasty on the way as my only stop was the Vince Lombardi rest stop with very little to choose from. I did have an interesting conversation with a fellow rest stopper. Her simple question of “what do you do?” stumped me for a second or two. Instead of blurting out the usual story about science and viruses, I paused, smiled, and said that I travel. Yep, that is my profession now.