California Dreamin'-A 14 Day Odyssey to San Fran,Yosemite & DL! 8/2013 COMPLETE!1/9!!

[MEK]

Yay for Happy Hour!!!!!Nice Spread and yay for wine! Smart idea to get the boys to eat tacos and enjoy the sunset, Perfect end to a hectic day!

 

[RGirl]

Oh, Ellen, the pictures from your hotel are making me SOOOOO homesick. UGH! I mean, I used to do a lot of cursing commuting over that bridge, but now I totally miss it.

I would have totally done the same thing and made a meal out of that happy hour. It looked really good, and you certainly save a lot of money passing on a dinner out in SF once in a while! I love the honor bar! Hmm - I am seriously going to have to check into this hotel as I don't know where we will be staying in July.

I'm glad you and Pods were able to get out and have a couple of drinks and a little fun after what was clearly a rather rough vacation day.

I am even more glad that I somehow managed to check your report before you had posted 4 or 5 new updates so that I could actually remember on what I was commenting for a change!

 

[MAGICFOR2]

I'm so glad your evening turned out great! Ice cream, wine, tacos, more wine, sunset, more wine - It's all good! Gotta love that Regency Club!

 

[franandaj]

Your evening worked out very nicely! I'm glad you could save a couple bucks on dinner, by using the club level for tacos, that's always a bonus, especially if you didn't have a special place planned and I'm sure the wine honor bar helped you to be able to speak to them again after the day that you had!

 

[dvc4life]

Wine, the cure for a trying day! Glad it ended on a better note than it started. And the view you had was beautiful.

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

Where our very wise investment into the regency Club was about to pay off! Every evening at 5, until 8 or 9, I believe, they had happy hour with a different theme each night, substantial appetizers, and an honor bar with $4 or $5 wine, beer and cocktails. What you did for the honor bar was help yourself (wow, those were some up to the tippy top glasses of wine that were poured, lol!) and then mark it on a card with your room number to put in a box.

Uh, yeah, I marked my card...Sure...

Our view-

Beautiful view!

This is how they like it- loads of meat and some cheese. I guess they are purists.

Mmmmm...meat and cheese. Really, do you need anything else?

I showed tyler over to the massage chairs- he felt like a king, lol!

At this point he's thinking, "Why did you make me do all that biking? I could have been here THIS WHOLE TIME!"

He wanted to show us his EXCELLENT magic trick, which he had learned from his Math Explorations teacher last year-


He did a fantastic job! Pods and I were sufficiently dazzled!

Guess you had to be there.

We had a really nice time up there that night- in contrast to our day on the bikes- and we were all enjoying each others company again, SO NICE!

But Pods and I were not done yet! Even if we weren't going to eat anything, we were STILL going over to Pier 23 for a cocktail....or two.

I'm sure all those cocktails helped with the attitude adjustment!

 

[scottny]

Great updates and pics.

The night seemed to end very nicely.

 

[rentayenta]

Darn, I'm getting a little blue question mark where some photos should be.

Alcohol. The bonding agent that keeps great couples together. Been there, done that.

The Happy Hour spread looks fantastic. Good idea saving a little money and letting the boys pig out there. Dessert looks good too.

The view and sunset are gorgeous.

 

[podsnel]

My sons would have made some serious dents in the taco bar! What a great happy hour, especially with the view you had. I, so seriously, have got to visit San Francisco. What a beautiful place.

My sons definitely made serious dents! They were up and back several times.

Your Sally Rand drink didn't make you want to get up with your feathered fans & dance? That would have been such a lovely picture!

LOL!! You know who Sally Rand is!! I wonder if MY Sally Rand knows- she would get a kick out of it- probably do her own fan dance, lol!

Yay for Happy Hour!!!!!Nice Spread and yay for wine! Smart idea to get the boys to eat tacos and enjoy the sunset, Perfect end to a hectic day!

It really was a great way to end our day- because it had been SO over the top.

Oh, Ellen, the pictures from your hotel are making me SOOOOO homesick. UGH! I mean, I used to do a lot of cursing commuting over that bridge, but now I totally miss it.

I bet you never expected to miss THAT commute!

I would have totally done the same thing and made a meal out of that happy hour. It looked really good, and you certainly save a lot of money passing on a dinner out in SF once in a while! I love the honor bar! Hmm - I am seriously going to have to check into this hotel as I don't know where we will be staying in July.

It was a great happy hour every night- I read a lot of reviews in the two years leading up to it- it was VERY hard to find ones about that RC that were more specific than- Get it, it's great! I saw many reviews that said this was one of the best, if not THE best, RC in the Hyatt chain. I also saw many people disputing whether or not to book it in such a foodie city- why would you want to waste your time on tacos when all of SF was just outside? At $75/day, I would have had a hard time justifying it- at $25, it was a no-brainer. And if it had been $50, like it was when I originally booked, it would have been worth that, too.

My poor TA, though- she booked it, then I saw a better rate, so she rebooked it, and then they wouldn't give her a commission! What up with THAT, Hyatt??? I sure hope that doesn't happen to ME as a Travel Agent!

I'm glad you and Pods were able to get out and have a couple of drinks and a little fun after what was clearly a rather rough vacation day.

It was VERY MUCH needed!

I am even more glad that I somehow managed to check your report before you had posted 4 or 5 new updates so that I could actually remember on what I was commenting for a change!

LOL!!! You are one to talk!

I'm so glad your evening turned out great! Ice cream, wine, tacos, more wine, sunset, more wine - It's all good! Gotta love that Regency Club!

Yes, you DO gotta love that Regency Club!

 

[podsnel]

Your evening worked out very nicely! I'm glad you could save a couple bucks on dinner, by using the club level for tacos, that's always a bonus, especially if you didn't have a special place planned and I'm sure the wine honor bar helped you to be able to speak to them again after the day that you had!

Well, we DID want to go to Pier 23- and I am pretty sad we didn't eat anything there, only drank. It was Diners Drive Ins and dives- which I watched pretty frequently before we went, because Guy Feuri goes to San Fran alot on that show. It looked like they had some yummy stuff there!

Wine, the cure for a trying day! Glad it ended on a better note than it started. And the view you had was beautiful.

Yes, a MUCH better day overall because of how it ended. I don't know if you saw above in another response, but that RC space was a rotating restaurant for years- definitely a coveted view!

Uh, yeah, I marked my card...Sure...

LOL!!! Don't worry- I am sure when we filled out the card at the end our math was a little fuzzy- how many glasses and beers? Let's round down to 4!

Beautiful view!

Definitely- it used to be their rotating restaurant- people are pretty po'd they can't get up there anymore unless they book a room with RC. I think it was a big special occasion restaurant-

Mmmmm...meat and cheese. Really, do you need anything else?

Well I do, but I see your point.

At this point he's thinking, "Why did you make me do all that biking? I could have been here THIS WHOLE TIME!"

ROTFLMAO!!! Seriously!!


Guess you had to be there.

You know, the typical trick where you pick a card, and he magically produces said card at the end to shock and dazzle you- right before he showed us how he did it because he didn't want us to feel like he was deceiving us.

I'm sure all those cocktails helped with the attitude adjustment!

Works WAAAAY better than deep breathing, counting to 10, or Yoga!

Great updates and pics.

The night seemed to end very nicely.

Thanks Scott! It did all work out- thank goodness, it always does!

 

[podsnel]

Darn, I'm getting a little blue question mark where some photos should be.

STILL???? That's not right! I have pro-

Alcohol. The bonding agent that keeps great couples together. Been there, done that.

I have been dieting before the Holidays and our Disney Cruise and haven't been drinking (or eating) for like 3 weeks- miraculously, I have NOT killed Pods OR the kids yet! YAY for ME!!!

The Happy Hour spread looks fantastic. Good idea saving a little money and letting the boys pig out there. Dessert looks good too.

It was all good- really enjoyed it! If you ever stay there and they offer you the $25 deal when you are checking in the week before online, I HIGHLY recommend the upgrade!

The only other time we stayed Regency Club was on our honeymoon in Maui, 27+ years ago. Way back then, cocktails were included, too.

The view and sunset are gorgeous.

It truly was! Lucky us!

 

[podsnel]

Friday morning, we grabbed our usual breakfast upstairs in that lovely lounge, then were up and out- today we had 2 great things planned, and tonight, Pods and I would be dining ALONE at a magnificent restaurant called Boulevard. So off we went, headed south for a change towards AT&T Park- home of the San Francisco Giants. We were leaving plenty of time for our walk along the water, which took about half an hour...

Outside the Hyatt, there were lots of booths set up each day with all kinds of stuff-



The beautiful building we would be dining in tonight-



On our way-



On the tour with the Monkey, he told us this was here "just because"-



Sailing, takes me away...





There was lots to look at along the way...





Finally!





Our tour was at 10:30 (there are 2 tours daily when the team is away or off-season) and I had purchased our tickets prior to leaving NJ here- http://sanfrancisco.giants.mlb.com/sf/ballpark/information/index.jsp?content=tours and cost $20 each for adults, $10 for kids 12 and under. Not that we have any of THOSE any more....

We had allotted enough time for checking out everything outside the stadium
before our tour began. Well, maybe enough time for Tyler and I- Pods and Timmy would still be there now checking everything out if I hadn't hustled them along-





Those two are HUGE on sports trivia- Timmy comes to the dinner table every night with some crazy stat or factoid trying to stump his Dad (and tyler- but Ty is no match!)- it's pretty cool.





There he is- who doesn't love Willie Mays?



Cont'd next post-

 

[podsnel]

We met up with the many others who would be going on the tour today inside the gift shop at 10:30. Divided into 2 groups, we went into the stadium via a back of the store entrance, following our tour guide.

Who was really awesome.

One group went on the field first, the other went up (us)



This stadium looks like a lot of fun even if you don't want to watch the game!



Our first view- what a GORGEOUS place to play ball!





Yea- they're impressed-



See the Coke bottle? It's a slide at the playground- I think he said it's open for more than just games-







Ooh- look- something to do next time!



Love this movie-



On the tour we checked out alot of suites-







Virgin had a large level-







Some very special seats-





which I made the boys get out of to give someone else a thrill.

What a VIEW!!!!!



There was a HUGE display of loads of memorabilia, trophies, etc...



Yea, they hated that part the MOST!








Back in a few- Tyler needs to go visit a GIRL.

 

[podsnel]

Next was the press Box-





Yea...the baseball fans hated that, too...

And then, it was time to take the field!



And check out the dugout-







This kid has some beautiful blue eyes, doesn't he?



Oh MOM....



Looking up-



We checked out the batting cages- keep in mind, all of this is on the visitor's side- which was fine by my kids, because that's where the Yankees go when they play here!



The locker room/clubhouse-





The door that hundreds of visiting baseball heroes have signed-



And that pretty much concluded our hour and a half at the stadium, after we saw a few more spaces.



As I mentioned, our guide was excellent! He was originally from NJ, he was a Dodgers fan but lived in SF, so did these tours instead of the Dodgers tours because that commute would probably kill him! He knew we were from NJ, and he asked who we were fans of- when we told him the Yankees and the Giants (NY- as in football) he said his uncle used to play for them. Did we remember Rosey Grier?



Yea. Pretty sure everyone remembers Rosey Grier, even ME! So cool, huh? Here are all the boys-



We stopped in the gift shop, and Tim got a Tshirt, before we tried to take a better pic with Willie-



They LOVED this tour- it was uber cool for a baseball fan, but, ya know, it was even cool for a non-baseball junkie- we all would highly recommend!

Oh- here's a vid I forgot to post (as usual)- in it you can hear that park is open 11-4 everyday for kids.

Click to play-


Up next- pizza in a cab and segways in the MOST beautiful park!

 

[Beth D]

Great updates! I would have liked that sally rand drink! It sounds right up my alley!

Hooray for happy hour and tacos! Gotta love it when the lack of plans falls just right for the evening and the wallet! I would have loved that honor system! And those views were AH-MAZING! Love that bridge and the fog!

That baseball tour seems like another thing i'd love too.

 

[anewmac]

catching up. Love the honor bar.. (you knew I would LOL) Im always on my honor too LOL. Glad the day got better and not worse too. And the tour looks amazing. I would so love to do that, but I willhave to save it for one day when I vacation alone, cuz unfortunately I have 3 that don't like that sport (it kills me every day as a former softball player for 15years!)

Btw I don't know a Sandy whats-her-lastname? but I so need to meet her now... she looks delish! LOL

 

[MEK]

Seriously - that IS the most beautiful baseball park ever! I can see why your boys absolutely LOVED it! very cool! I can't imagine being a fan and getting to see that beautiful view at every game. That is SO cool!

 

[JKSWonder]

Now that's a pretty stadium!

 

[lisaviolet]

Have to catch up but it's after midnight....

Happy Birthday dearest Ellen!!!!!!

 

[dizneeat]

Happy birthday, Ellen!

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