Discovering Another Mad Dash (Oct 14): Heading Home and Finally finishing this TR #1523 (05/03)

[PrincessInOz]

(Continued from Previous Post)

Around the Bay…..to Great Mall Drive




We had a great time hanging out with DH’s family. We see them once a year, get all our catching up on family news done over a fantastic meal (which they pay for), hang out some more and then say our goodbyes. Short. Sharp. And. Sweet.


This midday catch up was no different. They understood that DH and I wanted to get some shopping time in and after about 3 hours of being in each other’s company, they bid us farewell and we headed on out. We might have been in San Jose; but I knew my way to and out of this area towards the Great Mall in Milpitas.


DH was most impressed when I navigated him towards the Great Mall and it only took us 7 - 10 minutes to get there. What he didn’t know was that I had spent a bit of time driving rings around this area….being lost last year! It just goes to prove that there is no such thing as useless information! For the record, from Santana Row, get on the 880 and stay on it until it intersects the 237.



No pictures…but we did get some more shopping time in at the outlet mall. DH and I were on the hunt for work shoes. Do you know......this is the FIRST time that both of us didn’t find anything that fit the bill. Either the stock was crappy or we were getting much more picky in our old age! Maybe we were just getting old!


But don’t fret. DH and I did walk out with clothes from Gap. On the credit card reality stakes, it was close enough for DH and me to call it a tie on the real spending this time!


We had to call our shopping to a close early. We still have another family catch-up to make and we were only half-way round the bay!

 

[PrincessInOz]

To all Disboard friends and lurkers alike.


I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. May this holiday season be filled with love, laughter, family and food.

Thanks for reading!

 

[ACDSNY]

To all Disboard friends and lurkers alike.


I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. May this holiday season be filled with love, laughter, family and food.

Thanks for reading!

Wow, this is beautiful! We wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year too!

 

[mvf-m11c]

Very nice pictures from Left Bank restaurant and the food porn. The Croque Mousier looks very appetizing.

Nice to hear that you and your DH had a fun time going around the Bay during your trip.

Great update.

We wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

 

[franandaj]

As we have now reached the locale which you are writing about, it's funny. My parents wanted to go to dinner tomorrow night at Santana Row, but for either Il Fornaio or Yankee Clipper. Had they mentioned the place you dined, Fran and I might have been all on top of it. That Croque Minseur looked amazing!

Instead we are going to their favorite Sushi restaurant, which is not too bad either. I can't believe how you guys get around the Bay so quickly. As locals I guess we are stuck in our ways and don't travel that much once we are set. Other than hitting the Disney Museum tomorrow, I doubt we'll get much farther than the borders of San Jose before we go back to the LA area!

 

[dhorner233]

Boy, you and Alison sure get around! But then I'm flying to Washington, DC today!

 

[KCmike]

Merry Christmas Princess!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Wow, this is beautiful! We wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year too!

Hope you're having a great day, Angela.

Very nice pictures from Left Bank restaurant and the food porn. The Croque Mousier looks very appetizing.

Nice to hear that you and your DH had a fun time going around the Bay during your trip.

Great update.

We wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Thanks Bret. Merry Christmas to you as well.

As we have now reached the locale which you are writing about, it's funny. My parents wanted to go to dinner tomorrow night at Santana Row, but for either Il Fornaio or Yankee Clipper. Had they mentioned the place you dined, Fran and I might have been all on top of it. That Croque Minseur looked amazing!

Instead we are going to their favorite Sushi restaurant, which is not too bad either. I can't believe how you guys get around the Bay so quickly. As locals I guess we are stuck in our ways and don't travel that much once we are set. Other than hitting the Disney Museum tomorrow, I doubt we'll get much farther than the borders of San Jose before we go back to the LA area!

Il Fornaio was on the list for DH's cousins. I think that they gave that to us as an option but when I heard "french", the decision was easy.

Hope you're having a great time in NorCal.

Boy, you and Alison sure get around! But then I'm flying to Washington, DC today!

Have a great time in Washington DC, Denise. Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas Princess!

Thanks Mike. Hope you're having a great day with the family.

 

[dhorner233]

Merry Christmas Princess!!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Thanks Denise. That's gorgeous!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Around the Bay….to the East Bay (Seeing a Star and Flashing)



DH always takes a look at the gig calendar in San Francisco prior to one of his trips. It’s about the only thing that I can guarantee he will get done before he even books his plane ticket.

So, we already had Sunday night plans booked! We were meeting more family here…..another one of DH’s cousins and my cousin.


From Milpitas, we kept going on the 880. We passed the Oracle Arena and Oakland Coliseum complex and I grabbed a shot for rentayenta.

Traffic was a little heavy but then I think a game had just finished and we were stuck in the home rush.

Pretty soon, we were approaching our destination.

In the 70’s, Oakland picked up a pretty bad reputation for being a violent heroin town. This came on top of pretty serious organised crime by the Hell’s Angels through the 60’s; and after that, it’s been fighting hard to lose that murderous violent town tag ever since.

I’m not sure if it has succeeded in changing people’s perceptions and even in recent times, violent acts of crime, even if they are significantly less frequent, just seem to reinforce the view. Still, the town council has made significant steps towards cleaning up Oakland and there are bits of it that can be considered reasonably pretty. Oakland main trade is predominantly marine cargo and you can catch a ferry from Fisherman’s Wharf over to Jack London Square.

Jack London Square or Jack London District has been transformed into a precinct full of pubs, restaurants, clubs and tourist traps.

The Amtrak runs through this street…..I was never quick enough to grab a picture of it; but it was quite amusing to see the big trains just sharing the street with pedestrians and cars.

Our destination is that corner place in the picture above. Yoshi’s.

Yoshi’s is a restaurant and jazz club that boasts the talents of Chef Sho…..San Francisco’s Iron Chef. The menu is distinctively Japanese; although, I would argue that it is more a fusion of traditional Japanese cuisine with some slant towards the Occidental flavours. I wish I could share some pictures of the food; but we had rung Yoshi’s beforehand and were advised that whilst photography was permitted, dSLR cameras were not allowed in the establishment. The food was good and I would be happy to come and eat here again.


DH did bring his semi-automatic camera, which was allowed, so there are some shots of the night. So the next 6 shots are his.

The jazz club holds about 450 people and I suspect that if it was truly at capacity, there would be no room to breathe.

We scored a decent seat and one of our cousins took this shot of us at our right-at-the-front table.

Yes, FOUR of us squeezed round that table, together with our nosh!



Who were we seeing?

Tonight, we were at the early show for the legendary jazz guitarist, Earl Klugh.

His band was slammin’ and we all just LOVED the show.

To our surprise, we found out that Earl Klugh was going to be out in the entry area signing autographs (and selling CD’s). He still had a later show to prep for and it is rather rare for performers to want to break their focus in-between shows.


There were a lot of CDs sold that night! We left with 2.


As I did have my camera with me (I certainly wasn’t leaving it in the car!), he agreed to let me take his picture. As it isn’t every day that you meet a celebrity and in order to guarantee the shot, I got DH to put the camera into automatic mode. I am not ashamed to say that I had stars in my eyes and I certainly wasn’t beyond flashing!

But rest assured……I flashed for DH as well.

(Continued in Next Post)

 

[PrincessInOz]

(Continued from Previous Post)


Around the Bay….via the City by the Bay (Bay Bridge)





When the show was over, we offered to drop both cousins home. Afterall, both the locals had come by BART and we were the ones with the rental wheels.


My cousin lives near the Painted Ladies, Alamo Square. So, we kept going around the Bay on the 880 to the 80 and into the Downtown area. This route took us on to the Bay Bridge; and I couldn’t resist.

This is part of the Eastern Span from Yerba Buena Island to Oakland.

Heading down towards the Island.

The Western Span from Yerba Buena Island towards San Francisco downtown.

We were totally in the wrong lane and DH did offer to swap. I don’t know what he didn’t do so….but this is the only view I have of the downtown area at night.

We dropped my cousin off and then made our way to the San Mateo area where DH’s cousin lives. And just for the heck of it, I perversely suggested we take the 280 back to San Mateo instead of the 101.


Why?


Because we had started out our day around the bay driving along the 280 after we finished at Half Moon Bay to San Jose. It just felt like autobahn closure to me. We’d started off in Silicon Valley and had made our way to San Jose, Milpitas, Oakland, San Francisco downtown, San Mateo and back again. In total, we did over 200 miles in this day.


After we finished with our chauffeuring duties, we headed back to the hotel. It had been a pretty good day catching up with everyone.

Tomorrow was the start of a long work week for DH……and I was going to be travelling solo during the daytime!

 

[aussietravellers]

Boxing day catch up reading for me. Loved the photos of the farm, corn maze and roadside stall! That meal at the Left Bank looked delicious. I was looking at the menu like I was going to order I thought to myself, what am I doing, it's not like I can pop there for lunch! But I chose the Croque Monsieur too! That just looked divine! Mouth watering.

Loved the look of the streets and shopping area after lunch. I'd love to visit that area one day. Will pop it on my life to do list.

Looks like it was a very busy, full on day!

 

[rentayenta]

Thank you for the shot. The boys had an amazing trip and I can't thank you enough for your hotel recommendation. We got to hear more fun stories over dinner yesterday.

Great update and hope you had a Merry Christmas.

 

[franandaj]

You guys really got ALL OVER the bay! My parents thought we were crazy to go as far as the Oakridge Mall to go shopping today. I can't even imagine travleing the distance that you did in one day!

 

[ACDSNY]

You're a better pro at getting around the Bay Area than most locals!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Boxing day catch up reading for me. Loved the photos of the farm, corn maze and roadside stall! That meal at the Left Bank looked delicious. I was looking at the menu like I was going to order I thought to myself, what am I doing, it's not like I can pop there for lunch! But I chose the Croque Monsieur too! That just looked divine! Mouth watering.

Loved the look of the streets and shopping area after lunch. I'd love to visit that area one day. Will pop it on my life to do list.

Looks like it was a very busy, full on day!

That menu shot was only about 25% of the total menu. There was quite a few more options. And the food was divine.

Thank you for the shot. The boys had an amazing trip and I can't thank you enough for your hotel recommendation. We got to hear more fun stories over dinner yesterday.

Great update and hope you had a Merry Christmas.

Glad the hotel worked out. I think that you might also need to thank Kaoden as well. I think she and I recommended that hotel roughly about the same time.

You guys really got ALL OVER the bay! My parents thought we were crazy to go as far as the Oakridge Mall to go shopping today. I can't even imagine travleing the distance that you did in one day!

Yup. Round that bay in a day. I figured the locals would appreciate how much travelling we did get done that Sunday.

You're a better pro at getting around the Bay Area than most locals!

Ahhhhh.....Angela.

The deliciousness of your statement has me in stitches over here.

So many connotations.....most, if not all, so DisAppropriate!!

 

[rentayenta]

Thank you too to Michele for the SF hotel recommendation. Michael doesn't believe me but I always tell him, if you want info on anything. someone on the DIS will know. It's like Google but with friends.

 

[mvf-m11c]

You and your DH had a great time all around the bay. Nice pictures when you were in the car and Yoshi's restaurant.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Thank you too to Michele for the SF hotel recommendation. Michael doesn't believe me but I always tell him, if you want info on anything. someone on the DIS will know. It's like Google but with friends.

And you don't even have to ask the question! Someone else will have already asked it so you can lurk and appear really clever!

You and your DH had a great time all around the bay. Nice pictures when you were in the car and Yoshi's restaurant.

Thanks Bret. We did have a great time. Always nice catching up with family and friends in San Francisco.