Wednesday, July 28, 2010

NoCal in July

Familia,

It's time for me to accompany Joe in Northern Cali for a little while again.I got here last Thursday night, had dinner in Downtown Palo Alto and set out to do my exploring in Santa Clara, where our hotel is, on Friday. The weather is PERFECT. They're experiencing a "Cold Front", so temps are in the mid 70's.....Aaaahhhhhh!!!!

On Saturday we changed hotels, from Palo Alto to Santa Clara (Better beds, Joe says). Joe took care of some work stuff and we headed out to Gilroy, where the Annual Gilroy Garlic Festival was going on. As most of you know, our family is not fond of garlic (YES, we're aware of all the nutritional value, etc )and IT is not fond of us either. So I have no pictures or stories to tell you......other than the whole time we were in Gilroy, walking around and exploring, we could smell nothing but GARLIC......roated, sauteed, marinated.....you name it....we smelled it!

On Sunday , after work-out and sun bathing by the pool, we headed out to Sonoma via Downtown San Francisco. Joey and Julie always told us to make sure to take a "jacket", not just sweater or wind breaker, but a JACKET if you're going to spend ANY time in San Fran........and YES......it was cold, windy and in some parts rainy, in the City by the Bay. It's like driving into La Dimension Desconocida....

Golden Gate Bridge


SF Capitol


Do you know the way to Sonoma & Napa ? Notice how sunny it is, just a few miles north of SF ?


Papi fell in love with Sonoma; he said he could live there NOW. It is very picturesque and it has a super positive energy flow, PLUS it's Sunny, most of the time.

Sonoma Park

On our way back we stopped in Sausalito for dinner at Scoma Restaurant on the water

San Francisco view from Sausalito




Local Fruit from the Fruit Basket Market in Sonoma






Last Night we realized that we only have a couple of nights left in Sunny Cali before we head back to Colorful CO........SO......before heading out to dinner we had Happy Hour in our room





We had dinner at Parcel 104, a restaurant famous for serving ALL locally grown food. The menu changes every day, based on what Chef Carlos Sanchez gets that very same day, from local growers. Joey and Julie visited the restaurant a couple of times when they lived in San Jose. The Best Part....The Restaurant is IN our hotel !!

Joe and I could not just enjoy ALL Locally Grown Food without a nice bottle of Alexander Valley Silver Oak Cabernet ...It was Awesome!!


Monterey Heirloom Tomato Soup


Half Moon Bay Greens


I should have taken pictures of our Main Entress, Pork Loin Chop for Joe and Spearfish for me.....but I guess I was overly excited when we got our entrees...and we just ATE them. They were beautifully presented and tasted heavenly.

Dessert: Passion Fruit Milkshake, Berry Whipped ice Cream, Mini Lava Cake, Chocolate Mousse


Later on today, and tomorrow, I'm heading out to explore the land of McCaffee, Yahoo, EMC2, all company headquarters in this area of Santa Clara.
The flowers are just SO Amazing (I'm so amazing!) I must take pictures and share them with you all. No, it's not "a threat"....Counselor.....

Con Carino,
MoonRaka

4 comments:

Suzanne said...

Gorgeous photos Handy!

Deb said...

I wish I could do some traveling/adventuring with John. Maybe one of these days when we don't have dogs or have someone to watch them.....
We did the Napa Valley tours maybe next time we'll do Sonoma.
That food looks scrumptious!!

MoonRaka said...

Suca, thanks ! It's easy to take pictures here.....everything seems SO colorful, fresh, in "touch" with the the rest of the world.

Deibie: It's nice to be able to spend time with my Papi while we're away from home. There's a totally different vibe in the situation. Of course, while he's at work, one has to be willing to venture out and find the fun; or kick back, read and relax.....so many ways to make it interesting.

Suca and I were talking about how it can be fun, regardless of where you go.....It's what you make it. Although, I admit that Cali is a very specila place.

It's also good for Joe to break away from work at a decent time, knowing I'm waiting for him at the hotel. The man is a Work Beast.....NO, I'm not complaining.

Love My Cunadas!

Joe Morales said...

I LOVE all of those places... Man I need to get back out there soon! Thanks for the photos mom.. You just brought back a lot of memories that are not tapped into on a daily basis!