Brian has a business trip to San Fran and we decided to make a quick childless, dogless trip out of it. Yes!!
Sooo yesterday we packed up the dogs and the kids and all of their stuff and dropped everything off at their respective care takers and headed off to the airport. Once we got to the airport long term parking we noticed the signs posted that you can check your bags way out at the long term parking lot and not have to schlep them on the tram to the terminal. Excellent. It was quick and since it is a new service there was absolutely no line at all. We parked the car and got on the new shuttle. It is a computerized and high tech vehicle with no driver that runs on a track. As you enter, it welcomes you to the "friendliest airport in America" ha.
Things are going smoothly but will soon get better. Once we are in the terminal we go to Paradise Bakery to get some breakfast. Then we head to our gate. Once we are able to find a seat at our busy gate we hear an announcement that there are first class seats available for $100. mmmm I look over at Brian and smile. We had already been tempted with an email a couple of days earlier that we could upgrade to first class for $150/person but declined. Good thing, cuz I would have been peeved if I paid the $150 ahead of time and then got there to see that others were paying $100. snort. So my wonderful husband dutifully got up and went to inquire about the said first class seats. Next thing you know, we are one of the first to board the aircraft and sitting in first class. Lots of leg room. Our own pillow and blanket that we don't have to fight for. Drinks before we depart. Snacks and more snacks. More drinks once we are air born. Very friendly service. You get the picture. Happy Mother's Day to me. :)
Fast forward. We arrive, get our bag, get a taxi to the hotel and arrive at the hotel. We are greeted at the Palace hotel by a very friendly check in employee. I'm sure they get paid to be friendly, but it is nice when one gets the feeling that they are genuinely friendly. Our room is ready early and we can proceed to drop our stuff off and come up with a plan.
We decide we need lunch and want dim sum. Off to the concierge to find out how far Chinatown is. Concierge-man says that there is no need to go all the way to Chinatown and that there is a fantastic dim sum place called Yank Sing 1.5 blocks away. He calls them to let them know that we are on our way and could they please have a table ready for us. We walk straight ahead "90 degrees"(?? inside joke) to the dim sum restaurant and they are ready for us. We get seated and begin one of the best dim sum dinners that we have ever had. The food was good...REALLY good!! Yay Yank Sing!!
Clockwise, starting on the far left. Pork soup potstickers with the red wine vinegar and ginger sauce to put over the top. These potstickers had a little ball of pork filling and broth inside each pouch. Next, at 12'oclock, is the sea bass. I will be dreaming of this sea bass for the rest of my life. It was perfectly cooked, buttery, supple, melt in your mouth goodness. Shrimp egg rolls are crispy and delightful. Potstickers, always a must.
We ordered hot tea and were brought a beautiful clear teapot with jasmine tea inside. Flowery and delicious. I love this tea pot because we could sit and watch as the tea leaves were steeping and the spout was perfectly designed to pour the tea without a drip. One little secret of mine, I can never end a dim sum meal until I have had my egg custard tarts. These were still warm and delicious.
Here is a picture of our to go bag and the chocolate fortune cookies that had a happy Mother's Day wish inside.
I'm full and want a nap, but we decide to walk off our meal and go shopping. If you know me, you know I'm not really a shopper unless it has something to do with kitchen gadgetry. But it's just me and my man and he's offering to shop, so what can I say. We went into the 7 floor Macys, the William Sonoma, a ton of clothing stores with $2000 jackets. I did find a fabulous turqoise wrap around bracelet at Lucky Brand and it became even more fabulous when I was checking out and it rang up at 30% off.
We walked around Union Square Park, up and down Geary, Powell and Market streets until my sore foot could handle no more. I'm not sure what I was thinking, or not thinking when I chose to wear my cute polkadot shoes over my functional Nikes, but it was bad and I was hobbling and my leg was cramping.
So we took a little break in our room to rest my foot and eat a banana.
After resting and Face-timing with my children we were ready to head out and hit the town again.
Shopping trip part deux brought us to the large and amazing Gap store where I found one of those long striped skirts. I have been pining for one of these maxi skirts for a while now. I don't like that they are called Maxi skirts, its weird and reminds me of Maxi Pads. huh But I got it anyways along with a darling polkadot tank top that I couldn't resist. I cannot resist anything with polkadots.
After shopping we decided to have a late dinner at a steak place called John's Grill. Brian had fish with a great butter sauce and I had a steak. The place has been there forever and is filled with famous movie star pictures. It was good, but not great and when I'm in San Fran, I'm looking for great!
We decided to stop at Ghirardelli Ice Cream for dessert on the way back to the hotel which made me feel like I wanted to explode.
The first afternoon in San Francisco was a huge success. We were met by lovely, friendly people and had a lot of good luck come our way. I just hope we didn't use up all our good luck on the first day.
Viking women love to run around San Francisco.
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