California Christmas Party

This year, Bruce's company had their Christmas party in Sacramento, California where one of their offices is located so that's where we traveled over the weekend.  I rarely turn down an opportunity to go to California.  There is just something about it there; the weather, the food, the scenery, the shopping, the sightseeing, the natural beauty...We love it all.  This visit, we particularly loved the weather.  I don't know how many times we said, "Oh, the temperature is so perfect!"   We flew into Sacramento, went to the Christmas party, then traveled to Napa Valley for some wine tasting, then to San Fransisco for sightseeing.  I can't even tell you which part was the best because it was all just so wonderful.  Actually, I can tell you the worse part and that was the four hour delay leaving Seattle because of fog.  We were that close to just leaving the airport, go home and forget about the whole trip.  But I'm glad we didn't now.  Delta did their best to appease us by providing snacks from McDonald's at the gate. 

Boy, I can't tell you the last time I had a McDonald's cheeseburger...it tasted pretty good, actually.  It also helped that we sat in first class and was immediately served beverages.  Let the party begin.

They served lunch and I had the German sausage and potato plate which was a step up from McDonald's

and Bruce had the shrimp salad plate.  I will tell you the food gets better and better as the trip goes on.  

The scenery is gorgeous flying from Seattle to Sacramento.  First we flew over Mt. St. Helens

and then Crater Lake.

The flight is only 1-1/2 hours but we barely got there in time for the party at 6:00 p.m. because of the four hour delay.  The party was at the hotel where we stayed at the Sacramento Hyatt Regency so that was easy. 

I particularly enjoyed visiting with people I don't see very often, like my nephew, Peter, and his wife who live in Iowa.  Last time I saw Peter was when we were in Sweden before our Italy trip.  That was such a fun trip. 

It was also fun to see people from Boise where Bruce worked before we moved to Seattle. 

It's always good to get caught up with people and to get to know other people better, especially the people from the Midwest who I don't see as often.  Our meal was very good at the Hyatt Regency.  Bruce had appetizers while we were socializing before dinner but I still was not real hungry after my German sausage and potato plate on the plane. 

I purposely did not want to be hungry at this party because I wanted to focus more on socializing with people more than on eating, if you know what I mean.  But we all did eventually sit down to eat.  Our meal started with a salad of bitter greens, which I don't care for but they were very good quality bitter greens with a nice light dressing with candied walnuts and pomegranate seeds. 

The entree was steak and crab cake with roasted vegetables, very good!

Dessert was tiramisu

  or pumpkin cheesecake which I had.  I was back to talking with others by this time so did not eat much of it but it was good, too. 

They did a raffle where people got to select gifts from under the Christmas tree which was fun and some people got awards for working for the company for so many years; you know, the usual company Christmas party agenda.   

For me, it was just good to see people again and visit with them so it was definitely worth the effort to get there.  Last year, we did not make it because of a big snow storm in Boise so it's actually been two years since I've been to Bruce's company Christmas party.  Bruce usually goes to the main party in Des Moines, Iowa, too.  This year they combined the Boise office and Sacramento office so there is only two parties instead of three.  One is really enough for me.  I don't like being away two weekends in December with so much holiday stuff going on at home.  The party was fun, though.  The next day we contemplated what to do next.  Only a few people were actually flying home the next day.  Many people were taking side trips to the Napa Valley or San Fransisco or visiting friends or relatives who lived nearby.  We were planning on driving to San Fransisco but decided to take a side trip to the Napa Valley, too.  We drove to the town of Napa and found an exquisite breakfast place called  Grace's Table.

I think the pancakes were the best I've had.  They were sourdough with a nice crispiness on the outside with a grilled banana on top.  It doesn't really look like much but they tasted really good on this morning.  Grace's Table focuses on being a cheerful bistro providing comfort food from around the world. Well, it definitely made us cheerful.  Bruce had an egg dish with a cinnamon roll which was also really good.  I'd highly recommend Grace's Table if you are in Napa.  

After breakfast we just walked around the super cute little downtown of Napa.  We just loved it.  The weather was the perfect temperature.

Lots of cute antique shops.   

Notice the sign on the window thanking the first responders for fighting the wildfires.  We didn't see any effects of the wildfires where were went but I know we were close.  

The town of Napa is like Main Street, USA.  A beautiful little church from 1854

and a old time theater, cuter than our neighborhood Admiral theater. 

We especially like the old historic Napa mill that they converted into a shopping area, restaurants and apartment complex with a nice little walkway along the river.  

There were a lot of photo ops here, as you can see. 

After Napa, we started driving along the Silverado Trail which is the eastern part of the Napa Valley, the more serene side.  We immediately stopped at Stag's Leap Wine Cellars.

This was a beautiful winery but we needed reservations to taste wine in the outdoor seating area so we didn't stay. 

We really wanted to be outside because the temperature was so perfect so we continued on.  Next stop, Charles Krug winery that had beautiful grounds but it was all indoors so we just walked around looking at the beautiful grounds. 

We were fascinated with the persimmon trees.  They were amazing and full of fruit.

An employee saw us gawking at the trees and came over to explain them to us which is how we knew they were persimmons. 

We finally found a winery where we could sit outside, walk around more gorgeous grounds and they had a gift shop.  Perfect.  This was at Beringer Vineyards and  we got our only photo of us together.

They were generous with their tastings here and even let us taste extra ones. 

I was able to do some Christmas shopping in their excellent gift shop.

We were probably here a couple of hours just enjoying the atmosphere and taking it all in.  We bought three bottles of their reserve wine for Christmas dinner since we're hosting this year so we were set.  

After leaving the Napa Valley, it was on to beautiful San Fransisco, one our favorite places to visit.  That Golden Gate Bridge is always a thrill.

It turns out that San Fransisco was having a SantaCon going on in town when we arrived so as soon as we checked into our hotel, we headed out to Union Square that was the center of SantaCon.  

I've never been involved in a SantaCon before but apparently it's a pub crawl where everyone dresses up as Santa or something festive for the season, like a reindeer, or the Grinch

or a polar bear

or whatever your imagination can think of and we saw a lot of interesting outfits. 

My favorite were these guys, sort of like Men in Black or actually, Men in Red...

Union Square was so entertaining Saturday night with the SantaCon happening. 

  

We had dinner reservations for dinner so after taking in all the sights at Union Square, we headed back to our hotel and drove to the Cliff House.

I was here 40+ years ago with my sister who lived in the area and I remember how impressive this spot was.  The Cliff House has been around since 1863 but it's burned down three times.  It use to look like this:

The last remodel was in 2003.  It took on it's current structure of the 1909 neoclassical style it once had.  This was our best meal of the trip by leaps and bounds.  Bruce and I ordered seafood but even the sourdough rolls were exceptional.  This is San Fransisco, after all, known for it's sourdough bread.  We couldn't stop eating the bread, it was so good.  Our server said that it's very common for people to fill up on the bread because it's so good.

Bruce ordered the Caesar salad

and I ordered the roasted squash soup with sage tempura crispies.

It was delicious but I wish I would have gotten the salad because Bruce's salad was again, the best I've tasted.  I loved the anchovies and the lettuce was so fresh and crisp with just the right amount of dressing.  He let me taste it but I could have eaten all his salad.  My soup was more filling, plus with the bread, I was getting too full...Fortunately, my dinner was not a filling dinner.  I got the Thai Style Bouillabaisse with shrimp, clams, mussels, salmon, halibut, crab red curry coconut shellfish broth.  It came with rosemary focaccia which I immediately removed because I didn't want that to distract from the flavorful dish, plus those rolls were still just so good...

My dish was excellent and I loved it.  Bruce ordered the sole that our server deboned for him right at our table and it was superb, too.  Like I said, this was our best meal of the trip.

The next day we wanted to return because we couldn't see the view at night but the sound of the waves was lovely as we walked to and from the restaurant.  Right next to this restaurant is a recreation area called Lands End, the most northwestern corner of San Fransisco that has views of the entrance of the bay.

There are multiple hiking trails here

and with it being such a gorgeous day with the most perfect temperature, we enjoyed the breathtaking views here.

It doesn't get much better than this.  San Fransisco, we will return.