20 hours of travel, and 4 hours of sleep; Rachel’s aunt had a day of fun planned for us. Hoping to be fortified for the day ahead, Rachel and I each had a big cup of coffee (usually we never touch the stuff). We psyched ourselves up, though, and piled into the car for a tour around Saratoga and Santa Cruz. On the way, we passed a local winery, and since our day trip to Napa got edited out of the vacation schedule, we thought it was worth a stop.

You know what’s a great idea, at 11:30 am, on 4 hours of sleep, a bagel, and a large cup of coffee? A wine tasting. The Pichietti winery makes some delicious wines, and I heartily recommend them, but let’s just say that the subsequent 3 hours driving up and down winding mountain roads didn’t make for a completely enjoyable experience. Rachel threw up on some lovely scenic redwoods.

Wine Tasting

We eventually stopped at a beautiful beach, Crashing surf complete with dramatic rocks and crashing surf and crazy people in bikinis in 60 degrees. The fresh air did everyone some good, and we took a straighter and more level route home. After a bit of a nap, we were both feeling a little better for our separate excursions into San Francisco.

Rachel spent the evening with her cousin. She reports the evening consisted mainly of lying on a bed and sipping soup with Saltines crumbled into it. (I guess her stomach wasn’t fully recovered.)

I met up with my friend Debbie for an evening on the town. We had dinner at a fabulous “small plates” restaurant near her house, and then met up with a bunch of her friends at a bar they apparently frequent. We spent most of the time on the patio out back to avoid the band that was playing, which was appropriately called “Trainwreck.” The group of us had a good time inventing alternate names for the band: “Hello San Francisco! We’re Low Expectations…”

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