Habib and Jila (pronounced Zhee-lah) have extended their visit from about three to six months. What to do? Well, today Zari and I hurtled with them through Bay Area space.
Our point of origin was Martinez whence we rode up to Sonoma through Vallejo and along SR37, our first destination being Cline Cellars where they were having a small jazz festival. From there we crossed the street to the recently opened Jacuzzi Winery. It's really quite pretty and harbors tasting rooms for both wine and olive oil. The wine is only mezza mezz', but it is a really great venue to have a wedding or a quinceañera. Then the vinous part of our tour came to an end and we motored back down to SR37 and SR101 over to the lighthouse on Point Bonita. Lots of pelicans and harbor seals today. The weight limit on the rickety bridge leading to the lighthouse has been dropped from five adults to two ... made me think twice about crossing. Lunch was a picnic on a blanket not far from the lighthouse in a location where we could see both the Pacific and Rodeo Lagoon ... romantic, if I do say so myself. From there my FasTrak clicked off five bucks for the Golden Gate Bridge. We struggled up Lombard Street in bumper-to-bumper traffic on a rather steep incline plane in order to struggle down the "world's crookedest street" after which coffee and pastry were enjoyed in North Beach. We took a little walk and purchased some allegedly Italian cookies at Victoria's Bakery for tomorrow's guests ("allegedly" because they ran out of pinoli and put almonds on the pinoli cookies ... and they thought I wouldn't notice!!) And then we headed over the Bay Bridge homeward. (If I had had more energy, we might have scooted down to Treasure Island ... highly recommended as a photo op.)
Quite a circle and quite a lot of fun! You can do the same starting from San Francisco.