Hi All!! Just back from a nice vacation in the San Francisco Bay area. What a beautiful place!! We actually stayed in Tiburon, CA. (Quick quiz: What's the tennis connection??) We had a great week. I'll fill in some details later.

:D

Hey Nick :D

You escaped from Alcatraz ;)

Hope you had a good time in SF - my fave US city

is Agassi the connection?

He used to live there ? :unsure:
But has since sold the property fro over $20 million :D

that's just great! do you have any photographs, i'm sure we'ld all love to see them!

I love San Francisco, a great city :D

I wanna go back now :(

How you had a good time Nick :)

well done!

Who sings that song ' If you're going to san francisco'?

its bugging me now roflmao

Let's see . . . .

Day 1 - Travel day. Met up with my sister in San Fran. once we got in. Visited a while, then went out to dinner at a trendy Indian restaurant. Very nice. Then made our way to our hotel in Tiburon for some much-needed rest (as it was well past midnight in our home time zone by that time).

Day 2 - Alcatraz. Relaxing morning getting settled and looking around the area where we were staying. Then we went into San Fran. and walked around Fisherman's Wharf / Pier 39, until it was time for our ferry across to Alcatraz. Had a nice tour around there, then back to find a place for dinner. The wharf is pretty touristy, and our dinner was only so-so. From what I've heard, that's par for the course at most eateries in the area. Before heading back, we went to Ghirardelli Square for some sundaes. :)

Day 3 - Sonoma valley. Spent most of the day touring and tasting at several wineries around Sonoma. Very nice for Mrs. and me; tolerable for little Nick. Had a great dinner that night at a little bistro-style restaurant.

Day 4 - Angel Island. This is the "other" island in the middle of S.F. Bay. It's a mountainous island that is a state park. We took the ferry from Tiburon to Angel Island and hiked up one side to the top, then took another trail down the other side. It was about 4.5 miles total. Beautiful scenery, great weather and nice exercise to boot.

Day 5 - Exploratorium. This is a big science museum near the foot of the Golden Gate Bridge. We had planned to go to Muir Woods this day, but it was rainy in the morning, so we went for the indoor activity instead. I've been to this type of museum before, with all kinds of hands-on science exhibits, but this was bigger and more impressive than any others I've seen. We had plans that evening to drive down to Saratoga to visit one of my wife's college friends (Julie), who lives there. We were meeting them at 6pm and got down a bit early, so we did a little driving tour of the town. It's nestled in the Santa Cruz mountains. We stumbled upon another winery in that area and stopped in for a visit. Had a nice visit with Julie and her family, just chatting and having Chinese take-out for dinner.

Day 6 - Muir Woods / Golden Gate Bridge - We got lots of walking in this day!! We went to Muir Woods in the morning and hiked through some of the trails around this Coastal Redwood forest. Stunning views. I'm not sure whether my favourite part was being in the middle of the redwoods or when we were on a higher ridge overlooking the forest, with a view of the ocean. It was a great day, though. This was only 10-15 minutes from where we were staying. We went back for a late lunch, then headed for the Golden Gate Bridge. We parked and walked across the bridge and back. Another spectacular view . . . Then back to the hotel again to change and freshen up, and we went into the city to have dinner with my sis. We went to a Spanish tapas restaurant, which was outstanding. :ok:

Day 7 - Napa valley. The last full day of the trip. The hotel had a nice heated pool, which little Nick and I took advantage of in the morning. We went back to wine country, but a little more relaxed this time, not spending as much time or visiting as many wineries. It was nice, but I think I liked Sonoma better. We got back mid-afternoon and let the kid have some more pool time. Had a nice dinner at a local Tiburon restaurant that night.

Day 8 - Travel day. We planned to stop in the city and visit a bit with my sis again, before heading to the airport, but it was a rainy, yucky morning, so we scrapped that plan and just got loaded up and made the trek through the rain to the airport. We flew into San Jose, south of San Francisco, so we had a bit of a drive (but got good airfare). Made it back home safely, with ourselves and our various bottles of wine intact.

Back to the reality of work now. :(

welcome back.

And, yes, that was the connection. Tiburon was the location of Agassi's estate that he unloaded a while back. I'm not sure exactly where it was located, but there were certainly some beautiful properties around there.

Sounds fab :ok:

does sound very nice :)

Ive never fancied going there despite the obvious :P but it sounds like you had a great time Nick :ok:

Scott MacKenzie, and dont; forget to wear some bloody flowers in your hair ( they might not go with ya leopardskin mind) roflmao

Hope you had a great time Nick :)

Did you meet Karl Malden and Michael Douglas by any chance? :D ;)