When life gives you lemons, go to wine country

My sister Kim and I went to San Francisco this past weekend. The highlight of our trip was going to be attending to the 49ers game and sitting in the box with Coach Mike Nolan’s wife and her family. Unfortunately for them (and for us), Coach Nolan got fired five days before our trip.

We got to our hotel on Friday night. We took a cab to the North Beach Restaurant and met Ron Barr, our new friend who had helped arrange our trip and who is the voice and part owner of Sports Byline.

The cab ride was a thrill. Unlike most tourists, we told the driver we had never been there before and said it was okay to go out of the way to show us a few neat sites. He took us for a joy ride on the steepest road and the windiest road, we were screeching. He stopped the cab and we took pictures of the view of the city at night. The cab driver walked with a cane (when we got out for pictures), so I suppose that helped the meter run up. I asked him what happened to his leg and he said his foot was run over by another cab. He made it sound like an accident, but Kim and I decided that the world of cabbies is cut-throat. We gave him a big tip.

It was great to finally meet Ron in person. He knew the owner of the restaurant, who sat with us for awhile and let us sample olive oil made from his grove. Ron ordered some awesome pasta dishes which we sampled. Then our friend Pat and his girlfriend Lisa came and joined us. Pat had just gotten back from testifying at the fratricide trial going on at Fort Bragg. Ron left at close to midnight and Pat and Lisa took us around the city for another hour, showing us the sights at night.

On Saturday, we went to Ron’s house and met his wife. She had to go to a memorial so we didn’t get much time with her, but she was really nice and looked awesome. Amazing what a lifetime of aerobics does for you (note to self). Ron took us around for a couple hours, showing us where to come back to, and stopping a few times for us to walk around, take pictures, and sit by the water. We had lunch by his pool and then Kim and I went to Salsalido and next walked the Golden Gate Bridge. We got back to the hotel and were lucky enough to find a free parking spot for the second day in a row and declared ourselves to have parking karma.

Pat and Lisa picked us up and took us to the Fisherman’s Wharf area and Pier 39. Pier 39 has hundreds of fat sea lions lying on docks. They were bedding down for the night and there would be a pier full all spooning together and a new one would swim up and jump on top of the rest, causing them to bark and yell and bite each other. The stink was incredible, but it was so mesmerizing. We walked around and then ate at a delicious Italian restaurant.

On Sunday, Kim and I got up early and hit Chinatown. Then, instead of the game, we went to wine country. We met at Pat’s and he had borrowed a 1966 Mustang convertible from his friend and we drove to Napa in it. Pat’s dad and his wife also went with us in their classic Jag convertible. I haven’t seen Pat’s dad since Bob was a captain teaching at West Point and Pat was a cadet, and he looked great. The weather was perfect and the drive was fun. Pat would look back and say, “Too windy?” and Kim and I with hair sticking out every which way, would say, “No.” We went to Sonoma next and sampled wine there. You have to love the life there, beautiful location, fit people, and surrounded by wine!

We had to leave for the airport at 4 am on Monday and it was then that our parking karma ended. We had a $50 ticket on the car. We sat there stunned wondering what we had possibly violated. Then we realized that it was Monday and when we parked, we followed the rules for Sunday, we hadn’t thought through that the midnight hour was coming to change the day. So, their $70 million deficit is now $69,999,950.