Three Days In The City By The Bay
This Memorial Day Weekend, I will be taking the (hopefully) friendly skies of United up the California coast to spend three days in the City by the Bay, golden moments to come in the shadows of the Golden Gate Bridge.
I will be in San Francisco for a travel blogger’s press trip that will take myself and PubClubette Ashley to Alcatraz – where I hope we can make our “escape” when the tour is finished, haha – on a trolley ride to a jazz concert and to California’s most famous wine country.
For this, I will (thankfully) miss most of Fiesta Hermosa, the three-day local festival with small bands and a small beer garden that is quick to wear thin on one with too much exposure.
I will also not be able to watch the Indy 500, tho I’ll be rooting the most for James Hinchcliff, a friend who is one of the 10 friendliest drivers in the race.
What I will be doing is getting back to a place that I have spent many a good days and nights, a place I know well and one of my favorite travel destinations. As is always the case in a great destination there are new things to explore and I’m looking forward to going to Alcatraz for the first time and back to Napa Valley and Sonoma Valley for the first time in several years.
Our host hotel is the Hilton San Francisco Union Square and Parc 55, a great location in the true heart of what locals call “the City.”
Here is a schedule of activities:
Friday, May 24
• Dinner at Urban Tavern (Ground level of Hilton SF Union Square)
• After-dinner drinks and dessert at Cityscape, a bar on top of the Hilton
Saturday, May 25
• Breakfast at Poached (Ground level of Hilton SF Union Square)
• Alcatraz Island on Alcatraz Cruises and Future IDs exhibit
• 55th Anniversary encounter and viewing of film/Divisdero Room
• Dinner at Kin Khao
• Trolly pick up at hotel to get to SFJazz
• SF Jazz Concert (201 Franklin Street) – Marcus Shelby
• Trolly pick up at SFJazz and return to hotel
Sunday, May 26
• Breakfast at Poached
• Tower Tours Wine Country Encounter
Included in this elevated Wine Country experience is a winery visit to one of Sonoma’s spectacular wine caves, followed by a seated wine & cheese tasting; sampling of a working Sonoma Valley olive oil and Balsamic vinegar production mill; a visit to a Napa chocolate shop for a tasting of wine-infused truffles, beer and wine-flavored brittles; and lunch in historic downtown Sonoma.
If there’s time, PubClubette Ashley and myself might pop into John’s Grill for one of the best places to get San Francisco’s signature drink, the Cable Car Cocktail. Or to the Marina District so I can revisit some of the city’s traditional watering holes like Balboa Cafe. Perhaps we’ll even get to the Buena Vista, the place that brought the Irish Coffee drink to America.
If not, I’m sure we’ll find some haunts that will make this a memorable Memorial Day Weekend.
RELATED POST:
• Top Places To Spend Memorial Day Weekend
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