Happy Labor Day! I hope you are so enjoying the extra time off of work and are using it to take care of yourself, do some fun things, and spend time with family.
We are in California for the week! We left Detroit early Saturday morning and flew to the San Francisco airport. Chris has family in the area, so his uncle picked us up from the airport to stay with him and his family for the next few days. When we got to the cute town they live in, we immediately stopped for Mexican food and then made our way to their house to lay out in the pool for the afternoon. I was a wreck from the time change and from having to wake up so early to go to the airport, so I was pretty much a zombie for all of Saturday and I won’t bore you with the details of the rest of the day. But after sleeping for almost 10 hours on Saturday night, I felt a million times better.
On Sunday morning we went to the gym with Chris’s uncle in hopes of getting a day pass, and we ended up talking to the most helpful girl who gave us a free week-long pass! I can tell you that I am going to enjoy this trip so much more now that I can work out a few times throughout the week. We were so grateful to her. I did a really good, sweaty full-body workout that looked something like:
10 minute warm-up on the treadmill
3 sets of 10, 8, and 6 assisted pull-ups and tricep dips
3 sets of 20 and 10/side of leg presses
10 TRX rows, 10 box jumps, and 20 kettlebell swings (3x through)
1o bosu ball thrusters, 10/side weighted box step ups, 10 Russian twist extensions w/ medicine ball (3x through)
15 minutes of good stretching and foam rolling
All while listening to the new Taylor Swift song. I am not ashamed one bit to say how much I am loving her new music. That workout coupled with the sleep, drinking a ton of water, and a cup of coffee was like magic for me.
After we got back home and cleaned ourselves up, we headed out again to catch the public transportation system here to go downtown San Francisco. There is not much I hate more than being stuck in an enclosed space with a bunch of other people, so the train ride into the city did not do me any favors. I was feeling pretty terrible by the time we got off, and unfortunately we literally picked the hottest weekend of the year to come to San Francisco (100-ish degrees yesterday!), so our day did not go exactly as we had hoped. The water was really pretty though.
It was really hazy out from a forest-fire nearby, so we really couldn’t see too much that you expect to see when you come to San Francisco. We are planning on going back later in the week though, so hopefully I take some pictures like this one 😉
The city was just so crowded and hot and overwhelming, but we managed to stop at a handful of good bars/restaurants throughout the day to share a drink and appetizer. Our favorite was a place called Coqueta that served Spanish-style drinks and tapas.
We started out with a “party pitcher” of some concoction of liquor and blood orange juice – basically a fancy mimosa. It was so nice and refreshing after walking around in the heat for so long! We also shared a cheese plate that was crazy delicious.
Unfortunately, none of the restaurants had their air conditioning on! We had been planning on getting a nice dinner in the city, but after being miserable and sweaty for 6-ish hours, we decided to catch the train back to Walnut Creek to have dinner there instead. A fantastic recommendation from Chris’s uncle led us to the Broderick. This was exactly what we needed after the day we had just had, and we were so happy to find the air conditioning on full blast as soon as we stepped into the restaurant.
It was busy, but quiet, and I truly could have taken a little nap in the super comfortable booth we were sitting at. I ordered a cold glass of Sauvignon Blanc and a huge buttermilk fried chicken sandwich with their delicious fries. Chris had a beer and a boar burger with their buffalo bleu cheese fries, and we were in heaven. It felt so nice to sit down and relax with him after a crazy day.
After dinner his aunt and uncle met us to walk around a bit and find some ice cream. The town of Walnut Creek is awesome, so we definitely want to go back and explore a day this week. We wandered into a homemade ice cream shop where I got a small scoop of “pear prosecco sorbet.” So delicious – it literally tasted like a pear and prosecco were mashed together in a little cup.
By the time we got back to their house it was about 9:30, and we had big plans to watch an episode of Desperate Housewives, but I’m pretty sure we both fell asleep within exactly one minute of laying down in bed. It was a long, somewhat frustrating day, but I really am so happy to have just spent the day with Chris exploring a new-to-us place.
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Today we are planning on going for a hike! Apparently there are quite a few close-by hiking trails up on mountains around here, which I am really jealous of. I would love to have something like that back in Michigan. Fingers crossed that we are able to get there before the real heat of the day sets in, although it’s not supposed to be nearly as warm the rest of the week as it was the last two days.
The rest of the week, we have quite a few plans that I am really excited about – most especially going to Napa Valley/Sonoma for two days. I have been looking forward to that for so long. For a wine-lover like me, it is basically paradise. We have some reservations at beautiful wineries and a great Italian restaurant for dinner, so I am also really excited for a couple of super romantic days with Chris in such a beautiful area.
Have a great Labor Day 🙂
If you have ever been to the San Francisco and/or Napa areas, I would love to hear recommendations!
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