Join the Adventure!
Happy 2026 from Fiji! After leaving Boston on Wednesday morning and a layover in Los Angeles (where we made the most of our adventure by renting a car, getting a yummy Mexican lunch, walking along Santa Monica & Venice Beach, and enjoying the Christmas lights …
Coffee here, coffee there, coffee coffee everywhere at the San Francisco Coffee Festival in Fort Mason Festival Pavilion on Saturday Nov 8. One of Raquel’s favorites was the “Shaggy” from Bad Baristas, which made her eyes open wide with all the caffeine and sugar combo …
What a fabulous anniversary day, which started with a gorgeous sunrise:
Although Ben had a full day of meetings, as well as dealing with firefighters,
Raquel took advantage of the gorgeous day and walked up & over Russian Hill, through the Marina, Presidio and Fort Mason.
But the best part of the day, was heading to Berkeley to celebrate our anniversary.
With a delicious dinner of squid & eggplant salad, amazingly delicious chanterelle pasta, melt-in-your mouth rib eye, and “Paris brest” – a French pastry with a ring shaped pastry shell, cream in the middle and toasted almonds on top.
We were so excited for the dinner that we didn’t even get a photo of Ben and Raquel together, but we did get one of the sisters:
Monday Oct 6 was one of the most gorgeous days – sunny and the mid-70s – which was perfect for a ferry ride to Tiburon. After walking past the Carnival cruise ship and hopping on the ferry, we crossed the bay past Alcatraz and Angel …
Although we missed the Folsom Street Fair, we did make it to the Castro Street Fair for some good music, pride booths, coffee at the famous Castro Coffee house next to the old Castro theater, interesting sights, unique body piercings, and some good conversations with …
There is no better way to celebrate Friday than with good friends, family, and music in San Francisco!
In the morning Raquel met up with her friend Sheela, who showed her The Painted Ladies (a row of Victorian houses painted in bright colors during the 1960s colorist movement to highlight their gorgeous architectural details) in Alamo Square and her wonderful neighborhood of Hayes Valley which was booming due to the effects of AI startup investments.
In the afternoon, Ben and Raquel hopped in a Waymo to Golden Gate Park to meet Kyle and a friend for the Hardly Strictly Blue Grass Festival. We LOVE the fact that every weekend there are 2 or 3 different festivals (most of them free!) to choose from in San Francisco.
There were 6 stages of amazing music, so we hopped around and listened to 3 bands.
Raquel’s favorite was The War and Treaty (Michael Trotter Jr. and Tanya Blount-Trotter) on the Rooster Stage
Fortunately Raquel’s friend Maureen messaged her to let her know that we were meeting for dinner at Delfina tonight. So, off we went to quickly change and head off to Dolores Park to meet Brian and Maureen for a spectacular view and a yummy dinner together.
What a fabulous, fun filled day of friends, family and great music!
Sometimes the best trips are spontaneous, like the trip to Napa which we planned the night before we rented a car and drove across the Golden Gate Bridge Our first stop was in downtown Napa for an Ahi burger and some garlic fries at Gott’s …
Love was all around when we joined the San Francisco City Guide’s walking tour of Haight-Ashbury to learn the history of 60’s Rock music (Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Joni Mitchell, Big Brother & the Holding Company) as well as the architecture of the …
Saturday, September 27, was the 35th Anniversary of the Annual Autumn Moon Festival in San Francisco; so, it was a good time to head to Chinatown for some delicious hand-made dumplings, moon cakes (Raquel’s favorite was white lotus seed with chestnuts – no yolk – while Ben liked the date moon cake), and freshly made fortune cookies.
We had a fabulous afternoon walking through Chinatown with family
watching musical performances and the lion dance.
After walking around Chinatown, we decided to go check out our niece’s favorite mall in Japantown where we had some yummy boba tea and a very unique Hikari Bullet Train Sushi dinner, where we ordered sushi on an overhead screen as sushi came flying by us on a bullet train.
Check out how fast the sushi bullet train flies!
Friday was our Mission day for a tour of murals, tasty treats, and of course Mission Dolores! Although we contemplated starting our day with an amazing breakfast at El Mil Amores (saving it for next time), instead we opted for a quick coffee from Coffee …