San Francisco in June

Back in June we had a nice long weekend in San Francisco, courtesy of Dupont Pioneer. They have an incentive program, and if you meet goals for the year, they take you and your spouse on an all-expenses paid trip. It is a really nice perk of Brian's job.

Without further ado, here are some pictures of our trip.

Brian and I with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background.

The evening that we arrived, we had a dinner cruise of the San Francisco Bay and got a great overview of the area.

Alcatraz

Alcatraz from the side. It seemed a lot bigger when we got up close to it.

The Oakland Bay bridge, which opened before the Golden Gate and is a similar suspension-style bridge. This is also the one that was damaged in the earthquake during the 1989 World Series, which we both remembered seeing on tv.

AT and T Park, home of the Giants.There was a game the night we were there, pretty neat to see it from the Bay.

Sunset at the Golden Gate Bridge.

A little later as the boat approached the bridge.

San Francisco skyline.

Perhaps my favorite picture from the trip.

Port of San Francisco.

The next day we toured two wineries. This is Benziger, a bio-dynamic winery in Sonoma county.

Olives!

The second winery we visited was Domaine Carneros; they make sparkling wine in Napa county.

Grapevines as far as you can see...

The automated racking, which turns the bottles. I forget exactly why, but I think it had something to do with keeping the yeast active and managing the sediment.

Riding a cable car - hanging on the outside!

Lombard Street - the crookedest street in the world, taken from the cable car.

Our dinner group Friday night, taken by the best cable car operator ever. We had a group of twelve and walked from our hotel to the ticket booth so we could all get tickets (found out later we could have just bought them at boarding). We found a huge line of people waiting to get on the cable car, so Brian shouted up to the operator to be sure that was the line. He said it was, but that we should walk up a block and he'd pick us up there. So we did. All 12 of us. I had no idea we would be riding on the outside. It was scary but fun high-fiving passengers on a passing cable car, tucking in when cars came down the other lane, and narrowly avoiding taking the door off of parked cars.

The third day we went to Sausalito and Muir Woods. After we crossed the Golden Gate, we stopped for some pictures. Here is Sausalito from above.

The Golden Gate in daylight. We had stunning weather, zero fog and beautiful temperatures in the low 70s.

Muir Woods was really amazing. The trees are Redwoods.

From Sausalito we took a ferry back to downtown. The Bay was buzzing with boats as everyone seemed to be out enjoying a beautiful Saturday afternoon.

More pictures from our vacation

 The Toronto skyline from Lake Ontario.

 And my preferred view from the boat. 

 I reeled in a nice rainbow trout. This is by far the biggest fish I've ever caught, but the tackle was so heavy it was a cinch to get it in the boat.

 The biggest fish caught on our trip, 18-pound Atlantic salmon.

 Brian's respectable salmon.

 American side of Niagara Falls.

 The Canadian side as viewed from the Maid of the Mist boat that took us right into the center of the falls. Everyone got wet.

Wildlife and Niagara Falls from the air

 I am pretty sure I took this photo through the kitchen window. I had forgotten all about it, but when I was sifting through files this afternoon I found it. I love how it is slightly out of focus and the hummingbird has an ethereal appearance. 

 While not strictly considered wildlife, these little buggers went wild on my flowers while I was in New Orleans. The pictures are sad, so I will not show them. Suffice it to say that ornamental grass, while it may be deer-resistant, is not lamb- or llama-resistant and apparently rudbeckia and gladioulus are special treats.

Niagara Falls from the window of a tiny little plane high above. For those who aren't familiar with it, the larger, horseshoe shaped falls at the bottom right are the Canadian falls, and the straight falls in the middle of the picture are on the American side of the border. More pictures from our Canada trip in my next post, but first I have to get my hands on Brian's camera!