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San Francisco is the emerald city of the west coast and it is one the best places in the world to spend 3 days. The key to having an amazing time is to have an ace up your sleeve, in this case my daughter Britt who is now living there.

After taking an Uber from the airport to our hotel in Chinatown, we walked about 8 blocks to meet Britt down at the wharf. With some big hugs under our belt — we had not seen each other in about a three months — she took us to a great restaurant, Hog Island Oyster. This “pearl” of a restaurant located in 1 Ferry Building is right on the water and has views of the Bay bridge and, it just happens to have some of the freshest seafood on the planet. At 1:30 PM, there was a line to get in with happy, can’t-wait-to-eat couples, families, and friends. As you walk in, the chalkboard greets you with the seasonal Dungeness crab offer that is just too hard to resist.

Despite the great crab, I had to have a couple of oysters and these fun-loving “shuckers” were more than happy to accommodate. While I said “say cheese” looking through my camera, they opened the oyster and handed it to me to “slurp” — the only way to eat an oyster. It was so fresh, you could still taste the salt water from the ocean.

Next on the tour was a hop over the Golden Gate bridge to Line Point, Bridge Coast Point and Kirby Cove. This is a beautiful area that has been left in its natural state to take in the views, go hiking and hard-core cycling.

Britt knew a great hike down to the ocean on the point just west of the bridge where we got to walk on the black sand beach, check out the eucalyptus trees, wild Cala lilies and even wood mushrooms.

Here the coast looks just like Hawaii…next stop. It is the Point Bonita Lighthouse.

Day two… with our complete trust in Britt as our guide, she booked a sunset cruise on a catamaran in the bay. Getting on the boat, we were greeted with a serenade by the local sea lions.

 

We hopped on a 40 foot catamaran and sailed around the bay for a hour and a half drinking wine and eating appetizers.

With beautiful weather, 60 degrees and sunny in December, we were able to get up close and personal with the Golden Gate bridge.

Can you see why they call it the Golden Gate?

Enjoy the views…

Day Three…we were off to the wine country.

Having explored Napa and north, we thought it would be fun to just hit Sonoma. And, our trip into the wine country took us to Viansa Winery, recommended by our friend Alma. It is a beautiful property with amazing views and great wines.

After our busy day exploring Sonoma, we had one last thing to do…the San Francisco Opera and Aida.

Living in Boise, ID, we have a very good opera program. In fact, I was actually on the Board of Directors of the Boise Opera and performed in the Merry Widow at the Morrison Center. However, to go to the opera house that Richard Greer took Julia Roberts — bucket list. And to share with my wife and daughter — Priceless.

Till next time…