Friday, August 29, 2008

Umm . . . Business Trip

Poor me. I had to go to San Francisco on business earlier this week and these were some of the things I was subjected to. These are views from the work area. The hills in the backdrop were beautiful. So was the Whole Foods in the parking lot -- talk about convenient!


A few of my work friends took me to the city and we had an amazing time having cocktails on the 52nd floor of the Bank of America Building.


Talk about fabulous views! The Golden Gate Bridge on my left, the Bay Bridge on my right, Alcatraz, the TransAmerica tower . . . the list goes on. It was breathtaking. And that chocolate martini wasn't bad, either.


More views of downtown San Francisco . . .



Then down to the water for a fabulous dinner at the Slanted Door. This place was amazing and weekends are booked weeks in advance -- I felt like a celebrity and my friends and I laughed and had so much fun!! It sat right on the bay. Here's a pic I took with the restaurant behind me.


So the business trip just kept getting progressively difficult . . . The next night, my friend Cece and her man, Dwayne, took me "over the hill" to the ocean. WOW.

It was about 10 degrees cooler on the west side of the mountains and the fresh air was therapeutic.


As were the views . . .



We stopped for some views of Pigeon Point Light House built in 1872.


I was so taken with the little shed attached to the lighthouse. Cute and kind of haunting at the same time. It originally housed the fuel for the lighthouse. I was amazed to learn that the fuel was lard. There was also a hostel that shared a parking lot with the lighthouse right there on the beach. I thought this was fascinating . . .


We headed south on the Pacific Coast Highway to Santa Cruz where we ate an amazing dinner at the Crow's Nest. It was wonderful eating scallops from the ocean I was sitting on and drinking wine from grapes that were harvested just up the hill from the restaurant. Santa Cruz is beautiful with a cozy feel and I think Cece, Dwayne and I were some of the few not sporting dreadlocks in this laid back little town. In all seriousness, I did have a lot of actual business to conduct on this trip, but WOW, the evenings were amazing. Thanks to my California friends!!!