Day 6 | San Francisco and Napa Valley
A later start was on the cards as we didn’t have to get anywhere early. It was a little restless last night the kids are sharing a bed and this is a narrower one. Luckily it is a nicer day but it is definitely cooler than LA, maybe 15-18 degC. Nice in the sun, cold in the wind.
We had breakfast in the Hotel which consisted of a buffet of scrambled eggs, yummy herbie sausages, crispy bacon, pancakes, make your own waffles, OJ fruit, yoghurt etc, etc, etc. Exhausting. Most importantly, for Angus at least, was the endless coffee. But at $13 per person we won't be doing that every morning.
After breakfast we returned to the room to continue processing some of the shopping into the luggage. We also needed to do some planning and research. There are a number of places we want to see.
Off to Napa to go to another outlet mall. Napa is a picturesque service town surrounded by the wine and fruit growing region north of San Francisco. A long way to go (45 mins) but it was a large outdoor mall with all the usuals like Nautica, Gap etc. It is a good thing that we have a massive truck so there is lots of room. Stopping on the way for a Subway for O’Regan and some excellent coffee for Angus.
We wanted to have a look at a Wal-Mart and maybe get some cereal so our arteries don’t close up completely before we get back to Australia. I’ve heard that it isn’t healthy to live on bacon and maple syrup. Think of a supermarket crossed with a department store crossed with a garden centre (crossed with a sports shop crossed with a bottle shop crossed with a hardware shop). It is a bit like that but even more. They are all over the place, massive, convenient to park at and no doubt that all adds up to why they are so popular and other retailers hate them.
There have not been a kettle in any of the places we have stayed, and we all know Angus needs his coffee, sp we decided to buy one at Walmart – it was $9 for a cordless one and we also got a $6 toaster (for the Pop Tarts).
The boys wanted Wendy’s for dinner so we stopped at one in Napa – nom nom nom. Was nice to sit for five minutes.
We took a wrong turn on the way home but what do you know – there are more shops and one is Old Navy – yay more shopping (well that’s what Rosie said the other three were less impressed). It was not an outlet but there is a sale on anyway.
After arriving back at the Hilton we were bringing in the shopping and showed the concierge, Jeremy. He’s a really friendly guy who checked us in last night and was a little stunned by the shopping McKay and Angus brought in from the truck. He was impressed by today’s haul as well.
Rosie and Angus went for a night walk around the hotel to see the restaurants around us, Chevy’s and a flash Mexican place Fresh Mex. We’ll have to check them out before we leave. It was pretty looking over the bay at SF beyond (we are in Oakland opposite). Jeremy thought it hilarious that we were going on a real Aussie Walk-about, it was about 10.00pm.
On the news we heard that Obama was in San Francisco today and there was a massive traffic hold-up so we were lucky we weren’t visiting the city centre today. Tomorrow we have ordered a Taxi for Fisherman’s Wharf at 8.00am so tonight should be an early night.
Highlights
O’Regan | Rice cream (rice pudding dessert from Wal-Mart)
McKay | Wendy’s
Angus | Wal-Mart, yes, we even sell guns.
Rosie | Finding the Old Navy store and the night stroll (oh and Walmart but disappointed we didn't see any real yokels)