A Whole Weekend in One Day...Mostly.

June 27, 2010

Usually, heading into a weekend is something I look forward to, but this weekend, I had to work on the Sunday, so it put a lot of pressure on the Friday night and Saturday to squeeze in as much fun time as possible. Thankfully, there were some folks from home coming into town for visits, so that was something to plan some good times for.

First up, on Friday night, Will and I met up with Abe, Ashley, and our buds from Calgary, Kalah and Ryan. We went for dinner at Ace Wasabi (in the Marina!)

On Saturday morning, Will and I picked up some different buds from Calgary, Jim and Paige, and we headed up to Point Reyes National Seashore to hike one of my favorite hikes in the Bay Area. We started at Palomarin Trailhead and hiked the Coast Trail to Alamere Falls. We met up with Ashley, Ian, Catherine and Beth, and all headed off on the hike.

It's ~8 miles out-and-back, with great views of the ocean, a couple lakes, and different vegetation throughout.

After the hike, a few of us headed north to Marshall to grab some fresh oysters from Tomales Bay. We started at the Marshall General Store with some clam chowder and baked oysters (rockefeller and chorizo butter...yum!).



From there, we went to Tomales Bay Oyster Co to grab some fresh sweetwater oysters.

Back in SF, the four of us joined Abe and Wendy for dinner at Luna Park, and then to Elbo Room to meet up with the other Calgary gang (Kalah and Ryan) with Ashley and Paul.

Side story: When we walked up to the Elbo Room, we noticed the sign for "Amelia's" (see pic below). I thought I was that out of the loop that I hadn't even known that Elbo Room was changed. Turns out, Amelia's was a gay bar 20 years ago in the Elbo Room space, and they had put up the old sign for Pride Weekend....ahh...

On Sunday, I finished work and had a chance to hang out with Kalah, before we picked up Will and headed to Ashley's for a barbeque. Hooray for summer! And, we had a chance to finish off the oysters from Tomales Bay...yum, yum!

Birthdays!

June 20, 2010

To continue on the fun Saturday itinerary, Will and I headed back to the Castro to grab dinner at Woodhouse Fish Co, and then to Reba's for her annual birthday Gin&Tonic celebration. Happy Birthday, Reba!

From Reba's, the birthday party train headed to the Mission to 500 Club where a gaggle of folks were celebrating Chuck's birthday. Happy Birthday, Chuck!

It was a long but wonderful day, spent with many great people. Happy Birthdays!

Genentech Gives Back

June 20, 2010

It was a glorious Saturday. I went to Zumba class, and then Will and I took the Muni downtown to meet Key for lunch at Chez Papa Resto. Kat met up with us, and the four of us walked to AT&T Park for the Genentech Gives Back Benefit Concert.

The concert was the culmination of the Genentech Gives Back charity week, in which there were several charitable activities all week (e.g. donation drives, charity walk, volunteer day, etc.). This is the first concert since Roche bought the company, so I was curious to see how it was going to pan out. After all, one of the infamous Genentech perks were the insane concerts for the employees (previous concerts have featured Earth, Wind & Fire, Mary J. Blige, Matchbox 20, Elton John, Foo Fighters, Bob Dylan, Black Eyed Peas, The Eagles).

The headliners are always kept secret, which is always part of the fun...

After an opening act (previous Genentech employee and singer-songwriter, Eoin Harrington), the CEO (Ian Clark) introduces several patients who have benefitted from Genentech drugs:

First headliner...Natasha Bedingfield:




Next headliner....The Fray:





Last act....The Counting Crows:

It was an absolutely wonderful day, perfect weather and good music. Even though we are no longer on the NYSE...go DNA!

St. Helena Getaway

June 14, 2010

For a nice little break, Will and I headed up to St. Helena with a bunch of folks to join Ashley at her parent's place in the hills. It's been a while since we've been to Casa Dean, but it was so nice and easy to get comfortable again. The weather was amazing, and we partook in some great activities (e.g. tennis, sunbathing, eating, drinking, eating, drinking, target shooting, horseshoes, etc.).



On the way home from St. Helena, Abe, Will and I stopped in Napa to check out the Oxbow Public Market. This place is similar to the Ferry Building, featuring some awesome artisanal and local food vendors (including one of my favorites, Fatted Calf).
Loved the selection at Three Twins ice cream, featuring the "World's Most Expensive Ice Cream Sundae" and "The World's More Expensive Most Expensive Ice Cream Sundae":
Ahhh...Napa....