So, just like my trip out to San Francisco, I managed to make my trip to DC during a heat wave. Highs near 100 don’t agree with me but by staying hydrated (carried a water bottle with me EVERYWHERE) and taking a reasonable number of breaks was the key to me getting through Saturday. Sunday we went back and forth about whether or not we should go to the National Zoo due to the continued hot weather – but in the end my need for cuteness won over concerns about heat and we ended up having a great day.

After breakfast and coffee at Illy it was checkout time and then off to see the animals!

Kin(d|g) Hippo!

It’s very important to twitter

The lion wasn’t remotely interested in the delicious ducks in his habitat

It was after 5 by the time Stephen was able to drag me away from the zoo, which was good of him since we needed to get back to PA at a reasonable time. On the way out I picked up a stuffed red panda toy who joined us for dinner at Chipotle (which I’d never been to) before returning home. The red panda’s name? Chipotle.

Good weekend, but it’s nice to be home and out of the sun and heat – I got a bit sunburned due to my typical neglect to wear suntan lotion, oops :)

I spent this past weekend in Washington DC. I went down with my friend Stephen on Thursday night. Friday was a work event for him, and I was able to work from the hotel (not something I can do often, but I love how flexible my job can be!).

Friday night was a company dinner at Sequoia that I was able to go along to, a very nice place! (If a bit awkward at some moments, “No, I’m not his wife…”)

Saturday was Smithsonian Museums day. Our destinations were the Museum of Natural History and the Air and Space Museum. But first was an early lunch at Potbelly where I enjoyed a Wreck sandwich with “the works” – not typically my style, but quite a delight. Then we hopped on the Metro from the hotel and got off at the Smithsonian station, where we were welcomed by the sun beating down on the Nat’l Mall during the heatwave that lasted all weekend!

Nat’l Monument! They’re setting up for the Smithsonian Folklife Event so there were all sorts of tents and things around.

First stop was the Natural History Museum to see dinosaurs!

Rawr.

Unfortunately EVERYONE wants to see the dinosaurs, so the place was packed and after spending less than an hour wandering around the exhibit we made our exit to check out other parts of the museum.

Penguin Skeleton

Thylacine (background) – recreation of the critter that got presumably extincted by the Dingo (foreground)

Then it was on to Air and Space.

We ended up going to see 3D Sun in the IMAX, but not seeing much else there at the Air and Space Museum simply because we were hitting the end of the day. Dinner was at Penang where I enjoyed the spectacular Sarang Burung: Formed fried taro filled w. scallops, squid, shrimp, corn, carrots and black mushrooms topped with cashews on a bed of crispy rice noodles. Yum!

..partially eaten, it was so good I had to snap a picture

I never thought I was the type to fall in love with California, but the other day I was driving down the turnpike and saw some fog. Did I think of Maine, the foggy home I’d lived in for 16 years? Nope, I thought of San Francisco, and found myself pining for it a bit.

My trip to SF was a blast. I flew out of Philly on Thursday night on an 8:20PM EST flight. Red eye! There was a layover in Vegas where I won $5 on slots before hopping on a regional jet. I got into San Jose around 4AM EST where MJ picked me up. The first glimpse of SF was a trip through the Tenderloin.

Friday was Google Day! MJ took me up to the Google main campus where he works. We met up with friend and Bitlbee author Wilmer van der Gaast for lunch at the Goog and then a wandering tour through the key points of interest open to the public visiting the campus. I signed an NDA – but I will say it was all pretty fantastic, I was impressed. It was also really cool finally to meet Wilmer, who I’ve known via the Bitlbee project since 2005.

Friday night we took various types of public transportation to met up with mct for dinner at 21st Amendment Brewery for some yummy pub pizza and beers. The public transportation system in SF is impressive. Buses! Trains! Streetcars! Cablecars! After dinner we wandered around the ballpark a bit so mct could show me a bunch of palm trees (I’ve been saying lately that I wanted to go somewhere with palm trees). Then we parted ways with mct and took a long walk through the curvy and hilly streets of San Francisco, and arrived back at MJ’s place rather exhausted.

Saturday we met up with pdx6 at Beach Chalet Brewery on the west coast. I finally got to see and play in the Pacific! Lunch was delicious and the company was great, pdx6 and I have known each other via blogs since 2002, and just recently finally hooking up on IRC. He knows tons about the city and was quite the tour guide for me as we drove through the city. As I said, I played in the ocean a bit, I didn’t plan to get my sneakers wet, but once they were I ran in far enough to get my shorts wet. I love the ocean, miss it like crazy. Must live near it again someday…

That evening I wound up with a headache (thanks to the beer for lunch!) and rather than going with our planned outing of sushi and exciting desserts, we hit Delivery.com and ordered a couple gyros. I sorta wimped out here, it’s a city and practically anything can be delivered – and I chose gyros? Well, they were delicious gyros anyway. Relaxed and watched a bit of TV too, which turned out to be the perfect, relaxing evening I needed.

Sunday was Sonoma Valley Wine Tasting day! MJ hired an SUV & driver for the day to take use to various wineries. While it didn’t go as expected, we ended up going to several fantastic wineries in Sonoma Valley, the highlights being Homewood Winery and Benziger Family Winery. Homewood is a small winery that specializes in reds and does an amazing job. We met the owner and he suggested several wineries in the area that specialized in reds and so made our day a really fantastic one for good red wines. Benziger’s had a VIP wine tour that we went on, which included an extended tour of the grounds and an extensive specialty wine-tasting in the wine caves (underground storage facilities for wine). Amusingly in what looks like some sort of military compound that is the wine cave, they have a formal dining room for the wine tasting! Brilliant!

We had the driver drop us off at Fisherman’s Wharf around 6PM. After 80 degree weather in the valley, the misty cold air of the bay was quite a shock – luckily it’s a tourist area, so I was able to snag an inexpensive pink jacket to keep me warm. We wandered around and saw the sights, ended up eating at a little fish place on the wharf. After dinner and some more sight-seeing we hit Ghirardelli Square for a stop in their ice cream place, where we got hot fudge sundaes (which included a bit of ice cream along with all that fudge).

Alas the adventure had to come to an end. Monday morning I had a very nice non-stop flight back to Philadelphia, getting back in town quite late in the evening.

All photos from the trip: http://picasaweb.google.com/pleia2/SanFranciscoTrip