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April 2007 My latest trip to San Francisco was full of fun and drama. The trip started on April 26, 2007 and ended on April 30, 2007. I wanted to get together with my friends from the Hawaii trip and new Journey friends that I have meet over the past 9 years. For those of you who are not familiar with JPP: Journey Past and Present; they are responsible for Journey getting their plaque on the SFO Walk of Fame and the Hollywood Star in Los Angeles. For those who couldn’t make it out; here is a recap of what transpired. I woke up on April 26th all giddy at the thought that I was going to my favorite city, San Francisco today. I packed up the car and drove down to Homewood to pick up my best friend Tracy; who I strong-armed her into going with me. It did not take much arm-twisting. We then headed up to Midway Airport for our early afternoon flight. Checking the baggage and getting through security was not bad; considering the fact that I had glass bowls and sand in my carry on for the centerpieces. The flight over was fun and full, we ended up with this cute guy sitting next to us. His name was Brad and he is a personal injury attorney. We chit chatted off and on during the flight. We flew into Oakland Airport; which by the way is a quicker drive into the city then SFO airport. As we got closer to our stop, I started to get out the tip money for the driver. I then realized that I had left my travel portfolio in the seat back pocket. During the flight they had asked for change for a $20 and I had it. I then put the portfolio in the pocket, since we were chatting with Brad. It must have falling to the bottom of the pocket and I forgot all about it. Cute boys do mess with your brain. My driver’s license and the two credit cards that I was going to use on this trip were in the portfolio. Luckily I had left the bulk of my cash and my corporate American Express card in my wallet. Once we got to the hotel and checked in; I started calling Southwest Airline. Needless to say I ended up calling Southwest Oakland, Southwest Los Angeles, Southwest Phoenix and Southwest Birmingham; boy I had a busy plane. No one turned it in that night. I wasn’t freaking out too much. I was most concern about my driver’s license; I knew I could get replacement credit cards. The next morning (Friday April 27th), I was back on the phone again; still no Portfolio. So I got on the phone with Capital One and Household Bank, to cancel the cards and get new ones. Both of them said that I could get replacements overnighted to me. Needless to say,one showed up on Saturday and one did not. Tracy and I had a breakfast meeting with Cara and Kristin from the hotel. We went down to breakfast and went over the plans for the party on Saturday. I would highly reccomend the Hilton Fisherman's Wharf for your next stay, they are very friendly, helpful, clean rooms and good food in the restaurant. After breakfast, we headed down to Hertz car rental. Okay, I have no license, Tracy ended up driving the car; I was totally bummed. I love driving in SFO. Tracy and I headed up highway 101 to the De La Montanya winery. Unfortunately Jon couldn’t make it up there as well, he had other things come up and an early awards banquet to attend. De La Montanya winery is the winery that produced the “Generations” wine. They raised over $20,000 for the Make A Wish Foundation. Dennis, the owner gave us a tour of the winery and the grounds. He had us sample MANY different wines all of them were very good. They were getting ready for an event on Saturday, so they were setting up tents and tables. The grounds are very beautiful, see the pics below. 
 After we finished up at the winery, we headed over to find the Journey warehouse. We were curious as to where it was located. We found it and then headed back to the city for dinner with Debbie Perdue and Lisa Lockette. We returned the car to Hertz and then walked up to the hotel. I gave Lisa and Debbie a call and we met up about an hour later. During this hour, I am on the phone with Southwest again; nothing yet. Tracy and I went down to Debbie and Lisa room, and then we walked over to Chinatown for dinner. Debbie always knows the best places to eat at that you would never know were there. On our way to dinner, we encountered “Critical Mass”. This is a gathering of bicyclist riding through the city. It is done every last Friday of the month. Now back to dinner, you entered through the kitchen and walked upstairs to the first level of dining. The food was good and not expensive, but they liked us so much that they kept forgetting to bring us a bill. We finally got the bill and walked back to the hotel. We had a few drinks and then went to our rooms. Saturday morning (April 28th), we met for breakfast and then headed down to the wharf. We walked around the shops and down to the pier. We watched the boats and the seals. Tracy and I wanted some Ghirardelli ice cream, so we headed down there, while Debbie and Lisa picked up some bath salts. We all met at Ghirardelli and then walked back down to the hotel. We then went to our rooms to rest up till it was time to head down to the banquet room and setup for the party. 
 At 5pm Tracy and I headed down to the room with all the goodies in hand. We meet up with Eduardo our contact for the night. He was great in accommodating all the changes I wanted. While we were setting up Cheryl Simien of JPP came in. Cheryl was kind enough to help us finish setting up. I greeted each guest as they arrived and thanked them for coming to my little shindig. I played the Journey’s Greatest Hits DVD during dinner. After dinner I gave a short speech and then started my DVD-R “Raised on Radio Documentary”. Everyone who attended went home with three DVD-RS: Raised on Radio Documentary, Jonathan Cain Tidbits and A Whale of A Tale. The highlight of the ROR Documentary was the Hard Rock Café interview that Jon, Neal and Steve did for a Japanese station, in which they are pretty well toasted. We had to back it up and watch it twice. The attendees include: Tracy, Debbie, Lisa, Cheryl, Leslie, Darla & Telysa, Michelle, Darryl & Jenny, Jenn, Barb and Myself. It was a great night of getting to know good friends with food, wine and great entertainment. Again I would like to thank all those who attended. The evening wound down around 10:00pm. We were all pretty tired, so we just went back up to our rooms and went to bed. Here are some photos. I am still waiting on a group shot. 
 The next morning (Sunday April 29th), we woke up whenever. Tracy and I went down to breakfast and then Debbie and Lisa joined us. The three of them were going home today and I was staying for one more night. After breakfast we all went back upstairs to get our stuff, I stayed and talked with Debbie and Lisa for a bit while Tracy was packing. Then we came back down around 11:00am to wait for all the shuttles. Debbie left first to catch the Ferry back home and then Lisa and Tracy’s shuttle’s got there almost at the same time. We all said our goodbyes :( ! I then headed back down to Pier 39. I wanted to have one night by myself to do some thinking and reflect on my life and to think about where I want it to go in the future. Sitting down at the end of Pier 39 is just where you can do that. I also did some shopping. After a couple of hours, I headed back to the hotel and printed out my boarding pass and then headed upstairs for a nap. I checked my voicemail at home and there was a message from Southwest that they found my travel portfolio, with everything in it, even the cash. Whew!! I had them FedEx it to my office. After my nap, I got up and got ready for dinner. I went to A Sabelle’s for dinner. It has a great view of the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz and the Bay. After dinner, I decided to try out some of those bath salts; so I took a long bath with a glass of wine and then retired to bed. Monday (April 30th) morning came too soon. I got everything ready to be packed the night before. I had breakfast and then talked with Cara and Kristin to let them know that we all had a great time at thier hotel. I checked out and then boarded my shuttle to the airport. You may be wondering, “How is she going to get on a plane without a photo ID?” Well, let me tell you. You do not need a photo ID to fly. You have to go through the manual check in and your luggage gets searched. Then when you go through the security checkpoint you and your carryon’s get pulled aside for a pat down and manual search. It really does not take that much longer. It was a quiet flight home, no cute guys next to me. The last challenge of the trip was getting my car out of the Midway parking lot. My parking ticket was also in the portfolio. It took about 15 minutes to fill out paperwork and get out. I had to show them the registration for the car. The life lesson this trip is do not let a cute guys distract you from you normal routine. I am also going to get a state ID when I renew my license this year. As the people at the airport say, “You should travel on your state ID not your driver’s license.” Overall I had a great time!!!! Thank you everyone!!! |