Sonoma, CA

Right before the world stopped, I was in Sonoma for a work conference. I was pleasantly surprised to see a local airport in the area and was able to find a reasonable rate and flew into Charles Schulz Sonoma Airport. The only problem was that there is only one daily flight from SFO to Sonoma and it was at 10 pm. Needless to say, I checked into the DoubleTree Sonoma Wine Country Hotel very late. 

I did enjoy the breakfast buffet option more than the conference food options, I would recommend folks trying that option if available. During the conference, I did see Guy Fieri from a distance one evening at the hotel bar. I wasn't sure if he was in the area for his show or just visiting the area.

I was not able to fly out of Sonoma the same way as my inbound flight because the only daily flight is at 6 am which is too early for me and would require another overnight stay. On the bright side, my work didn't have to pay two taxi trips from SFO to Sonoma but one. For those interested, it is about $100 one way. Given the distance and timing of my flight, I opted to get dropped off in Chinatown and loaded up on fortune cookies from Golden Gate Fortune Cookies. I'm glad to have done so since travel has stopped due to COVID-19 and I've survived fortune cookie withdrawals slowly. After grabbing the cookies, I jumped onto the BART system to get to SFO International Airport.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

New Orleans

Image
I'm back again for a conference. Flew out on United Airlines and was able to snag a first class seat on the way out. Luckily, the Hilton New Orleans St. Charles Avenue was able to accommodate an early check-in. The room was just the same as last time. They are renovating the executive lounge which made the perk inaccessible. I was given breakfast coupons for Luke in exchange. I tried the Southern Breakfast sans meat. I found the biscuit slightly salty but I'm prone to being salt sensitive. Not a good thing when it comes to Southern cooking. For lunch, went out to Ruby Slipper Café and ordered the Catfish St. Peter and a double Bellini. The meal was tasty and the service was quick and friendly. Did some antique and second hand clothing shopping before getting dessert at Sucre . The dessert shop sells gelato, baked goods, and chocolate. The gelato was ok but the smore's skillet was super tasty. Ruby Slipper Café Catfish St. Peter Sucre S'mores skillet and a ban
Read more

Salt Lake and Park City

Image
Flew to Salt Lake City Airport for the holiday weekend on United . No new snow systems so I was not in a rush to get on the mountain and opted to bounce around the city before heading up to Park City. Although I could have opted for a cheaper rental, I stuck with the Toyota Tacoma from Avis . Lodging After landing, I checked into the Fairfield Inn & Suites Salt Lake City South . Normally, not a leisure destination but I thought it would be a good location to meet with friends who live south of the city. They ended up being unavailable that day and my companion's former colleagues weren't available (headquarters was just another 10 minutes south).  The next day, I checked into the Doubletree Park City - The Yarrow . Originally, the weekend was really expensive due to the holidays but the prices did drop to under $200 when I was checking in. I was behind a gentleman who inquired about booking two rooms last minute and he was quoted about $200 for two nights. With the continu
Read more

Park City

I joined family to a snowboard trip to Park City and hopped onto a Delta flight to get into Salt Lake City International Airport . As mentioned in prior posts, the Delta gates are in the best locations in the airport. Despite that, I still had to lug my snowboard bag across a really long way (in my opinion).  I had a rental with Hertz last minute. There are close check in gates from the car rental parking garage and the airport front counters; however, the timing of my flights were outside their hours and so I was stuck lugging 70 lbs to the regular counter. I was really sad about it as I walked past the empty counters. Delta fail. My family has a timeshare with Club Wyndham Park Ciry  and they booked a three bedroom apartment. Even though we weren’t an 8 person group, it was nice to have the space because of all the snowboard gear. Note that the hotel does not shovel snow off balconies so you will need to do so if you want to hang outside. The hotel is conveniently located at the Can
Read more