Sonoma
Went from Chicago straight to Sonoma and flew into San Francisco International Airport via United Airlines. On this leg, my luggage was delayed by the baggage handlers in SFO. While waiting for the luggage at baggage claim, the carousel stopped and no more luggage came out. After talking to the representatives, the luggage was still in Chicago O'Hare since the luggage was not "scanned."
Picked up my Kia Seoul from Thrifty and took off for the hotel. It was a nice change from the Yukon.
Since it was really early in the morning or really late in the evening (depending on how you want to see this), checked into the Hilton Garden Inn San Francisco Airport North for five hours to rest up before driving up to Sonoma. Once settled, started a load of laundry with all of the dirty clothes I had because the luggage that did arrive was the one with dirty clothes. I decided to check online on my luggage on www.united.com/baggagecheck and saw that the luggage was at the airport. Not understanding that status, I called and was informed by the agent that the luggage was, in fact, at SFO and in the oversized luggage area. Mentally rolling my eyes, went back to the airport to get the luggage. The original airport agent that assisted in filing the missing luggage didn't even know that the luggage was in oversized. Not sure if everyone mentally checked out in SFO at 2 am but it sure seemed like it. We shall see how United responds when I send them a message.
After getting my nap, checked into the Doubletree Sonoma Wine Country. Went up to Santa Rosa to have lunch at Johnny Garlic's, Guy Fiereri's restaurant. I was curious about his establishments since I do watch Diners Dives & Drive Ins a lot. I ordered the buffalo meatloaf burger with garlic fries. I'm usually not a fan of bbq sauce on my burgers but I did like this version on the meat. In addition, the garlic fries were crisp and garlicky. I was reading reviews on Yelp before going to the restaurant and I don't agree with the negative reviews on the garlic fries - proportionally and level of garlic. I also ordered the salted caramel fool which is basically a trifle with pound cake, whipped cream, strawberries and salted caramel. The tart strawberries did not help the dessert and the pound cake was a bit too mushy. I think they would have been better off toasting the pound cake before piling on the cream so that the cake could have a solid texture OR use ice cream instead of cream since it is put in a fountain glass cup.
The next day, had breakfast at the hotel and found the pecan waffle a little too cakelike for me. The brown sugar and bananas was nice as this was a bananas foster pecan waffle. Afterwards, went down to outer Richmond in SF at Wonderful Desert & Café at 2035 Irving St., San Francisco, CA 94122 for a bubble tea and snacks with family who were in town.
A mental note for crossing the bridges in SF, one must put the transponder to 1 regardless of number of passengers in the car. The Bay area's Fastrak transponders do not take into account HOV. Hopefully, I updated my account fast enough that they won't send a violation but I have to remove the rental once I'm in the clear.
On the way home, I almost got bumped off my plane and get a $300 voucher. Alas, three no shows and the plane was able to take off.
Picked up my Kia Seoul from Thrifty and took off for the hotel. It was a nice change from the Yukon.
Since it was really early in the morning or really late in the evening (depending on how you want to see this), checked into the Hilton Garden Inn San Francisco Airport North for five hours to rest up before driving up to Sonoma. Once settled, started a load of laundry with all of the dirty clothes I had because the luggage that did arrive was the one with dirty clothes. I decided to check online on my luggage on www.united.com/baggagecheck and saw that the luggage was at the airport. Not understanding that status, I called and was informed by the agent that the luggage was, in fact, at SFO and in the oversized luggage area. Mentally rolling my eyes, went back to the airport to get the luggage. The original airport agent that assisted in filing the missing luggage didn't even know that the luggage was in oversized. Not sure if everyone mentally checked out in SFO at 2 am but it sure seemed like it. We shall see how United responds when I send them a message.
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| Doubletree Sonoma Wine Country King Room |
After getting my nap, checked into the Doubletree Sonoma Wine Country. Went up to Santa Rosa to have lunch at Johnny Garlic's, Guy Fiereri's restaurant. I was curious about his establishments since I do watch Diners Dives & Drive Ins a lot. I ordered the buffalo meatloaf burger with garlic fries. I'm usually not a fan of bbq sauce on my burgers but I did like this version on the meat. In addition, the garlic fries were crisp and garlicky. I was reading reviews on Yelp before going to the restaurant and I don't agree with the negative reviews on the garlic fries - proportionally and level of garlic. I also ordered the salted caramel fool which is basically a trifle with pound cake, whipped cream, strawberries and salted caramel. The tart strawberries did not help the dessert and the pound cake was a bit too mushy. I think they would have been better off toasting the pound cake before piling on the cream so that the cake could have a solid texture OR use ice cream instead of cream since it is put in a fountain glass cup.
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| Meatloaf burger and garlic fries at Johnny Garlic's |
The next day, had breakfast at the hotel and found the pecan waffle a little too cakelike for me. The brown sugar and bananas was nice as this was a bananas foster pecan waffle. Afterwards, went down to outer Richmond in SF at Wonderful Desert & Café at 2035 Irving St., San Francisco, CA 94122 for a bubble tea and snacks with family who were in town.
A mental note for crossing the bridges in SF, one must put the transponder to 1 regardless of number of passengers in the car. The Bay area's Fastrak transponders do not take into account HOV. Hopefully, I updated my account fast enough that they won't send a violation but I have to remove the rental once I'm in the clear.
On the way home, I almost got bumped off my plane and get a $300 voucher. Alas, three no shows and the plane was able to take off.
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