"33 in Napa Valley!" day one

After months of waiting and planning and shopping for accessories, the big day finally arrived on Tuesday, September 5, 2006: the girls and I left for San Francisco/Berkeley/Napa Valley! No, I'm not talking about my 'girls,' I'm talking about me, Deb, Betsi, and Sonja aka birthday girl! We had a late flight, leaving MSP at 9:00 PM on Tuesday night and arriving in San Francisco at about 11:15 PM (1:15 AM Minnesota time). Incident #1 occurred at the airport: Deborah threw her back out, lifting her overpacked suitcase onto the check-in counter. She packed 54 lbs.! The limit is 50! So she had to pull out her extra bag and throw her shoes in there. I think she had 7 pairs of shoes--Sonja took the crown though with 10 pairs! 5 of those were heels! Yikes!

Quote #1: 'Crikey!' This became my battle cry after about 10 minutes into our trip (as soon as we were out of security, I'm sure). In honor of the late, great Steve Irwin, who gave his life so we could all enjoy wildlife...especially me, since I had my 'Snakes on a Plane on my Shoulder' silver Calvin Klein handbag---very snakey! Anyhoo...back to the flight...yawn! What a long flight! It took us about an hour to get our car from the airport parking garage, so we were in a giggly mood already due to the lack of sleep. Luckily, we managed to get an upgraded SUV from the good people at Budget car rentals---the guy in the parking lot told us to take whatever one we wanted! After a slight detour to a sexy mini-van (no Sonja, no mini-vans!), we loaded up into a very classy Buick Renier, or something like that, and hit the road for The Claremont Resort and Spa in hippie-friendly Berkeley, CA.

We started in towards San Francisco, where we were going to cross over the bay on the Bay Bridge, or so we thought---turns out, the freeway we needed was closed from midnight to 6:00 AM, so we took a detour through the streets of San Fran, and by streets, I mean the dirty underbelly of the city. It was so not hot. I did expect to see Starsky and Hutch pop out at any time, flying over one of the streets in their hot rod car, saying 'Do it. Do it.' Alas, it didn't happen. Maybe I had the vision of them flying over the streets in my head because Deb seemed to inherit some Evel Knievel-like driving skills----my life was flashing before my eyes at every corner!

So, after about 30 minutes of sight-seeing in SF, we were on the Bay Bridge, heading towards our destination. We had completely accurate directions from the staff at the hotel, so we were in good hands. Or so we thought. We missed our exit, so we exited onto some road in the city of Richmond. It was not too good looking of an area. Quote #2 of the trip: as we were driving in this desolate neighborhood, I said, 'Roll 'em up!' a la Clark W. Griswold in that American classic, National Lampoon's Vacation. Is there any better movie ever made on the great family vacation? Nope! We turned back around and made our way back towards civilization. The actual exit, Ashby Ave., was not too hot looking either, so after driving for a few minutes, we pulled over again and called the hotel. Nope, we were on the right road, and after another couple of minutes, we saw our home for the next few nights. It was a beacon in the night, all lit up in white lighting and sitting perched on the hill. Beautiful! I'm a bit of a google-a-holic, and I found out that the Claremont was the hotel shown in So I Married an Axe Murderer, another classic film. The man at the front desk tried to help us find something to eat, since it was well after 1:00 AM in California now, and we had been up for nearly 24 hours and were starving. The only suggestion in the area still open was Jack in the Box, and since we chose life over death, we did not eat this swill. Good thing, too! Sonja said people died from food poisoning at this joint. That could be wrong, but the argument worked for us that night!

Betsi got us upgraded into a room on the spa level, so we made our way downstairs, then over, up, and down again, until we found our room at the end of the hall, overlooking the tennis courts (home of the Berkeley Tennis Club--Al would have been in heaven). This isn't to say it was easy--I was driving the bellhop cart (since none of them were working at this hour), and I ran the top finial into the doorjam a few times. Of course, I was so tired and loopy that I could do nothing to avoid this, and when I tried to explain what happened, my mouth simply could not push the words out due to lack of sleep! Boo hoo.

The four of us quickly got ready for bed, since we had skipped dinner, or whatever meal we had missed, and fell into bed. Naturally, our giddy slumber-party sides took over, and we kept talking and laughing until Betsi scolded us: 'Okay, I think it's time for bed now!' Then she started talking too. Brain power was at an all-time low that day/night/morning/etc. Ladies--did I forget anything from day 1? Let me know!

Day 2 will be here as soon as I can get to it!