Our Weekend in NorCal
Last weekend, Paula, the dogs, and I drove up to Northern California to get away and hang out with our friends Jason and Nicole.
Paula works with Nicole and Jason is Nicole’s boyfriend. They live together in Livermore, which is just outside of San Fransisco, in wine country.
We left after lunchtime on Friday and the traffic was predictably terrible until we got out of the L.A. area. Then it was smooth sailing.
Stryker and Beckham have become used to driving through states and flying across the country, so this ride was a breeze for them:
It took us a total of about six-and-a-half hours to get to Livermore.
We set up the dogs and changed, then headed right back out for dinner. We went to an Italian place called Campo di Bocce… Yeah, Bocce! This place had four indoor Bocce Ball courts…
The weather was nice, so we chose to ate outside in what I consider the coolest beer garden ever! It had a nice bar, dining area, outdoor fireplace, and four more bocce ball courts!
So, we ate and then played Bocce Ball. Apparently, us midwesterners are more into yard games than westcoasters. Being “OC’s Favorite Midwestern Transplants,” Paula and I whooped Jason and Nicole 15 to 6! 
So, we finished around 10:30p and decided that we wanted to keep the party going at a club where one of Jason and Nicole’s friends was promoting a “white” party. We went back to the house to put on white shirts and then headed out to the club, Aura.
I consumed a bit of various liquids and this is pretty much how I remember the night:
The next day, we headed out around 11:00a to go wine tasting. When I say wine country, Jason and Nicole’s neighborhood is literally right in the middle of a bunch of wine fields. So, we drove down the street to our first destination.
This is the first time I’ve ever been wine tasting. Unfortunately, the wine wasn’t agreeing with whatever I was tasting the night before. There was no way I could finish all of this that day:
After the second winery we went to, a rooster told me to go home and take a nap:
So, I napped with the dogs while the rest of the crew hit up three or four more wineries.
After I recharged and the crew got back, we ate some pizza and then headed out to Berkeley to catch the Train concert. Being Paula’s favorite band and one of the last concerts before they go on hiatus from touring to work on a new album, this was a must-see concert for her.
It was held at the Greek Theater on UC Berkeley’s campus:
It was my second time seeing Train in concert… and I think it was like Paula’s forth or fifth time seeing them this year. Paula actually met and hung out with most of the band earlier this year and has kept in touch with some of them, so she’s obviously a superfan.
On the other hand, I’m not a big fan of their type of music, but I have to admit that they really rocked out. They mixed it up with their popular hits, acoustic renditions, and amped covers. We made our way up to the front row and they really put on a great show for a very receptive crowd.
The next day, the four of us drove out to San Fransisco:
The last time I was in San Fransisco was probably over 10 years ago and Paula has never been. We hung out on Pier 39 and ate at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.:
Forrest Gump is one of my most favorite movies of all time and at one point I could recite every single word, so it was a treat for me to eat at a restaurant that was themed after the movie. Not to mention the beautiful view of the bay from our table:
And that was it for us! I would have liked to have gone by the Golden Gate bridge, but there was a Giants game and the traffic was horrific! It took us about an hour to drive one block to the freeway! Plus, we were all beat from the weekend festivities and Paula and I needed to be on our way to make it back home in time to get some decent sleep for work the next day.
All in all, it was a very fun and event filled weekend. There are some more pics of our NorCal Weekend that you can check out in our photo gallery, if you like. I just basically snapped pics with my cell phone whenever I thought about it, so that is why they aren’t very clear…
I’d like to end by giving a shout out and big “THANK YOU!” to Jason and Nicole for their having us. We can’t wait to go back!
