Escape to San Francisco

Tyler and I were able to escape to San Fransisco for 4 nights in January.  This trip was all because Tyler is such a hard worker.  His company recognized the top 5% of managers in their company and Tyler was one of the 5%.  Only 3 managers were sent from the Draper office.  There were 12 couples total. The company refers to this trip as "The Circle of Champions."  No expense was spared and everything was top notch. We were spoiled the entire time!

Getting out of Salt Lake was the hardest part of the trip.  We kept getting delayed an hour at a time. Our total delay turned into 6 hours.  At one point the flight was canceled and then they changed their minds.  We eventually got to San Fransisco at 9:00 pm. 

We were anticipating that we would miss the reception welcome dinner but they extended it an hour so that we could attend.  It was held in the pent house of the hotel.  They had dinner buffet style.  I felt so under-dressed.  The dress was supposed to be business casual which means no Levis.  I had to go shopping before the trip because I didn't have anything besides Levis.  Because the dinner had been extended for us we had to hurry straight upstairs.  I was wearing nothing dressy.  I didn't have any jewelry and I was wearing tennis shoes!!  I felt so silly.  It turned out OK and we still had fun and no one cared that we were all casual.

This was the few from the open patio of the pent house.  It was a beautiful night. 

Here we are in our all casual attire!

DAY 1

The first full day in California was the group activity day.  We went to Benzinger Winery for a tour.  It was pretty neat to see how you go from grapes to wine.  The vineyards were so pretty and very meticulous.  The group activity was a lot more fun than we expected.  We broke up into groups (we were on different teams) and had to mix 3 different types of wine to make a master wine.  Then we had to design a label and make a marketing pitch that incorporated the things we learned about the winery and principles from Tyler's work. The majority of the group loved the wine mixing because they had to taste it to make sure it tasted good.  Here we are at the entrance of Benzinger Farms.

We were served lunch in the cave were the wine sits in huge barrels to age.  It was pretty cool.

After we ate lunch we went to the tasting room so that anyone who wanted to could purchase wine. 

After that we went to Sonoma for some shopping.  We just walked around and got some ice cream.  Then we got on the bus for our 2 hour drive back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. 

For dinner we went to one of Tyler Lawrence's restaurants.  They took us in and up these narrow steps to a private room.  We had amazing food and had a good time.  Here we are all gussied up to go out on the town.

I sum up day 1 of the trip as the booze day.  The group drank wine all day.  The drinking started with the mixing, then at lunch, then while tasting to purchase, then on the bus trip back, then at dinner and then to top it off they had a open bar social hour when we got back to the hotel.  I was amazed at how much some people could drink.

DAY 2

On the second day we could pick between a couple activities.  We chose to go to Alcatrez.  We rode the ferry across to the island.  Here we are on the boat.

We were able to walk around and go on a self guided tour of the jail.  It was pretty cool.   This is a picture of the island from the ferry. The weather was pretty foggy this day so we weren't able to see the Golden Gate Bridge or much of the Bay.

I had to keep reminding myself that the prisoners had put themselves there and that I shouldn't feel bad that they were locked up in there. Here's Tyler in front of one of the itty-bitty cells with his head phones on.

For dinner we went to this restaurant right off the ocean.  They served cocktails and appetizers outside on a patio then we moved inside for dinner.  It was so yummy!

Today was great. I was starting to relax about the kids being home and away from us. I wasn't so worried about them and I began to enjoy myself.

DAY 3

On the last full day we were there we chose to have a day of leisure and figure out San Fransisco for ourselves.  We finally figured out how to get on the right cable car to take us where we wanted to go.  We went down to the Warf.  We just enjoyed being together and doing a little shopping.   Here I am on the cable car (far right).

The thing that amazed us about San Fransisco was how steep the streets were. This picture doesn't do it justice. They were so steep that they were tough to walk up.

We went to Ghirardelli Square.  We were too cheap to buy any chocolate.

We went right down by the ocean.  Although there wasn't much of a beach.  The Golden Gate Bridge is behind me. You can see the orange post right above my right ear.  Ha, that's pretty tiny.

We saw the Sea Lions at Pier 39.  We tried to do a little shopping for the boys and ended up with some T-shirts and some dinosaurs for them.  We went to China Town and to Little Italy.  The funny thing about day 3 was that we had to figure out where to eat.  After being catered to for a few days we felt a little lost.  We finally decided on a little bistro and got a sandwich and pizza to share. 

In the afternoon, Tyler had to attend a presentation and I was able to stay at the hotel for a little R&R.  I got advantage of my alone time and got a pedicure.  I love pedicures.  Then we were off to dinner.  For dinner they rented a fine art museum just for our small group.  It was a beautiful place to have dinner.  We didn't really get into the sculptures of naked men but I guess its still considered art. 

This is our table before they served us dinner.  The waiters were in tuxedos. It was pretty fancy.

Here we are enjoying the last night of our trip.

Day 3 was relaxing and we had a great time.  The other couples were a little jealous that we had a day of leisure and wish they would have chosen to do the same.

All in all, the trip was amazing. I enjoyed getting dressed up and going out with Tyler.  We got home without any problems and we were both anxious to see the kiddos.  They did good. Thank you to all those who made it possible for us to come on this trip. 

Thank you Tyler for your hard work and for taking us to San Fransisco!