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Christine & I had a leisurely breakfast, and I got my washing done so I would be ready to pack up when we got home later for my first Trek America tour leaving at 07h30 on Sunday morning!!!
We had a few errands to do around town, and then we headed out to meet up with Billy at StoneTree Golf course, about an hour's drive from San Francisco.The weather was unbelievably gorgeous, so we drove with the sun roof open, and enjoyed the great warm sunshine!!!We arrived there at around 2pmish, and Billy wasn't done yet, so we ordered a G&T at the clubhouse, and went to sit out on their lovely outside deck, overlooking the 18th hole!The sun was so hot we both got sunburned!!!We left the golf club at around 3pmish, and headed north to a place called Tomales Bay where Christine had heard about an Oyster BBQ spot, where you can buy and braai oysters - sounded fabulous!!! www.tomalesbayoysters.com .Eventually we found it, but when we got there it was so overcrowded, so we just bought the oysters, and a couple of bags of ice to keep them fresh on the drive home, and decided to find another place for lunch, which was rapidly turning into lupper!!!We stopped for petrol at Point Reyes www.pointreyes.org and the guy in the store recommended a great pub/bistro a short drive away!!What a great find!!By this stage, we were all starving, and very thirsty, so we tucked into our lunch with much enthusiasm.After lunch we had an espresso from the deli next door, and headed back to San Francisco.
As we were coming back into SFO, Billy got a call from his mate Brad, inviting us to an impromptu BBQ at his house.It was already about 7.30pm, but we were all up for it, and I could always do my packing later……We stopped off at the supermarket to buy a couple of provisions, namely beers, and limes and Tobassco for the oysters.
They lived in the Mission area of San Francisco, and to get there we had to drive through the 'dodgy' part of town.The Mission was viewed as a Hispanic neighborhood through much of the 1960s and 1970s. However, the Mission today is both the nexus of the Chicano and Latino community and a neighborhood of artists and hipsters. While Mexican, Salvadorian, and other Latin American restaurants are pervasive throughout the neighborhood, residences are not so evenly distributed. Traditional residents, including most of the neighborhood's Hispanic residents, tend to live on the eastern side. Hipsters center around Valencia Street and Mission Dolores Park on the western side. However, there are certainly no distinct racial lines. A fusion of the conceivably disparate cultures is evidenced by the many colorful Mexican and Latin American themed murals throughout the neighborhood.I met Brad and Monique, and Jeff & Anna.What a great bunch of people, and what a great evening it turned out to be.We started off with a magical Bloody Mary Jeff had blended together with a great carrot and celery sticks and gherkins and peppers as garnish.World class!!!As I mentioned earlier SFO was in the middle of a mini heat wave, so at 10:30pm in the evening, we were sitting outside in their garden enjoying very warm weather and the vibe of all the neighbours doing the same thing, and the hum of their chatter and music all floating above us ~ a really great evening…Anna & Monique had a great spread of snacks including humus, salami, avocado, a huge chunk of French bread - really great.Brad was busy on the BBQ, and he had some Cherico sausage on the go too.Billy had started on the oysters by around 11pm, and they were unbelievable.We had some fresh with just lemon juice and Tobassco, and then he put a couple on the BBQ, which I hadn't had before, and they were delicious!!!Hmmm, my mouth is watering just writing about it..!!J
Eventually, by around midnight, I decided I needed to get home, as I still had to do all my ironing, and pack my suitcase and be up by 06h30 in the morning to get ready and down to the Best Western Americana hotel in downtown San Francisco to meet up with my tour!!!Of course by this stage, copious amounts of bloody Mary had been consumed, along with other concoctions of Jeff's, so my sense of timing wasn't the greatest, so Billy said we'd just finish one more drink, and then we'd go… so I poured another drink, and chilled out for another hour!!!ANOTHER HOUR!!!Oh Man, it was now 01h00 in the morning - Anna & Monique ordered me a taxi at this stage, as they could see Billy wasn't going anywhere!!!The cab arrived 20 minutes later, and Billy & Christine then decided to come home with me, cos they weren't going to drive anyway.We got home at 01h45, and guess what, Billy & Christine went straight to bed, and I had to iron my clothes and pack my suitcase!!! Man was I cursing - until 03h30 in the morning!!!!I crawled into bed, and set my alarm for 06h30.What a great day it had been, and a really awesome evening meeting some new friends!!!I was feeling a little anxious for my tour the next day, but was soooo tired, I didn't think about it much, and was out like a light as soon as my head hit the pillow!!!
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