So that first week in California wasn't all we were hoping for.
But wait: it got worse!
Bryn was feeling a little under the weather, so Shawn drove from the Testa vineyard into Sonoma, to another Harvest Host: the Mayo Family Winery. It has a really nice spot tucked into the vines, but you do have to back up through the entire parking lot. Bryn still hadn't recovered, so Shawn did the wine tasting by himself and guessed which ones he thought Bryn would enjoy. He ended up getting a couple of bottles for us to have later.
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| The Bundra and trailer at Mayo Family Winery |
Bryn tried taking a nap to get over her nausea, Shawn watched football in the meantime. However, it just got worse. At this point we changed the diagnosis from intense hangover to food poisoning. Our assumption was the shrimp pasta from the previous evening. Originally, we had planned to spend the afternoon going into Santa Rosa (to visit Russian River Brewery and the Bonneau Wine tasting room), but with Bryn's struggles we skipped it for the day.
Monday morning Shawn worked at a Starbucks to get through some morning meetings, and then we drove from Sonoma to an actual campground in Vallejo. We checked in and set up, finally connecting to power for the first time in 6 days! It was so exciting to have full electricity again. Almost everything in the fridge/freezer had to be thrown away and it took a lot of cleaning to get rid of the smells (normally the propane system should have been able to run the fridge in the absence of an electrical hookup, but that had already failed back in Reno...). We also got to do laundry for the first time in a while, as we couldn't at our previous campground due to the power. Unfortunately, Bryn continued to have digestive issues but started improving in the evening. We managed to schedule an appointment with a mobile RV repair company to come look at our propane furnace.
The next morning is when we finally figured out what was really going on. At this point Bryn's symptoms had abated (though she was still very weak from not eating or sleep well), but Shawn began showing the same symptoms. We had to revise the diagnosis again. It wasn't food poisoning, it was norovirus. There was an ongoing outbreak, and it was even partially connected to oysters...
Realizing that it was norovirus, which is HIGHLY contagious, we had to cancel our propane fix and lockdown for several days until our symptoms/contagious period passed. We spent a couple of days in the camper listening to the rain.
Finally Friday rolled around and we had reached the end of our contagiousness window. Sweet, sweet freedom! We worked a half day in the morning, and then headed off towards Santa Rosa. Originally our plan had been to head into San Francisco in the early afternoon, but since the norovirus had prevented us from getting in our other stops earlier in the week we decided to cut into our city time. On the way through Sonoma we stopped at the Bonneau deli/gas station in for lunch. They used to do wine tastings here as well, but that apparently stopped just before COVID. We still got sandwiches, and they were very good.
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| Long lost relatives |
We arrived at Russian River Brewing in Santa Rosa, and it was excellent. They have a flight that contains every beer they have on top (20 when we were there). We got one to split. Shawn really liked the Robert. Bryn really liked the Intinction Sauv Blanc. Of course, Pliny the Elder was great. We weren't hungry so we didn't get any ourselves, but the food that others had around us looked and smelled great. We got several bottles both for ourselves and for some friends that Bryn will see when she is back in Boston for work.
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| Russian River megaflight |
We then went to the nearby 4th Street Cellars, a tasting room in Santa Rosa which includes several brands, one of which is Bonneau Wines. This is from a very distant (i.e. hundreds of years) branch of Shawn's family. He tried to visit on his last trip to San Francisco, but a rental car break-in got in the way. We did a tasting of the Bonneau wines they had on hand and purchased several bottles, both for ourselves and for Shawn's sister who was running low on stock from them.
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| A very happy Shawn |
Once we were done with the Bonneau tasting, we rushed back to the camper to start our San Francisco outing. We set Percy up for a stretch without us, grabbed our bags, and then caught the 6:40 ferry into San Francisco. It was a 1 hour ride and provided some nice views of the city lights as we pulled into the port. We made the somewhat foolish decision to walk the mile to our hotel, thinking it wouldn't be too bad. SF really is that hilly, especially when you have a suitcase full of wine/beer and spent several days sick earlier in the week. By the time we realized how bad our mistake was going to be, it felt foolish to take a bus or Uber 1/3 of a mile, so we suffered through the rest of the hike up to the hotel. Shawn's family had gotten us 2 nights at the Fairmount as a Christmas gift. We checked in and discovered we had gotten a room upgrade! After stashing our stuff, we went to a nearby Italian restaurant, Nob Hill Cafe, and got a lovely late dinner without having to leave the top of the hill.
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| Coming in on the ferry |
On our way back to our room, we stopped into the hotel's basement bar, Tonga. This is a tiki bar that has an entire pool with boat stage in the middle of it. A live band was playing from the boat while we were there. We found the drinks overly sweet, but the atmosphere is definitely worth checking out.
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| A boat on a pool in a bar under a hotel |
Saturday morning we got room service for breakfast, as we had some food credits due to American Express Platinum benefits. Then we used the hotel's gym to weightlift. It was better stocked than Planet Fitness, and it was so nice to have actual squat racks and trap bars instead of Smith machines. After a workout and shower, we had worked our appetite back up and headed down the hill to Chinatown. We got dim sum at Osmanthus Dim Sum Lounge. It was pricey, but great. We got an outdoor (but covered) table, which was a nice bonus.
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| So many dumplings |
The museum was near our hotel and we weren't hungry yet, so we took a short break back in our room. Once we could see ourselves eating again, we walked over to Mensho Tokyo SF, which is a very well rated ramen shop that Shawn's sister had recommended to us. It's a very small place, and it took us about an hour to get through the line, which was about 15 people when we arrived. It was well worth the wait, as the food was excellent. Shawn got the Blaze, which was very spicy--don't underestimate it. Bryn got the Tori Paitan, which was so rich and creamy. The dishes are quite large and come out very fast, so don't worry about an appetizer. We also recommend getting in early, as the line was almost 3 times longer than when we arrived by the time we got in.
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| Blaze on the left, Tori Paitan on the right |
We hit a couple of bars on our way back to the hotel, breaking up the walk back up the hill. In the morning we got another American Express credit breakfast, and then parted ways. Bryn headed to the airport for a business trip back to Boston. Shawn walked back down to the ferry terminal to head to the camper and Percy. Once he confirmed that the truck's windows had not been broken in a smash-and-grab, we officially declared the San Francisco weekend a success. Our stomachs were still a little sensitive and our bodies were feeling fatigued but we managed to have a nice weekend. Hopefully our luck is turning!
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