Fun and Food in San Francisco

Sara and I

Two weeks ago I traveled to San Francisco! The primary reason for my trip was a work related conference but I chose this conference in particular because my dear friend Sara lives in SF so I headed out a couple days early to hang with her. Our first order of business was to decide b/t driving up to Lake Tahoe for cross country skiing vs hanging around SF and Sonoma County for some spa-style relaxing. A quick look at the weather, and the expected 60 degree and sunny forecast for the city itself made that decision an easy one! So after luxuriously sleeping in, we had a late breakfast and headed up to Indian Springs Resort and Spa in Sonoma. Indian Springs is a resort originally built in 1913 with many upgrades since. Part of its claim to fame is the large mineral pool fed from water from 230 degree hot springs and geysers nearby. So you can bask year round in this beautiful, warm pool looking at the surrounding mountains. The water was roughly 92 degrees so even this preggars gal could spend a limited amount of time in there (though I mostly floated on a raft just dipping my feet in).

After we were nice and relaxed, we moved on to...well..more relaxation. In the form of massages. This was my first massage while pregnant and I was interested to see what, if any, modifications would be made. Basically, in short, when I was laying stomach down I was on a soft wedge device that allowed my abdomen to push down as far needed to be comfortable. No big deal. The message was good. I'm so spoiled with a husband who is a better masseuse than any professional I've encountered but it was still nice with the music and the smells and the pre-hot tub and the post- fabulous dinner at Solbar. It was such a great day!

The next day, we started with a great 5 mile hike on Mt Tamalpais in Marin County. While the day was overcast, and constantly threatened rain, the most it did was spit a bit. The temperature was nice- mid-50s- really excellent January hiking weather! There was enough elevation gain that we required frequent breaks to "look at the views" (read: catch our breaths) so as a bonus I could count part of this wonderful walk with a friend as exercise! And we saw an unidentified animal that I really think might have been a bobcat, which made this nature-lover's day:)

Me and 25 week babybison.

We then saw Silver Linings Playbook (was so-so) and popped over to a day spa that happened to have openings for both of us to have facials right before dinner. I'd never had a facial before. It was....interesting. It's nice to have your face massaged, it's nice to have fragrant lotions applied, but in my opinion it's NOT nice to have hot humid air blowing on your face for half an hour! I could barely breathe! At one point, I felt the beginnings of a panic attack as I was reminded of the last time I felt this trapped and hot, years ago in a small hut in Northern Africa......No joke.

I was visiting my cousin, Karin, who was in the Peace Corps living in a rural town in Mauritania (let's face it, all the the towns in Mauritania are rural except for the capital). She lived in a one room house, very luxurious as she was the only one living in it. One day, we were told a sand storm was coming. We did notice the wind had picked up a bit. The locals told us to go to our house and board up the doors and windows, making sure we had sufficient water and food. The sand storms can last for up to days. I was a little excited at first but once we were locked up in the suffocating hot, stagnant hut, my mind started racing with worst case scenarios. What if this lasted days? Was there any amount of money I could pay someone to drive me the hours to the capital where there were modern buildings with air conditioning and electricity to wait out the rest of the storm? (Obviously, this was a crazy thought- no one would be able to see to drive.). What if my heart exploded from anxiety? My cousin appeared calm, cool and collected so I did my best to hold it together, placing warm washcloths on my face repeatedly because the sensation of wet was better than the hot dry air. The storm lasted only 12 hours, much of which was at night so we slept through it. But, wow, it was an experience!!

So, lesson learned- facials aren't for me. But spa days and massages definitely are!

Sara and I had no shortage of delicious food during our two days together. Despite only living there for a year and a half, Sara has quickly learned the town like a local and had all kinds of fantastic eating plans for us. In total, we had four great dinners. In brief...

1. Nopa is a great spot that serves "urban rustic food" with local, seasonal ingredients. The space is cute and energetic with enthusiastic patrons and servers. To eat we started with the warm goat cheese with asian pear and fuyu persimmon- I really enjoyed this because I haven't had goat cheese in months out of concern it wouldn't be pasteurized, but this kind of place knows their ingredients well so I confidently enjoyed the creamy cheese when the server told me it was indeed pasteurized. For dinner I had the pasta dish that was so, so good but the details of which I can't remember and it isn't on the menu anymore (it changes frequently). But doesn't it look GOOD!!??!!

2. Solbar-
This was my overall favorite dining experience. A combo of the relaxing spa beforehand, being out in Sonoma County, the marvelous wine flight (don't worry- I had only 4 oz), the food, the company, our wonderful server who happens to be a marathoner (yup, I tipped well when I learned this!), the ambience-- just a great couple hours of relaxing, enjoyable, LIFE! I wasn't surprised that my food (hot and cold dungeness crab appetizer, petaluma crispy duck breast with garnet yam stew and beignets with Bailey's Irish cream sauce) was stellar- the restaurant won a 2012 open table diner's choice award as well as a Michelin star. For future reference, the spa (which we did not partake in, but looked nice though pricey) was voted #1 spa in the Americas and #10 in the world by Traveler magazine. Might be worth checking out as a weekend trip in the future.

3. Perbacco- This was a beautiful Italian restaurant near the financial district. Sara's mom was in town my last night so I got to have dinner with them both, which was great! This restaurant was oh-so-cute and the food did not disappoint.



4. Firefly- This is where we ate the first night. It is a cute, neighborhoody type place with excellent food. One thing I really appreciate about San Francisco is the neighborhood feel- so many small restaurants, coffee shops and boutiques. Definitely a great place to get into the feel of begin in SF!


Other sights in San Francisco:

On one of my daily runs!

Look at the middle pic- handheld pot pies!

This guy is wearing hooves!

It was a great trip and I was SO happy to spend time catching up with Sara. But after a week on the West Coast, I was definitely missing home. And now with the third trimester just around the corner, I won't be traveling for a while! Guess I'll have to just enjoy the rest of winter in Chicago. If only we'd get some snow!

What to do in OBX

At Jockey Ridge State Park.

Our front steps

The Outer Banks are a long stretch of barrier islands on the coast of North Carolina. They are divided into Northern and Southern sections. We were in the Northern section with our home base being a beach house on the ocean in Kitty Hawk, NC. The outer banks are not anchored to coral like some other barrier islands thus suffer significant erosion during storms of any magnitude. While Sandy did not hit this area directly, the winds definitely affected the area. Highway 12, the road our house was on, was closed in parts due to over wash and as you can see in this picture, the sand piled up on the non-beach side of the houses, requiring it to be shoveled like snow.

In case you ever visit the area (and runners, you should seriously consider point #1 below!), I've developed a top eight list of things to do in OBX for your consideration!

#1 Run a marathon. I probably would never have visited this area if not for the Outer Banks Marathon and Half Marathon and I'm glad that the race drew me here! If you are a 50 in 50'er or just like destination races, put this one on your list!

Adam and I after the race.

Me running past the Monument.

#2 Visit the Wright Brothers National Monument. Orville and Wilbur Wright were the first ever to fly a powered vehicle back in 1903 at Kill Devil Hills near Kitty Hawk. The first flight lasted 12 seconds and traveled just a few tens of feet, but later that day they had a 59 second flight that covered 800+ feet. The first ever time man operated a powered vehicle causing it to fly. Pretty amazing! And just to emphasize the rapid pace of aeronautical progress, one of the Wright brothers was actually in attendance at the launch of one of the space shuttles. Incredible!






#3 Kayak in a Maritime Forest. According to wikipedia a maritime forest is "an ocean coastal wooded habitat found on higher ground than dune areas within range of salt spray". There are very few such forests remaining in the world and one of the largest- over 1800 acres worth- is the Kitty Hawk Woods Coastal Reserve. My entire family took a leisurely 2 hour paddle in this reserve on a beautiful sunny afternoon. The water was perfectly still and we saw multiple yellow-bellied sliders (turtles) and an interesting bird (not sure what it was to be honest!). The weather was so mild- it was just wonderful to be comfortable out on a boat in November!

Mom and Dad.

The whole gang.

Family photo!

#4 Fly a Kite. My brother and his family are into kites, particularly "power kites" which are larges kites that are designed to create significant pull, some even with the ability to carry people from here to there over water (ex kitesurfing) or even off the ground (kite-jumping, snow kiting, etc). They definitely require core strength to manage properly! We used a nice sunny, windy day on top of a sand dune to play around with some kites.

My Dad being tamed by the kite.

#5 Run down a sand dune. Jockey's Ridge State Park is the largest sand dune in the Eastern United States. There are opportunities for hiking, kite flying, parasailing lessons and general frolicking. Here are a few pictures of the latter. We happened to catch a costume club doing a Star Wars photoshoot on the dune, which was pretty fun as well.

Garrett can fly!

#6 Golf! We had beautiful weather for the first four days of our trip (sunny in the 60s), but it became a bit overcast with intermittent rain for the latter half of the week. But that didn't stop us from doing some golfing! Given the inclement weather, we choose to forgo the many beautiful, more pricy courses for the very reasonably priced Holly Ridge Golf Course. I'm glad we did because the owner was a very friendly chap who gave us a raincheck when I got away too cold after 5 holes the first day despite the fact that it was barely drizzling (certainly no lightning!). The next day we returned and completed the 18 and turns out it was the best round of golf I've EVER had- a 94! My previous best was a bit over 100 (maybe 102?) so this was really a monster golf PR which I was really happy with. I would certainly recommend this course (we ended up going 3 days in a row), but I'd also consider checking out some of the nicer ones (Nags Head, Kilmarlic and Carolina Club) if the weather was more favorable for enjoying the views!

#7 View sunrises and sunsets. The view from our back porch...and our upstairs porch(es)....and the front room....and the screened in porch....and the hot tub were all of this:

In addition, multiple dolphin pods made their way right in front of our house! One solo dolphin was only 20 feet from shore! Absolutely wonderful. The pelicans were fun to watch as well.

#8 Drive through the Brew Thru. Yes, North Carolina has drive thru liquor stores. Go figure on that one. So of course we had to drive thru!

And this was the off season! During regular season there are tons of water sports, mini-putting for the kids, wild horses to see, plenty of activities. To be honest though, I'd recommend the off-season. I can only imagine how packed the place gets during the summer, probably a bit unpleasant.....So bottom line, come for the race, it's a good one! :)

Iron Horse Hotel, Milwaukee, WI

Over Memorial Day, Adam and I had a rare 3 day weekend. It's the first 3 day weekend I can remember in recent history, maybe even in a few years! Day 1 was spent driving with the top down in Elly to Rochester, MN. Glorious. Sunday was spent running the Med City Marathon (half for Adam), then driving to Milwaukee where we had dinner with my parents and Grandma Nelson. We wandered around the Third Ward which is so cute and the Riverwalk which is so pretty. Then Adam and I spent the night at the Iron Horse.

I found this hotel while searching on-line for a cute place near the Third Ward. It was on Conde Nast Traveler's Top 100 Gold List for 2011 and named 2011 Boutique Hotel of the Year by the Boutique and Lifestyle Lodging Association. It has won numerous accolades from many reputable magazines and editorialists, clearly touted as the best hotel in Milwaukee. Sounded like a winner!

Photo courtesy of the Iron Horse

The space is an 100 year old warehouse remodeled in a style that I would call "biker chic". The concept of the hotel is biker meets upscale traveller which surprisingly really works. The combination of open brick, wood, and dark leather with modern light fixtures and art. One reviewer noted it is a place where a woman would feel equally comfortable in biker boots or stiletto heels, which sounds impossible, but is actually the truth about this eclectic, down-to-earth yet sophisticated corner of Milwaukee.

Photo courtesy of the Iron Horse

Photo courtesy of the Iron Horse

Our arrival experience was great- the front desk attendant asked about our plans for the evening and made some helpful dinner suggestions. Much like my opinion on restaurants, oftentimes the difference between expected high quality and outstanding high quality is in the customer service. The lovely woman at the front desk offering suggestions rather than waiting to be asked about recommendations is one example of the latter. Well done.

The room was beautifully appointed with interesting art covering one wall and classic brick, an homage to the building's original use, on the other walls. The bathroom was very pretty with Kohler fixtures and H20 bathroom products. And I have to admit I'm a sucker for the little extra touches like the toilet paper roll covered in animal prints:)













The mini-bar selection was great as well and had we planned to stay longer I'm sure we would have dug in to the great beer and wine selection.

Photo courtesy of the Iron Horse

We had breakfast in the morning in the Library and I was quite happy with the selection. While I am no vegetarian, I felt like having a lighter breakfast so ordered the Tofu Scramble, which turned out to be an absolutely delicious blend of sautéed tofu, asparagus, red onion, cherry tomatoes, wild mushrooms, zucchini, fresh herbs and truffle oil. It was tasty and filling, without relying on heavy creams or cheeses like lesser breakfast places tend to do. But don't worry, if you are up for a traditional Wisconsin breakfast there was plenty of meat and cheese on the menu as well:)

Photo courtesy of the Iron Horse

In addition to the Library there is the Smyth for breakfast, lunch and dinner and the Yard, a beautiful indoor/outdoor bar. We will be back to try those on for size:)

I highly recommend the Iron Horse as a great stay for a Milwaukee weekend getaway especially for Chicagoans looking for a place that meets the high standards of an urban upscale hotel. This place was right in line with what I would expect, but at 2/3'rds of the usual cost! A well kept secret that I am very pleased to have discovered! ;)

Very Tardy Puerto Vallarta Restaurants Post

Our view of the kitchen from our table.

Sara did some great research into which restaurants in Peurto Vallarta were fabulous and worth our time, money, and tastebuds. Both of her picks were wonderful. The first was Teatro Limon, an open kitchen restaurant run by an American ex-pat named Bruce and his wonderful British ex-pat wife, Julia. Bruce is one of those guys who is wildly inappropriate, completely ADD, but so well intentioned and goofy that he wins you over despite the riduculous things he does and says. The restaurant concept is essentially "open-kitchen, open-menu". There is no set menu, rather Bruce and his gang find the freshest ingredients they can and make whatever the heck Bruce feels like making. He simply asked if we had food allergies then let the food flow. (Without me telling him my love for bison, that's what he choose for my main course!)

Us w/ Bruce. We had no idea he had his shirt open. Hilarious!

It's been over a month since this tasty dinner so I don't remember all the details of our meal, but it was all very good. The mojito we had to start with was out-of-this-world. Bruce and his wife essentially worked the room (all 6 tables) and we got to learn a bit of their history. They both ended up in Mexico for different reasons. Bruce was actually working for Paul Newman in Canada and came to PV on vacation and never left. They ended up together when Julia had a fall, breaking a bone, and required some help. She didn't know many people in PV at that time and Bruce ended up taking care of her despite not knowing her very well. Let's just say they know each other well now!


While we were eating our dinner, a group of 3 ladies walked in and by the way they were joking w/ Bruce, we could tell they knew each other. She we ended up chatting w/ them a bit and eventually Bruce invitied us over to their table and we ended up sharing (complimentary) cognac and hearing how this eccletic group of Americans ended up in PV (two of the ladies were in their 60s, very happily married and the 3rd was a young lady Air Force vet they met through a theatre group called The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas). A wierd and wonderous group, they were.

When they found out we are physicians, out came the BP cuff! When people hear I'm a doc it's pretty common for them to start assailing me with the health issues of themselves and their loved ones, but I've never seen anyone whip out a BP cuff! That was a new one. Apparently Bruce's BP is high and he's been taking his pressures regularly. Of course, we then all had to take our pressures. Yes, this is what you do at a high end restaurant in PV Mexico in the middle of the night!

Between the restaurant, Bruce, his wife and their goofy friends, the night ended up being quite an adventure!

Our table was the one in the middle-left.

The second restaurant we tried was called Vista Grill. The main draw of this place was the view. Absolutely beautiful. Hence the name. The food was very good as well. We both had pistachio encrusted Chilean Sea Bass and it was so wonderful. Since Sara is a wonderful friend and is willing to humor me with my 'early bird special' eating habits, we were some of the first customers there. But I like to think that's not the only reason the young male servers were flocking around our table. We were right on the edge of the balcony and it was a windy night, but they insisted on repeat attempts at lighting our table candles. First one guy came over and lit them repeatedly, immediately to see them blow out. A second guy came over and did the same. We tried to explain that a) someone already tried to light them, b) the wind was the problem and c) we were fine without romantic lighting. Knowing Spanish might have helped in that conversation, I suppose.

Yummy dessert.

Then a third young man came over with a votive and tried to light the candle then place the votive around it. That worked for a few minutes. The whole thing was quite humorous. Even more humorous was a ridiculous comedy of errors that resulted in one of our water glasses flying over the balcony. Sara moved her chair closer to the table and bumped it. One of the glasses started to tip and in my attempt to save the wine (priorities, right?) I further pushed the glass in jeopardy and it landed on the table, broke, then bounced over the balcony.

We immediately froze and listened waiting for someone on the lower balcony to scream or curse or something. When nothing happened, I peered over the balcony and saw the broken class on the awning below. Phew.

You can't take us anywhere.

All in all, two wonderful nights and I'm so grateful for Sara for taking the time to find these great spots!

Sara and I. Happy campers.

Villa Premiere, Puerto Vallarta

On our balcony at the hotel.

Last week, Sara and I spent the week sitting in the sun in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. We're both in the midst of life transitions and thought what better way to debrief and re-group than to sit around in a beautiful (and WARM) place in the middle of February?

We stayed in a small hotel right in town on the water called Villa Premiere. Overall it was a very nice place: clean, directly on the water, with excellent customer service but overall very odd clientele. Don't worry, I'll elaborate on those characters later.

View at dinner.

The hotel had both an all-inclusive and a European plan option. We opted for the European plan (i.e. mels and drinks not included) because we planned to do our dinnertime eating and drinking elsewhere. Which was an excellent choice both because the food at our place was mediocre (but passable and NOT buffet, thank goodness) and because Sara chose two fantastic dinner spots for us in town. The views from the hotel restaurant were excellent, however, as evidenced by the picture to the right.

The Villa Premiere's schtick is spa-style relaxation. On arrival, we were given glasses of champagne, 5 minute chair massages, a pillow menu (you know, where you pick the style/firmness of pillow you prefer) and choice of aromatherapy. While they "aromatherapized" our rooms we enjoyed the booze and massage. It was a very nice way to transition from the flight and the not-so-pretty drive through town into relaxation mode. They also had a spa whose services ended up being the highlight of the trip for both of us. Specifically, we indulged in an amazing 80 minute aromatherapy massage. In addition to only costing $70 which is crazy cheap, it was right on the beach. The sound of the waves, the feel of the sun and the breeze, and the wonderful experience that is a well executed massage. All senses were in overdrive except vision; it was so relaxing.

Massage location. AMAZING!

In addition to 1 day time and 2 night time restaurants, an indoor gym, and the spa, the grounds had 2 pools including a swim up bar. There were plenty of beach chairs as well as private cabanas. There was yoga every morning on the beach and various activities like cooking classes. We did yoga one morning and it was so wonderful. All the balance moves were that much harder on the uneven sand but it made it all the better of a workout:)

Chilling in the cabana once we'd had enough sun!

The staff went out of their way to help us. My two favorite touches were the towel animals (I'm a sucker for towel animals) and the fact that the doorman told us how much each taxi ride should cost so we wouldn't get ripped off by the drivers. I really appreciated that because I hate negotiating prices especially when I'm not sure how much things "should" cost.


All of the rooms face the ocean. In fact one really weird feature of most of the hotels on the water is that there are only windows on the water side of the buildings. The city side is just one slab of concrete. It looks super creepy. I understand why- the area of PV right outside the hotels is not very pretty, is quite loud, and the pollution is palpable, very much a developing country. By facing the water, all we (the tourists) hear is the waves crashing on the beach, we only see pretty sites and somehow the air seems perfectly clean. Kinda creepy looking, though.

View from the balcony.

Whale sighting from the balcony. Didn't get my camera out in time to show the tail.

Overall, I can recommend Villa Premiere if you are going to PV, as long as you are willing to be amused by some strange folks keeping you company around the pool (actually this was quite entertaining). However, I would not necessary recommend PV as a vacation destination. Don't get me wrong, Sara and I had a great time and the beach was absolutely beautiful. But there are places that are even more beautiful with more fun activities without some of the downsides and inconveniences of PV....like Hawai'i. But I think I understand why some folks (I think mostly middle aged folks) go to PV year after year. It is relatively cheap and for many this is their only "international" experience. But I personally prefer trips where there is a bit more to do. Again, not complaining- just assessing the pros and cons of the trip for future travel plans:) There's so much world to see!