San Francisco

So we started our day with a nice big breakfast at the Chieftan, an Irish restaurant near our hotel. It's the day before the marathon, so we are just eating anything and everything.

We then headed off on the 1 mile walk to the marathon expo. It was CRAZY crowded...

After we picked up our packet, bought some Gu (gel like running snacks for those of you who don't know), and bought some discount running shoes ($50!), we decided to explore a bit of the city. We couldn't go too far without a taxi, and really wanted to check out a really good wine shop, so just stuck close to our hotel.

Here is the Napa Valley Wine Exchange, the best wine shop in the area. They have tons of Napa area wines along with smaller vineyards neither of us had heard of. We actually found the delicious Prager petite syrah port we had been wanting for a discounted price! It was $34 at the winery, and only $24 here! Also, we grabbed a Pine Ridge cab/merlot blend for after the marathon.

We found this place on our walk to the wine place, and they were advertising a $3 happy hour with $3 appetizers, so we had to stop in.

It turned out to be DELICIOUS! They had a special cocktail of the day, which was a John Daly, which is a tea, lemonade, and vodka mix which is amazing.

We also got calamari and paprika fries appetizers.

We had planned to go to Weird Fish for dinner, which is apparently amazing fish, including a special "Suspicious Fish Dish" we were really excited about. However, we had appetizers and drinks about 6pm, so weren't hungry for dinner until after 9, which was a little late for Weird Fish. So we decided to go eat pasta right across the street at Buca di Beppo instead. We got a HUGE plate of pasta with artichokes, sun dried tomatoes, peas, and a white wine cream sauce for only $20.

It was just what we needed to prepare for the marathon the next day. We finished our bottle of Miner sangiovese and went to bed early. Yes, we drink wine before races.