flyer tim
Oct 18, 05, 12:05 pm
Just came back from a wonderful 4 day trip to San Francisco and Sonoma (to celebrate our 15th anniversary). 1st night was a paid stay at the Hilton San Fran. Found a great rate that was much better than using 40,000 pts. Checked in and was pre-assigned to a junior suite on the 35th floor (HH Diamond). View was great (view of Downtown, East bay, and Bay Bridge). Arrived late (8:30 PM) but lounge still was doing desert (cookies) and drinks. Took up our glasses of Champagne and enjoyed the view and cookies. Best part of room was getting up early (6 AM) opening drapes and watching the sunrise over the East hills. Wonderful view. Then we went to the spa and worked out for 1˝ hrs (got to work off those cookies). Nice gym for a hotel, but not very nice for one that is part of a spa (a row of treadmills, a row of bikes, 4 or 5 ellipticals, 9-10 workout machines, and a pretty good sized and stocked free weight area). Breakfast was good (typical lounge continental, but very well done). Went out for a few hour walk (ferry bldg for picnic shopping then up to pier 39 and then over to where our friends were staying in North Beach). Grabbed the car and checked out.
Drove up to Rohnert Park for a 3 night stay at the Doubletree. This was an awards stay (even though that weekend was blacked out, the diamond desk got me point stretcher reservations for 2 rooms, so the 3 nights for us and the 2 for our friends only cost 75,000 pts). Bad news was that the blackout was due to a large orchid grower convention. Hotel was sold out for weekend and therefore no upgrade available (they did give me breakfast coupons for my friends to make up for this, maybe because I had called earlier and hotel manager had said he thought I could still get one). Room was not wonderful (certainly not comparable to the one I had in SF), but larger than normal (king with sofa and table) and had a very nice bathroom (large enough for a couple to be comfortably in at the same time). The nicer rooms (apart from suites) are the lanai rooms that face the courtyard and have a covered balcony / porch with tables (our view of the parking lot was not breathtaking). Lobby looks very nice at ground level (nice flooring, fountain, and library area), but looks like a Ramada when you look up above ground level (drab treatments and colors). Hallways smelled or some cleaner, but rooms were fine (thankfully). Breakfast was in the Bachus restaurant. On weekends they had a nice buffet with very nicely done eggs, potatoes with veggies, and bacon / sausage plus an assortment of fruits and pastries (menu service only on weekdays). Coupons were for continental off the menu, but they gave you a $6.50 credit per coupon, so most items cost net of $2-$4. Best part of breakfast was Benny the head waiter (did not try for dinner so don’t know if he was there or not). He was very attentive and talkative.
I will not bore with details of the winery’s visited, but here is the short list of highlights for those who care. Sonoma Cutrer for tour (by appointment only but wonderful, also they now have a limited release Pinot Noir that is very good), Selby in Healdsburg (try their 2nd label Monkey Business), Wellington (wonderful lower cost wine), Iron Horse (best view from any tasting room around). Best find was due to my wife. We did the 7 course food / wine pairing at the Mayo Family Reserve tasting room. For $20 / person you get 7 wine tasting (each one more like double the normal tasting) with each wine paired perfectly with an appetizer sized food sample (in fact on a few the food was much better than the wine, but each one was a wonderful pairing). They book this from 11 – 6 Thursday – Monday. We went late (4:30 PM) which ended up being less crowded (they were recently written up in the WSJ wine column) and also was a great way to end the day. All in all it took 1˝ hours and was very enjoyable. In fact after we drove back to the hotel, we did not feel like going out to dinner since the food while not large, was so good. Some day this chef will break off and have a wonderful restaurant (he seems to like the daytime hours for now).
Drove up to Rohnert Park for a 3 night stay at the Doubletree. This was an awards stay (even though that weekend was blacked out, the diamond desk got me point stretcher reservations for 2 rooms, so the 3 nights for us and the 2 for our friends only cost 75,000 pts). Bad news was that the blackout was due to a large orchid grower convention. Hotel was sold out for weekend and therefore no upgrade available (they did give me breakfast coupons for my friends to make up for this, maybe because I had called earlier and hotel manager had said he thought I could still get one). Room was not wonderful (certainly not comparable to the one I had in SF), but larger than normal (king with sofa and table) and had a very nice bathroom (large enough for a couple to be comfortably in at the same time). The nicer rooms (apart from suites) are the lanai rooms that face the courtyard and have a covered balcony / porch with tables (our view of the parking lot was not breathtaking). Lobby looks very nice at ground level (nice flooring, fountain, and library area), but looks like a Ramada when you look up above ground level (drab treatments and colors). Hallways smelled or some cleaner, but rooms were fine (thankfully). Breakfast was in the Bachus restaurant. On weekends they had a nice buffet with very nicely done eggs, potatoes with veggies, and bacon / sausage plus an assortment of fruits and pastries (menu service only on weekdays). Coupons were for continental off the menu, but they gave you a $6.50 credit per coupon, so most items cost net of $2-$4. Best part of breakfast was Benny the head waiter (did not try for dinner so don’t know if he was there or not). He was very attentive and talkative.
I will not bore with details of the winery’s visited, but here is the short list of highlights for those who care. Sonoma Cutrer for tour (by appointment only but wonderful, also they now have a limited release Pinot Noir that is very good), Selby in Healdsburg (try their 2nd label Monkey Business), Wellington (wonderful lower cost wine), Iron Horse (best view from any tasting room around). Best find was due to my wife. We did the 7 course food / wine pairing at the Mayo Family Reserve tasting room. For $20 / person you get 7 wine tasting (each one more like double the normal tasting) with each wine paired perfectly with an appetizer sized food sample (in fact on a few the food was much better than the wine, but each one was a wonderful pairing). They book this from 11 – 6 Thursday – Monday. We went late (4:30 PM) which ended up being less crowded (they were recently written up in the WSJ wine column) and also was a great way to end the day. All in all it took 1˝ hours and was very enjoyable. In fact after we drove back to the hotel, we did not feel like going out to dinner since the food while not large, was so good. Some day this chef will break off and have a wonderful restaurant (he seems to like the daytime hours for now).