There was no hurry this morning
as we had little to do other than pack for tomorrow’s trip and tour our old homestead
in Danville.
Our first task was to empty all
of our bags and repack with the goal of everything fitting into our six pieces
of checked luggage. Other than a couple bottles of wine, some candy, a coffee
mug and two wine glasses we had nothing more than had flown west with us 42
days before. In the end with a push here and a cram there everything was in,
the bags proved to be zippable so we were over the baggage hurdle.
We departed the hotel and headed
north through San Francisco taking the northern approach to Danville via the Bay Bridge and Caldecott Tunnel. We experienced the newest bridge in the area and the oldest tunnel, a
dark and dreary tube.
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| Caldecott Tunnel |
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| San Francisco - Oakland Bay Bridge |
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| Mt. Diablo |
From CA-24 we turned to I-680
toward Danville taking the Diablo Road exit. Once on Diablo and the surrounding
streets we drove by the various schools attended by the kids, including Green
Valley Elementary, Vista Grade Elementary, Los Cerros Middle School and Monte
Vista High School.
Our next venture was to ride by
our old house at 2131 Deer Oak Way in Hidden Oaks of Blackhawk. Seems that the security
guard had a different idea. How do you spell PRIVATE? Even with Sheila’s long expired California ID we
were not getting into Hidden Oaks. Well since that didn’t work we decided to
head for the Plaza and have lunch. Still open after so many years was
the Blackhawk Grille, so without needing any special credentials we stopped in
for lunch.
As it was a relatively warm and
sunny day we selected an outside table, a choice that would give new meaning to
Sheila’s “outdoor girl” title. Almost immediately the staff brought a bowl of
freshly made potato chips (must be a California things, similar to the Ritz at Dana
Point). This is where the “outdoor girl” part begins. Seems that of the 10-20
ducks swimming in an adjacent pond, one duck of mottled hues betook Sheila as
it’s newest best friend with full expectation of sharing in the bowl of chips.
The duck moved from one side of the table to the other, it stood atop Sheila’s
rather large purse to better access the tabletop; all the while I was hoping
that the duck would not leave a post-chip deposit atop said purse. The chip
dance continued until the bowl was empty at which point the duck confirmed that
the attraction had been totally about the food. |
| "The Duck" |
Anyway, back to the grill. Our
selections for the day were a Reuben for Sheila and for me a Beef Short Rib Infused
Meat Loaf with a side of Mac & Cheese paired with a Gauthier 2011 Sauvignon
Blanc. Now that’s comfort food.
After lunch we returned to Diablo
Road driving into the Town of Danville, home to the iconic giant oak tree
(reported to be over 350 years old) and the town center “clock tower”.
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| Danville Clock Tower |
In summary, as one would expect,
the Danville area is much busier today that 25 years ago, the trees are much
more mature (obviously) but in general it still looks like a pretty nice place
to call home.
By 3 PM we were en-route back to
the west side of the bay via the San Mateo Bridge. Rather than return to the
hotel we went directly to the airport and after gassing up for the last time
turned the car in to National and took the shuttle back to the hotel.
For the balance of the evening we
hung out in the room and didn’t go to the hotel’s wine & cheese party. Alarms
were set for 2:30 AM and 3:00 AM for our 4:10 AM departure from the hotel and
6:00 AM departure from SFO. By 10 PM we were both asleep.
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