My Sister's Quick Trip

My sister, Carol, flew in from Atlanta to spend a few days with me and my family. She and her husband were in Atlanta for almost 6 weeks for her husband's work-related training. I have not seen my sister since her wedding in 2008, so I asked her to come over, even for a few days.

She had been to the Bay Area before with my parents so she didn't have any specific place she wanted to visit. No must see. Only-if-we-can kind a things. No specific plans were made. It was pretty much free for all. It was more like catching up time.

She arrived late Wednesday evening, and we picked her up at the San Jose airport. My wife and I took off from work Thursday and Friday so we can spend some time with her. At first, she wanted to visit Napa, but when I told her how far it was and what was there to do, she changed her mind. Besides, she said, she was isn't into wine-tasting either. Despite that, we took her somewhere closer. We brought her to Concannon Vineyard in Livermore. From there, we went to another winery, Garre Winery, for a late lunch, al fresco.

We also visited James' new school in the fall, Bellarmine College Preparatory, in San Jose. We came as  classes were ongoing, and I took particular interest at what the students were wearing. It is true. Most of the kids wore nothing but Bell apparel, from shorts and sweatpants to t-shirts and hoodies. During break, all we saw was a sea of blue and white -- the colors of Bell.We stopped by the Campus Store to get more stuff for James. My wife had the sweater I bought earlier exchanged for another kind, and bought some more. I did the same and got a warm up jersey. My sister, too, got a Bell shirt for her husband's nephew.

While on this trip, I told my sister that we'd take her to some of our favorite eating places that offered dishes I would think she wouldn't normally have where she lived -- in Dubai. While in Santa Row, we brought her back to Consuelo, a Mexican bistro she had tried on her last visit. We also ate French brasserie, Left Bank, for brunch.

She wasn't much of a burger person, but she did enjoy the burger she split with my wife, and the super nachos with carnitas at First Street Alehouse in Livermore. For a quite unique Japanese treat, we took her to Aniki's Sushi in Fremont for a special sushi roll that's topped with cut-up pieces of deep-fried, battered langostinos (imagine a small, stubby lobster), and super fresh sashimi as well. For her Filipino food craving, we travelled up the Peninsula for a taste of Fort McKinley in South San Francisco.

My sister also had a chance to see her nephew play volleyball during our last 2 games of the regular season last Friday. Yesterday, she watched our first playoff game against St. Leander. Originally, we planned on driving her to the airport immediately after our second game, which I projected would end at 8pm. This would give us enough time to get to the airport by 9pm, for her 10:45pm flight back to Atlanta. But because of the mishap that occurred (the fire alarm went off at the gym), everything got delayed and the schedule pushed back. There was no way we would get out of there by 8. It was a good thing we brought 2 cars in case of any eventuality. And this was when we needed it. My wife ended up taking my sister back to the airport right after our first game. She got back as we were into our first set of the second game.

It was a short trip. I was glad she was able to stop by and visit. I wished she could have stayed longer. Maybe next time.