Our first stop was San Francisco, and what a stop it was. We have three terrific sons. Jonathan (also known as Q) and his wonderful wife Michelle and our two gorgeous granddaughters, Zoe (3) and Avery (7 months) live in San Francisco and our middle son Dan and his vivacious fiancee Jenny live outside of San Francisco in Foster City. Our only non-Bay Area son is Gil, who has the temerity to have moved to Netanya, Israel. We sure missed Gil at our party. Star Alliance ticket rules do not allow a stopover in the United States on an around-the-world ticket, but a stopover is defined as a stop of over 24 hours. We arrived just after 9 am on Sunday, Jan. 17, and we leave just before 7 am on Monday, Jan. 18, so it was kosher.
Jon arranged a party for us at a truly great restaurant in San Francisco called Spruce. We were very lucky that, although her first called them only three days in advance and they are usually fully booked long in advance, they just happened to have a vacancy in one of their private rooms for Sunday. As we wanted to include the little ones, reservations were made for 5 pm. Besides Jon, Dan and families, our best friends in San Francisco, Sally and Jerry Flanzer (who were also our travel partners on our last around-the-world trip), and their son Doug, his wife Amy, and their two boys, Jack and Benjamin (who are each close in age to Zoe and Avery) joined us. Doug has been one of Jon’s best friends from high school and all the years since. The party was a gift of my Mom, Letty, and my sister, Wendy, who live in Sarasota, Florida, and couldn’t join us for the party but made all of the arrangements with Jon. We cannot thank them enough for such a terrific 40th anniversary gift. It was very generous and very, very special. We certainly will never forget it.
The food was gourmet all the way. They have like 1,400 wines on the wine list. And to top it off, Irith’s sister, Yola, and her husband, Jake, arranged to give us the champagne used for the toasts. It was absolutely delicious champagne and the two bottles did not last long after toasting our anniversary, Dan and Jenny’s engagement, Jack’s birthday, and everyone’s health (it was the first time in weeks that everyone around the table were free of the various flus that have been circulating). We just had a phenomenal time, as did all of the participants, from all accounts. The toddlers had fun, the babies were good and the adults got high and fat. Pictures are below.
Now off to Fiji.
Roger
A Toast to a fantastic anniversary dinner with family and friends
Special Dessert for the Anniversary Couple
Of Course, Each of the Couple Get Their Own Dessert
We had a blast too! It was great seeing you and I look forward to reading about all the cool places on the way! Are you going to post an itinerary?
Have fun!
D+J