The Great West Coast Road Trip: Day 4 - San Jose

(Happy 8th wedding anniversary to us!)




Do you know the way to San Jose?  Yeah, it's called a 6 am flight and we had to get up AGAIN at 3:30 am to catch it.  The other flight option they had would have put us in later that afternoon, but I couldn't wait to see my good friend and former real estate partner, Chris, and his husband, Tom.

I love walking on the tarmac!

The only thing was that we landed so early and I didn't want to wake them up.  Once we got our road trip car, we stopped for a second breakfast (we had our first breakfast at 5 am at the airport) at a place called Crepevine.

Tofu hash

Pumpkin spice pancakes

Chris and Tom's house is a gorgeous historic bungalow completely renovated and decorated perfectly.  All the windows were open and a cool breeze blew through the house.  Check out that curb appeal!

Met the dogs, Sadie and Keisha, cats Xander and Eve.  It's pretty hard to capture constantly moving pets on camera!  Keisha loved to play, Sadie was always wagging her tail and following you wherever you went.  Eve is a tiny kitten who you could hold in one hand, but she was full of energy!  Xander, the siamese cat, was a bit more elusive and preferred not to hang out with strangers.

Keisha, with her lion cut hair 'do

Sadie, such a sweet lady!

Eve, the feisty kitten

John (aka Elmira) bonded instantly

Went to lunch in the cute, but very posh town of Los Gatos (The Cats!) at a cafe called Purple Onion.  Did a little window shopping, but had to stop into Powell's Candy Shop because it was all decked out with Halloween decorations.  In fact, this whole town was ready for Halloween.

Drove up the twisty roads in the Santa Cruz Mountains to Ridge Vineyards for a wine tasting and to see the views of the valley below.

Chris had to get back to start cooking his gourmet meal for that night's dinner party: meatloaf, veggie pasta, asparagus, and a fresh salad.  Everything was so flavorful!  Although we couldn't vouch for the meatloaf, all the guests were raving about it and went back for seconds and thirds!

We had a great night of eating, drinking and being merry with Tom and Chris' friends,  Kenny, Phil, Ryan.

Phil and Tom

A cool shot taken by Kenny, who took photography in high school.  There was a lot of wine poured that night.

Kenny, Phil and Ryan

After dinner, we laughed so hard playing Cards Against Humanity that my mascara dripped down my cheeks.  We played until midnight, and fell asleep as soon as our heads hit the Ralph Lauren cased pillows.