This morning I’m flying out on Virgin America from Las Vegas to San Francisco for four delicious days of chill and fun time with my sister who I haven’t spent much time with in almost 20 years.  I am so looking forward to getting away from the hustle bustle of my life and my business for a few days.

By the way, “chill” is the right term.  I’ll be shifting from a climate with temps of 106F degrees here in Vegas to today to in San Francisco the high temp will be 56F degrees. Holy frijoles!  That’s a plummeting drop of 50 degrees.  I wanted to hang someplace cooler than Vegas and lordy – I’m sure getting it.

Earlier this week I was thinking about packing and the kind of clothes I want to wear for sightseeing and such a drastic change in climate.  I dropped by my local DSW Shoe Warehouse and tried on a pair of brown suede ankle boots with a wedge-style heel that give me a nice 2.5-inch lift (Hey – I’m short!) yet I’ll still feel steady walking around the city. San Francsico is a great city for walking – but those hills can be challenging. Plus, I couldn’t bear the thought of buying suede boots in July so I drove home, empty-handed.  But when I looked at the latest report on upcoming temps in SF on the Weather Channel, I decided to go back and get ‘em Wednesday evening after all.

I haven’t visited San Francisco in eight years.  Last time I took Ernie  for four days between Christmas and New Year.  It wasn’t just cold and foggy – it was drizzly, too. I had a cold on that trip.  We spent our mornings together sightseeing.  In the afternoon after lunch, I’d kickback at the hotel room while Ernie (my train and mass transit loving husband) went exploring on the cable cars and trolleys.  Of course it’s easy to have a fun time in San Fran no matter what the weather does.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t consider it “vacation” or “adventure” time until I’m out of the busy, airport environment.  Airlines talk about how great it is to fly – but I just can’t wait to get out of that steel and plastic toilet paper tube hurtling through the sky and the cattle-herding, airport atmosphere. Slogging through security and taking my shoes and other stuff off just doesn’t seem adventurous – but that’s what it takes to get to my destination – so be it.  I’ll be meeting my sister Cherie in San Francisco.  She’ll be flying in from home in another state.

Once we get out of the airport, we’ll head over to our hotel. We’re staying at the Hilton in Union Square.  That’ll probably get us there before check-in so we may have to check our bags with the hotel for a few hours before checking in.  It’s great to be staying in such a central location in the city.  I’ve stayed a few blocks away from Union Square before – but never right where all the action is.  I’ve been there during big noisy protests – and when it’s a lovely, green square with plenty of great shopping, restaurants and hotels lining the four sides.  Similar to New York, you never know exactly what you’re going to get.

I’m not sure where we’ll start – probably head to Fisherman’s Wharf for lunch since we’ll be walking out of the airport at about one-ish in the afternoon.  Cherie’s husband reports there’s a legendary restaurant for seafood on the Wharf known as Scoma’s.  It’s known for wonderful views of the bay and the freshest seafood on the Wharf.

Looks like a splurge-y kind of place.  A shrimp cocktail is $15 and a bowl of clam chowder is $9.  Anyone who’s ever been to San Francisco knows it’s a great restaurant city.  Every cuisine in the world can be found and enjoyed in this melting pot metropolis. You name it – you’ll find it here.  From standard seafood and steaks to all manner of Asian foods, foods from South of the Border, European classics.  You can take a trip around the world on your taste buds here.

However, I just lost 30 pounds and came off a diet last week. Literally just ten days ago.  I’m on “maintenance” right now.  This maintenance doesn’t have a set number of calories.  However, it’s no starch and no sugar.  That means no pasta, rice, bread, potatoes, flour or sugar. My sister says she’s doing the same.  So, it’s about keeping it simple in the food department.

Sometime during the weekend I’m looking forward to visiting what I’ve heard is a very cool, very Zen tea house known as Samovar. Tea is one thing I can positively go wild on and not worry about over-indulging and gaining back weight (I don’t think so anyway).  I like the idea of bringing my iPad, tucking away with a nice pot of tea and doing some reading, facebooking or something. Free wifi there, too.

I’m not planning on visiting Alcatraz or doing a harbor cruise.  Been there, done that. Got the T-shirt. This weekend is about enjoying the city in all it’s quirkiness and enjoying hanging out with my sister.  Something I don’t get to do often since we live in different states. It’s also an opportunity for us to renew our relationship.  We’ve been going in different directions with our lives for many, many years now. She’s probably more the Scoma type and I’m more the Samovar type.  But I’m looking forward to finding a way to meet in the middle and go home feeling like our relationship is new and fresh again.