We were excited to head down towards San Francisco to meet up with Jennifer’s cousin, Brian. Since it was a Friday, we had to wait for him to get out of work. We killed time at In’n’Out, Costco, and finally a public playground close to Brian’s house, which is where he met up with us before leading us to his home in Livermore. We hung out at the house for while before heading to dinner in downtown Livermore, which was a happening place. We had a great evening.
The next day, we loaded up in Brian’s truck and headed for Santa Cruz. We walked through the boardwalk, played in the arcade, had lunch on the pier, and then checked out a surf contest at the famous Steamer Lane. On the way back to Brian’s place, he took us by his work, which is the massive new Apple campus that is currently under construction. Brian oversees safety at the various Apple sites around the US, but is based out of Cupertino. The project there was impressive, to say the least.
Back at the house, we got into Brian’s high-end bourbon before finally cooking dinner sometime around 10pm. Another awesome day in the books. Our last day with Brian was the 18th, Jennifer’s birthday. Brian’s daughter, Emily, and her boyfriend, Fabio, offered to watch the kids so that we could go check out the vineyards in Livermore. Brian first took us to Wente, which is the biggest vineyard in the valley. The weather was perfect, there was live music outside, and we had a bottle of red at our table – a perfect combination to make a happy Jennifer. After Wente we headed over to Concannon, where Brian is a member. One of the perks of being a member is free tastings for you and your guests. We enjoyed the wines and atmosphere at Concannon, and “revisited” some of the wines on the tasting menu. Once we were sufficiently-versed in their wines, we left with a few bottles and a warm buzz. We arrived back at Brian’s to find Brooks passed out on the couch while Emily and Cooper were watching Aladdin. Huge thanks to Emily and Fabio for unexpectedly watching the kids for us; it really made Jennifer’s birthday. Brian cranked out an amazing carne asada dinner before discretely running up to the grocery store to buy cupcakes and candles for Jennifer’s birthday. An awesome host/cousin and one heck of a nice guy. We retired to the campervan shortly after singing happy birthday to Jennifer. Brian was gone off to work long before we woke up, but we eventually got out of there and started driving towards our next stop, Yosemite.
