Wow...this might be long -- I apologize in advance and I'll add replies to break it up!

Monday: Checked into DTW and had to repack a bag as it was over the AA 50 lb. limit (by 5…ooops). No one was behind us and we had plenty of time, so we opted to repack instead of pay $25. At 50.5, the agent checked it for us. Uneventful flight, landed in SFO around 3pm. Picked up the bags and headed to the BART station to head into town. We got off the BART at Montgomery and made our first mistake—walking to the Commodore Hotel, bags, hills and all, instead of taking a cab. It was further than we thought and we kept saying "well, we've come this far, it can't be much further…". Wrong! My husband was pretty annoyed with me and it was kind of embarrassing walking up the streets with suitcases and all. Oh well. The Commodore is located on Sutter Street between Jones and Leavenworth. Nice enough hotel, so-so neighborhood. We changed and headed to the Stinking Rose (walked) for dinner. (Husband has never been to SF). Dinner was excellent, although the place was packed and we felt quite rushed. Not sure if this was due to the touristy nature of the place or the fact that it was Saturday night. I ordered a martini and was surprised that my olives were stuffed with garlic cloves…I thought that was taking the theme a little too far! After dinner we walked around North Beach and got some candy at a little shop and then caught a cab back to the hotel. We tried to crash for the night but our room faced an alley and we could hear a loud bachelorette party who was a floor below us but also on the alley. The girls were running all over the hotel, near our room and just causing a royal ruckus. We called the front desk and asked to be moved three times (which I have never done before). We were told twice that the hotel was full and that someone would talk to the girls, and miraculously on the third call someone had "just called and cancelled" and we could have their room. Whatever. It was three floors higher, so the noise was bearable at that point and we were able to sleep. I'm not an old fogey and I do understand (and told the clerk) that they paid for their room, too, but I wasn't about to pay for no sleep after a cross-country flight.

Sunday: Woke up and went to Glide Methodist Church as I had read it was a secret "must do". The walk was only a few blocks, but highlighted the problem of the homeless in the city to say the least. Nothing scary or intimidating by any means, but now I can see why some people warned us that we were close to the Tenderloin with our hotel choice. We got to Glide about a ½ hour early and watched everyone greet each other – what a difference from the silence before our masses at home! As soon as the service started and the choir and band began belting out "This little light of mine", I started bawling. I'm a sucker for an enthusiastic church choir and I was blown away. The whole service was a treat…it was the Sunday before St. Patty's day, so there was a theme…the violinist did a solo of "Oh Danny Boy" and then a gentleman from the choir sang it. Ushers walked the aisles with Kleenex – and I needed it! This was my best experience in the city. I wish there was a place with half the energy and kindness of Glide near my hometown. After church we hit a greasy spoon for breakfast and then went to Union Square for some browsing/shopping. We had 1pm tickets for Beach Blanket Babylon and took a cab. Sigh…BBB…I just don't get it. For us it was the absolute biggest waste of money and time EVER. I guess if one didn't keep up with pop culture it would have been funny, (and apparently it was hilarious to everyone around us), but we thought the "jokes" were predictable and out-dated at best. Come on…Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake skits? After 20 minutes we were looking for an exit door but decided to stay to not disrupt the people sitting near us – complete strangers who were howling and looking at me as if to say "Oh my, this is the funniest thing I've ever seen – don't you think so, too???". Um, no. After leaving the theatre, we walked around Fisherman's wharf for a while and then headed back to the hotel to change for dinner. Had dinner at 1550 Hyde (my husband LOVED the rabbit), which was wonderful and then we headed to the Top of the Mark for drinks. Well…we spent more on drinks than we did on dinner, but it was a great time to talk and chat as if we were on a first date—and the city views were wonderful.

Monday: Did the self-walking tour of Chinatown¡KI loved the Golden Gate Cookie factory even though it's just a brief stop. I bought myself an amber ring and bracelet at the first jewelry shop we came to and wondered the whole rest of the day if I had talked the saleswoman down enough ¡V probably not, I'm sure! I really wanted to try dim sum after the tour ad had read great things about Yank Sing here. We walked through the financial district after our tour and finally found Yank Sing (the one in the Rin Con Center)¡Kalthough we made a mistake and went to the quick-service line instead of going INside the restaurant section. Oops. So our long walk wasn't really worth the trouble. Next time we'll get it right! We headed down again to Fisherman's Wharf and took the 4:20 "night" tour of Alcatraz. I had been before, but not on the night tour. I really think it was worth the extra money ¡V we watched a gorgeous sunset over the bridge, had a personal guide up the hill, toured the halls in the dark and then had our choice of special "program" put on by the park (we chose to hear the doors open and shut ¡V sounds silly but was really quite creepy!). We had dinner at Lou's Pier 49 or something like that and then headed back to pack up. I should mention that before dinner we watched some street performers ¡V namely the guys that do the artwork with spray paint -- I've seen it in SF and Key West and those guys always amaze meƒº

Tuesday: We decided to get the rental car early (from Dollar on O'Farrell Street) which cost us extra. Supposedly our economy car wasn't ready 2 hours early, so we paid extra for a PT Cruiser…but 2 hours later our car would have been ready, or we would have gotten the upgrade for free. Ah well. Another thing I wasn't thrilled with was that they put a $250 hold on our debit card and the whole rental was costing us only about $170. Something to remember next time. We headed to Calistoga via the Golden Gate so that we could take some pictures—and the view from the battery on the Sausalito side was amazing – thank you Fodorites! We drove toward Calistoga to make our 3pm spa appointment at Golden Valley Spa and stopped at Sterling Vineyards. The tram was down for scheduled maintenance, so that was a bummer, but we still enjoyed a tasting. At the spa we had a couples mud bath, a mineral bath, blanket wrap and hour long massage. Ahhhhh…highly recommended! All relaxed and smooth-skinned we headed to Maison Fluerie, our B&B in Yountville (one of the Four Sisters Inns). What a wonderful B&B! There was afternoon wine and snacks waiting for us and the staff was terrific. We had reservations at the Napa Valley Grille for dinner but decided to cancel and head to Bistro Jeanty. Dinner was wonderful and we called it a night to prepare for our day of wine-tasting!

Wednesday: We started in the morning at V. Satuii and then headed to St. Clement, Coppola, and Peju Province ¡V not necessarily in that order, but if you asked me to remember, you'd be pushing itƒº We then met my parents for lunch, who were also in town on vacation. They immediately noticed that we were loopy and confirmed it when they saw our trunk already full of wine! We had lunch at the CIA at Greystone ¡V a wonderful, loooong lunch. I think we were there almost three hours all together. Afterwards, my husband and I headed to Charles Krug, Louis M. Martini and Berenger before calling it a day. We had our wine headaches by 7pm and headed to a Mexican place in Yountville, Compadres, that absolutely hit the spot and was a little easier on the wallet. The next day we checked out of Maison Fleurie and stopped at Luna and Domain Chandon on the way to San Jose (to visit family). The rest of the vacation was spent staying with family in San Jose...we went to Carmel for an afternoon, Los Gatos for another and just relaxed. The last day was spent trying to ship our *gulp* 27 bottles of wine home, but unfortunately we live in Michigan which has strict liquor laws preventing shipments from entering the state. We reorganized, repacked and ended up with a box of 15 bottles to check, a box of 12 to carry on, three other carry-ons and three other checked bags¡Kpack much? We really need to learn how to control this when we fly to Paris in September.

Sunday: We headed to SFO early and checked our bags curbside with a porter. I was given a stern look as he tested the weights (by hand, not with the scale behind him) and was then asked if we were headed home. We replied yes and were reminded of AA's 50 lb. Policy for "next time". We tipped $5 and were on our way to turn in the rental car. Not sure how confident I am in their "strict" weight policies, but we made it home without a bottle breaking, so I'm calling it good! Sorry for the long report!

Great report!! I'm headed for Calistoga in 2 weeks. How was the Golden Valley Spa? Is it in Calistoga? And if you don't mind my asking, what did you pay for treatments,as that is exactly what DH and I want to do.

Hi Lori. Yep, the Golden Haven Spa (not Valley, my mistake!) is in Calistoga. It's also a hotel and we were a little skeptical while walking up, but it turned out to be really nice. We paid about $212 for the two of us. We added the hour massage to the "couples internet special" which is on their web page: www.goldenhaven.com

I highly recommend it -- when else would we have taken a mud bath?

Hello tesaniedi,
Great report. I'm glad you made it to dinner at 1550 Hyde and liked it. I often recommend it because of its location on the cable car line and its seasonal menu.

Topping for a poster in another thread who will be staying at the Hilton, right across the street from Glide Church, the "secret must do" described by tesaniedi in her second posting above.

tesaniedi - if you check back, I was wondering about Maison Fleurie. We are booked in a cozy queen room. (all that was available) Another poster suggested the room at the top of the inn, it's a cozy double, much smaller, but they loved it. Do you know anything about these rooms?

Rocker -- I wonder if that was the room we stayed in. I want to say that it was Room #2 -- I checked the website but they don't show all the rooms. Ours sounds like the one the other poster described-- it was right on the left at the top of the stairs and the window faced the (quiet) street. The bed was double if not queen and there was no tv. It was very nice for what we needed/wanted. Bed, writing desk, stall shower, closet. They have a "turn down" service each night as well, which equates to chocolate being passed out and left on pillows If you don't mind not having a tv, our room was completely sufficient (although not extravagant).

I love the Commodore, but I also made the mistake of walking from the BART station once. I say once. With luggage. Yech!

My favorite part: Beach Blanket Babylon description. I always wondered...

Tesa, will you visit Zinzanni next time? I want to make sure this is not worth a visit either.

So glad to hear that the man in the Glide choir is still singing Danny Boy every St. Pat's Day. I used to take students to the city every year during spring break and many times it coincided with this event. Glide is so special. Glad you liked it.