To Oakland

With a plan to meet Carmen, Drew and Jack near Jack London Square for dinner on Thursday night and then help tear apart the woodshop on Saturday, I made a hotel reservation at The Waterfront Hotel in Oakland. Sharon and I stayed here once before.

Leaving from Sharon's dermatology appointment about 2:50 pm with one stop to change drivers, we were at the hotel by 4:30 pm. We just missed getting stuck in a giant mess on 80. When we rolled by, the traffic was stopped eastbound near Cordelia Junction and we saw a large CHP officers with guns drawn. Apparently, they closed westbound 80 shortly after we passed by.

Getting checked into the hotel, we had a drink and an appetizer at Scott's Seafood. We met Jack, Carmen and Drew for dinner at the Salty Pearl. Drew knows the owner. We started with OYSTERS ON THE HALF SHELL, CRUDO, MARINATED OLIVES, BOQUERONES and ACME PAN AU LEVAIN dr BUTTER. For an entree, I had CLAM CHOWDER and BBQ OYSTERS, while Sharon had a ROCKY BURGER W/ CHIPS.

We walked back to the hotel and crashed. Unfortunately, people rolled into the room next door about 11 pm and were loud until almost 3 am when Sharon finally called the front desk...