Happy Aloha Friday, peeps!
So … after the wonderful champagne tasting at Mumm’s Napa, we bid adieu to Napa Valley and headed back to San Francisco. Upon arriving back in the city, we proceeded to check in to our hotel in Japan town before heading out to dinner with friends. I met up with a couple of my squash buddies at the North Beach Restaurant, a popular eatery specializing in Italian food. After dinner we joined up with the boys and the rest of the group and decided to walk to a “nearby” bar (according to our guide, Diane). Well, after 40 minutes of brisk walking (I actually sobered up and was hungry again!) we finally reached Ozumo on Steuart St., a very cool bar that also serves some great Japanese food. We got there just in time for last call, so I was able to enjoy a shot of shochu before we headed back to the hotel – but this time by cab, even though Diane said that we could probably walk! Yeah, right ….
We spent our last day in San Francisco playing tourists … shopping at Union Square, riding the cable car, having lunch at Scoma’s at the Fisherman’s Wharf, and then more shopping at the “nearby” Ferry Building. 
 I figured I probably walked enough in those two days to qualify for the marathon! That evening we were invited to Diane’s place for a get together with our SF ohana – Diane, Paul, Bret, Kristi, Lori, Donna, and Jennifer. 
 It was a perfect way to end this great trip … a fabulous home-cooked meal, lots of shochu and sake, and best of all, being with our “family” again! As I said earlier, we had traveled with these guys in late October to the Tohoku region of Japan (area devastated by the March 11th disaster) where we all worked side by side and became close friends. Mahalo, Diane, for taking such good care of us and we hope to see you all again very soon here in Hawai’i! And take care, Paul … listen to Bret and go get that treatment for your back …
So now I’m home and it’s back to work .. got a couple of meetings today and I’m going down to Studio Rim to join my DJ pals Reiko and Hiroko for a quick interview. This is ManoaDNA’s last weekend of “vacation” (we start performing again next week) so it’s time to take the guitar out of storage, warm up the vocal chords, and schedule rehearsals. Here we go again!
Aloha, “D”