San Francisco holiday house

I recently treated my 71 year old mother and two sisters to a long weekend in San Francisco. Although I hated the idea of the 4 of us being crammed into two hotel rooms, I have to admit I was a little nervous about renting a house. But the rave reviews of other visitors and the fact that Doug called me personally to answer my questions put me immediately at ease. Doug ensured that we had detailed directions on how to get to the house from the airport, and then called us enroute to see how we were making out. He welcomed us, helped bring in the luggage and then toured us through the house to be sure we knew where everything was and that we would be comfortable. He encouraged us to cook up something from the full pantry so we could just sit and relax instead of rushing off to the grocery store. The welcoming bottle of wine and the lovely thank you card were the final charming touches.

The house was fantastic. Exactly as pictured on the website and spotlessly clean! The description doesn’t really mention the back deck overlooking the back yard, but having travelled from the snow in Saskatchewan this was one of the highlights for us – we spent many happy hours basking in the sunshine!

All of the beds were comfortable – including the two twins. There were enough towels and blankets to last several weeks. Although I didn’t really count I think there were enough dishes to serve a family of 20 Thanksgiving dinner. Each room was beautifully decorated with its own theme – my sister thought we would need to stay a year before we had discovered all the hidden treasures. Having access to a wireless internet connection was great – for checking in at the office, Skyping home and planning our activities. There were books and games tucked everywhere and Doug supplies a vast collection of tourist guides and maps to the San Francisco area.

The location was great. We took Doug’s advice and picked up a rental car at the airport and then used it to tour the Sonoma wine country and Muir woods the next day. Getting to the house from the airport was very easy, and it was equally easy to head out over the Golden Gate Bridge to wine country. Both Enterprise and Hertz have lots within 5 blocks of the house so returning the car was a breeze. There is a bus stop at the end of the block and we easily used the public transportation to get around for the remainder of our stay. If our feet got tir