San Fran/Napa Part II

One of my favorite parts of the trip to CA was the drive from Napa to San Fran. It was absolutely beautiful and driving over the Golden Gate Bridge was breathtaking.

San Fran Day #1
When we got to San Fran, we returned our rental car, checked into our hotel (the Hilton in Union Square) and then started our exploration of SF. We randomly found some City Passes at the airport when we took our car back and that turned out to be pretty awesome. You can ride all the public transportation for free. BUT, we didn't realize this until day #2 so we ended up walking from our hotel to Fisherman's Wharf. So dumb. I like to think I'm in shape, but those hills kicked my butt (and my calves which were so sore the next day). It was a cool way to see the city, but now I know why the trolleys are so cool.

We stopped to see the "crooked-est" street in SF called Lombard and then made our way down to the Piers and Ghiradelli Square.

After a fun afternoon of exploring we went back to the hotel to get dressed for dinner. We ate that night at A16, an awesome Italian place. Based on several people's recommendation, we got a burrata appetizer and it was AMAZING. It was sort of like a soft cheese dip with some toasted bread on the side. Definitely get it if you are in SF. We enjoyed some wine and brick oven pizza and spent a lot of our dinner listening to a narcissistic, California dude talk about how great he is. He mentioned that he is from Hollywood no less than 10 times and Jeremy and I laughed every time.

(best photo-bomb ever)

For dessert, we decided to head to another recommended place for ice cream. They make it right there in front of you and it was great.

After dessert we almost died. Okay, that might be dramatic, but seriously. We decided to walk back to the hotel and somehow ended up walking through the Tenderloin area of SF. This is a pretty rough area and since it was about 10:30pm, we saw some pretty rough stuff. Well, Jeremy saw some rough stuff...I had my head down with a death grip on Jeremy's arm the entire time. We made it out but even Jeremy admitted he felt uncomfortable for a while. Advice: don't go to that area when you are in SF...especially late at night.

San Fran Day #2
We love breakfast and apparently breakfast/brunch in SF is a thing. We went searching for a breakfast place and ended up down at the Fisherman's Wharf eating by the Bay. We both pigged out and then checked out the sea lions chilling on the docks before we went to catch our ferry to Alcatraz.

I'm glad we went to see Alcatraz. It has some interesting history and I love nerdy stuff like that. We took the audio tour (which I recommend) and got to step in some of the cells. It's crazy to think about some of the most dangerous people in the world being in that place. It was also really cold and depressing. Apparently, the reason they put the prison out there is because of the cold and choppy water conditions. There's a rule that the Coast Guard goes by that says you have a 50/50 chance of swimming 50 yards in water 50 degrees or colder. So, the inmates at Alcatraz knew they would die if they tried to escape.

After Alcatraz, we wandered around waiting for public transportation. Honestly, this was the only frustrating point in the trip. I was getting "hangry" and the stupid trolleys were taking forever. We eventually made it to the Painted Ladies houses and ate at a fun little bar/restaurant before heading back to the Union Square area.

That evening we went up to Chinatown to walk around and then made our way to Little Italy to have a drink. We were going to branch out and try some dim sum, but neither one of us was feeling adventurous so we went to an awesome Italian place and pigged out on bread and drank lots of wine.

After dinner, I was hell bent on getting more ice cream. I wanted to take full advantage of being on vacation and not counting calories! So, after doing some research, we took a trolley down to Ghiradelli Square to have a sundae at their ice cream shop. Over-priced sundae I should say. It was good, but I'd almost rather sit on the couch w/ some Blue Bell any day.

San Fran Day #3
My former roommate from my first year in Austin lives in San Fran and we got to spend the whole morning with her and her boyfriend. They were so sweet to chauffeur us around. They took us to one of their favorite local brunch places and it was yet another incredible meal. Ironically, I ran into a coworker at the same brunch spot! Not just a coworker, but a girl on my team that I literally sit right next to. Small world!

My coworker, Emily.

Miss Laura...miss her!

After we stuffed our bellies and caught up on life, Laura and J-Ro showed us some really cool stuff that we never would have seen if they hadn't toted us around. We saw the Palace of Fine Arts, the incredible view from the top of Laura's apartment building, Billionaire's Row (where I'm sure I'll live one day) and a few other local spots. We had such a fun morning and it made us more excited to visit the city again when we could focus less on touristy stuff and more on getting to know the local city life.

For this trip we decided to fly back on a Saturday so we would have Sunday to regroup and hang out with Quinn before another work week. I'm pretty sure we will do it like that from now on. It was so nice to have Sunday to relax and love on Quinn. I missed that girl while we were gone, but of course she was spoiled rotten! I was just glad to know she has a place to stay where we all feel comfy while mama and daddy are away.

San Fran/Napa Part I

Last week Jeremy and I took a trip to San Fran and Napa for our 5-yr. anniversary (which was in Feb., but we didn't want to travel then). This was a much needed time away where we could just focus on each other with out a crazy toddler monopolizing our time and attention. It was our first trip away from Quinn and we all did great. She stayed w/ Nannie Mae and Papa D and she was in spoiled heaven.

Napa Day One

We got up Tuesday at 3:30 a.m. Austin time and headed to CA. We flew into San Fran and drove to Napa straight to our amazing B&B. We were so spoiled the whole time we were there because we rented a convertible. Now, I've decided that's a must when you go out there! Jeremy did really well on the B&B. I highly recommend Churchill Manor and I would love to go back sometime. The room was great, service was amazing and the food was fresh and tasty. They even had a wine and cheese happy hour each evening.

We had lunch at a local place called Hurley's and it was awesome. I came to realize there's something about food in CA that's just different...fresh. After lunch we started the wine tastings at several different wineries. 

First up was a small winery called Elyse. I was glad we started w/ a small one since I'd never done that before. The wine guy there taught us a few things and I felt more confident going into the others.

Second for the day was Chandon, which is a sparkling winery (don't call it Champagne unless it's really from Champagne...c'mon people). :) I liked it okay, but I'd rather have red wine than the bubbly stuff. My favorite part of this one was the beautiful grounds. Oh, and I love their slogan - "Life Needs Bubbles".

Third was Mondavi. It was recommended by several people just because it's sort of a must for first-time Napa visitors. This is your typical, big, fancy winery in Napa. The tour was awesome and the wine was REALLY good. Not surprising, I liked their pinot noir the best.

After Mondavi, we were tired and headed back to the B&B to have more wine and cheese and freshen up for dinner.We met up w/ my friend from college, Aruna, for dinner at Goose and Gander in St. Helena. Jeremy had escolar and I had steak...AMAZING. It was so good to catch up w/ Aruna and just hang out in a nice restaurant. After our day of wine-drinking, all I could have was water, but Jeremy and Aruna enjoyed the fancy cocktails from a ridiculous menu.

Napa Day Two

Needless to say, I slept so well. I'm pretty sure I didn't move after a long day of travel followed by wine tastings. We took our time getting up, got to FaceTime with Q and went down to have breakfast in our PJs on the porch of the B&B. It was heavenly!

Our first stop was another recommendation called V. Sattui. It's a family owned place and they have a big tasting room along with a deli and market. We didn't do this, but it would be perfect for buying wine and food and having a picnic on the grounds. We also went down to their wine cellar and they had a neat little wine museum.

After that, we decided to head over to the Russian River Valley to check out some places there. The drive was so pretty (again, a convertible is a must) and I couldn't get over the huge redwoods. This West Texas girl isn't used to trees that big...trees in general. 

On our way up and over to the other valley we stopped at a great place recommended by Aruna on the top called Pride. It was interesting to see the vineyards there along the sides of hills and the climate felt really different. We got to see the wine cave there and the wine was great too.

After that, we headed into Healdsburg and have lunch. We ate at a brewery called Bear Republic and Jeremy was really excited because he recognized the beer from having it at a place in Austin. After lunch, we hit up a cute little cupcake/ice cream shop and took some for the road. I got an ice cream sandwich that had salted caramel ice cream inside...yum!!

Jeremy was really excited about the next winery. When he was in college he worked for Grapevine Market and he got turned on to Seghesio by the wine guy. We visited that winery which was kind of odd because it was sort of in the middle of a neighborhood. It was fun and we actually bought a bottle there to take home. (We may or may not have already consumed that.) :)

By the time we were finished there, I was done. I spit a lot and dumped a lot out, but wine makes me tired so I slept while Jeremy drove back to Napa.

On our way into town, he decided to stop at one last place called Peju. This winery is beautiful and unique-looking because it has curved sycamore trees framing the entrance. We didn't do any tastings, but we walked around, saw their cellar and took some good photos. I love imitating sculptures. It started in Europe when I studied abroad and now I can't stop. Classy right?

The only bad thing that happened on the trip was that our car got dinged in the parking lot of Peju. Luckily, someone saw the guy so we were able to get his information, but it was a little bit of a downer having to spend part of our trip collecting info, making a claim w/ his insurance and trying to get a hold of the rental car company. It all turned out fine and I can't complain...I mean really, I was in Napa. 

We got back to the B&B and had our wine and cheese snack and headed to our room to catch Q before she went to sleep. For dinner, we decided to walk into downtown Napa to the Kitchen Door. The food was good, but we were just so full from wine and cheese all day that we were both miserable after the meal. I hate feeling that full, but I guess we sort of walked it off going back to the B&B.

Our last morning in Napa, we woke up a little early we could get dressed and go enjoy breakfast on the porch before we had to leave for San Fran. I gave Churchill Manor lots of five-star ratings on its comment card and we packed up to hit the road to San Fran.