goodnight and good-bye San Fran

We had such a great time in San Francisco and in Wine Country that it was sad to leave, hopefully we'll be back someday soon. Everything was perfect, here's the view from our hotel window the last night we were there; that's Alcatraz in the bay.



and here's a picture of the Golden Gate Bridge, I mean could things get much better. Of course the best part with all my trips is the company I have... my awesome husband! I hope everyone can visit these places and I hope that some of my tips have helped you enjoy yourself while you're there.

had to add this photo somewhere in my postings about San Fran, since that's where we took it and it was FUN.

driving around in Sonoma

The last day we were in Wine Country we stayed in Sonoma to discover it a little more and we find this winery, it sounded so cool when I was reading about it, that the tasting room was in a cave and it was, here's a picture of Bella Vineyards and Wine Caves. The people were so nice and the wine I think was the best that we tasted on the whole trip.
this is the view outside the winery and they also have a nice picnic area that you can spend your afternoon at eating good food and drinking delicious wines.

do you think this cork screw will do the job?

here's the tasting room.

some more view's of sonoma.

then we went to this winery which was very close to Bella Vineyards, it's called L.Preston.

One other winery we checked out that day was Quivera, it was also really good we picked up a few bottles of white wine from them.

more of Napa

While driving around in Napa Valley we were very curious about this building, what was it? What could be there it just looked amazing, set so far back from the road and up on a hill, what the heck was that place all about. Then as we drove into the driveway to find out what this was all about we realized it was the winery for OPUS ONE, one of the most expensive wines out there.

just look at the way that you come into the winery, it's something else.

they only let a certain number of people in at a time and you had to pay $30 dollars for ONE tasting of ONE kind of wine so Fer and I shared. I mean that's more than we generally spend on a whole bottle but it was an experience and worth it to say we've tried this wine. For me I wouldn't spend the money to buy a bottle of Opus One but that's because it's out of my price range but it was a beautiful place to visit and I highly recommend this to be a stop on our tour at least to check it out.

after Opus One we checked out this cute little winery Peju Province, it was a nice little place with lot's of tasting rooms.

one of our favorite wineries on the trip was this one, V. Sattui Winery it was so fun and so busy. There were tons of people buzzing around but not overcrowded. What was really nice about this place was that they had a picnic area and a little section of the winery sold bread, cheese and cold cuts so we were able to put together a few things to make a little picnic. The wine was very tasty as well.

off to Napa and Sonoma

Besides visiting San Francisco we really wanted to visit Napa and Sonoma while we were out in California and see all that wine country had to offer. We had a great time visiting these places and are definitely looking forward to going back some time (soon hopefully).

We started off our tour of wine country at Kendall Jackson in Sonoma County, this was a great way to start the tour and one of our favorite wineries on the trip (although I think they all became our favorites in one way or another)





Next on our stop in Sonoma County was SIMI, on our first day in wine country we just stayed in the Sonoma area and hopped around to about three wineries before calling it a day. The next day would be the major tour thru wine country.



Day two in wine country lead us to many wineries and all of them GREAT. The scenery on the drive from where we stayed in Sonoma to Napa Valley was breath taking, we had to pull over on the drive just to get out and take some pictures and enjoy the view.

We visited Beringer, the grounds of this winery were beautiful.

then we drove to the farthest point on our wine map that we wanted to check out and started working our way back down the map back towards our hotel. The farthest point was Domaine Chandon, this was another gorgeous estate (as pretty much they all were in their own way) I think in Napa everything is larger than life very beautiful on a grand scale where as to me Sonoma is more subtle and intimate. Both are great and have their own charm.



Then we went to visit Robert Mondavi's winery, really good wines and an awesome winery. It's just amazing how beautiful these places are.

one of our favorite wineries of the trip was the Silver Oak winery, for two reasons the wine was delicious and the people were so friendly. A bottle of Silver Oak can start at around $90 so in the light that it's not common to have a bottle of this wine on our shelves at home it was fun to indulge in a glass on our trip.

isn't this an awesome dog house, to bad we couldn't bring this back for Zico. I think he needs one of these.

Aye the Food!

Where can I even begin about the food in San Francisco, it's delicious! The amount of FRESH DELICIOUS seafood is worth the visit alone.

Looking at these pictures again is making me hungry for the delicious crab alone. The prepare it so simply and yet it's like the best thing you've ever had. They just dunk it in a pot of boiling salt water and then serve it with butter. What else could one ask for?

yummmmm....

here's the guy preparing our order.

lot's of options.

this is the soup I mentioned in my previous post - the famous clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl, yummy.

some pretty good street food, huh?

dessert at Ghirardelli Square

and here is the wine tasting we had the first night we stayed in Sonoma at the Doubletree it came with the price of our room and it was awesome! The wines were delicious and the food that they paired with each wine was to die for.

pretty fun!

We didn't eat at The French Laundry (had to pay the mortgage you know) but we did make a little stop in Yountville, CA and had a bite to eat the Bouchon Bakery.

then on the way back to the hotel from Napa we stopped for a hamburger and shake at Taylor's Refresher. The hamburger was delicious and the shake was great it was a pistachio shake, very yummy. Great way to soak up all that you drank while "tasting" wines in Napa and a place I think I would visit often the burgers are so good.

back in San Francisco and wrapping up the culinary tour at the Hog Island Oyster Restaurant, in the Ferry Building, a recommendation from someone we met at one of the wineries.

even I tried the oysters and they were good.

serious clam chowder, huh.

Okay so now I think EVERYONE must be starving after reading this post. :)

The Tour

As I mentioned before we took a tour of San Francisco the second day we were in town so that we could get a good overview of the place and know what areas we would like to go back to on our own. We did the San Francisco City Tour with Gray Line and I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a tour of the area. The tour began in Fisherman's Wharf and took us to (Fisherman's Wharf) Union Square, Civic Center, Twin Peaks, Mission Dolores and the Golden Gate Bridge/Park.

This restaurant "Boudin" is one of the famous spots in San Fran to have a clam chowder soup in a sourdough bread bowl, yummy.


The tour was a little over three hours and the first area we visit was Mission Dolores; where San Francisco began. Interesting how San Francisco begin with I'll say much of an influence from Mexico with different Mission areas.

We also visited the area called "Twin Peaks" where we had a GREAT view of the city and the bay.

imagine our tour bus drove up that road to get to the top.

then of course we made our way to the Golden Gate Bridge to drive over it and then visit the Golden Gate Park. It was a beautiful day and was able to take some nice photographs. It's always cool visiting something you've seen your whole life on TV and finally being there in person.

the scenery is just gorgeous in California.

it didn't' seem like this was a normal stop on the tour or at least to let us out and walk around on the beach was not a usual part of the tour but our tour guide took us to the beach and let us get out for a little while so we were able to say we put our feet in the water of the pacific ocean. Pretty cool!
Whenever we travel to a new place we like to take at least one tour to get an idea of the area and become more comfortable there then we hit the town however we want.

Where did you got this summer? Have you been to San Francisco, how was your trip?