I'm a year older since my last post....twenty four. That's almost like a real adult...but not quite. For my birthday Alex and I planned a wonderful vacation to Riviera Maya, Mexico. We booked a flight, an all inclusive resort, we checked to make sure our passports were still valid and we bought sunscreen. On Monday of the week that we were leaving on Thursday, I looked at the weather. There was a hurricane in Mexico and 99.99% chance of rain every day we were supposed to be there. Yay!
So, after some discussion and a phone call to our travel agent, who confirmed the hurricane and rain, we decided to cancel our trip (we always get trip insurance, so this was the first time we used it and got a full refund!). I had already requested time off at work and was planning to pack a bag, so we began madly planning a trip to somewhere- the rain and hurricane ruled out almost all Caribbean destinations. Alex quickly stated that Ireland, Alaska and Hawaii were not options, so I began searching for destinations in the continental U.S. Arizona, California and Las Vegas were our top three choices
The winner was....drum roll please......
Napa Valley and San Francisco California!
We arrived in San Francisco on Thursday afternoon and quickly headed up to Napa Valley aka: Wine Country. It was a very scenic, hilly drive. We checked into our hotel and then headed through the valley to see what all they hype was about. It was beautiful! We ate in Rutherford at none other than the Rutherford Grill. I had some stinkin' awesome ribs and Alex ate some ok chicken.
Friday we woke up and headed to Jamieson Ranch and winery. We were there by 11am and it wasn't very crowded so our tasting was very educational. We learned a lot about the valley, as well as about how the grapes are grown, harvested, crushed, fermented, etc., etc. It was a lot of fun and our favorite wine was "Aurelius" which was a sweeter white wine. But, Alex did learn to like darker red wines with chocolate, I just like the chocolate. We went to a few other wineries, ate dinner and then crashed.
On Saturday we planned to drive into San Francisco to rent some bikes to see all there was to see, but the rain impeded with the bikes, so we just drove and walked around. We got to see Fishermen's Warf, Pier 39 and the sea lions. We went to the Musee Mechanique and Alex arm wrestled the arm wrestler (featured in Princess Diaries) and sadly lost. We got to drive over the Golden Gate Bridge and head on the 101 to Sonoma.
I had someone tell me about a winery in Sonoma that was/is owned by the Jacuzzi (like the bath tub) family and that it was pretty good. So, on our way we stumbled across it and decided to stop. It was very pretty and they had a tasty Moscato. We learned that the Jacuzzi family not only enjoys making bath tubs, but they also made propellers for planes during the WWII era, they make wine and olive oil! They are a very busy family.
Sunday was a bit touristy. Our hotel was in Fairfield, California- the home of the Jelly Belly factory and of course there was a tour involved! We went, learned a little and tasted several "belly flops"- when a jelly bean is unworthy of becoming a Jelly Belly- ie: too big, too small, weird shaped, etc. It was fun and I'm glad we could spend half an hour of our day there. Plus we got free bags of Jelly Belly's when the tour was over. We headed into Napa and drove through the valley to find some lunch and then we just explored the rest of the afternoon and enjoyed our relaxing, restful vacation.
Monday- the best day of the year (my birthday)- we packed up and headed into San Francisco early in the morning to beat rush hour and to catch some of the city that we missed. We decided to get back on the 101 and drive south so we could see the Golden Gate Bridge in the sunshine. On our way we saw an exit for a park, so we took that and wound our way to the Pacific. It was beautiful. We watched the sun rise and the waves roll in. It was chilly, but well worth it. We even got to see some adorable little otters. After we soaked in the view, we headed up a trail to see where it led. We followed the path that went onto a rock(?) that split the Bay and the Pacific, giving us a beautiful view of the city and of the big gold bridge. It was very pretty and quiet. We didn't see anyone other than some sea lions the whole time we were there. After we left the park we headed into the city to ride a Trolley. We drove down Lombard street and found the golden fire hydrant. Which completed almost everything on our San Francisco touristy to do list.
We had a wonderful trip and I would definitely go back. There are some things I would like to do that we didn't get a chance to do and there are things I would do again, all in all, very fun and a highly recommended vacation. As with any trip, I'm happy to go and happy to come home...to plan our next trip!
Pictures to come tomorrow!
