Monday, July 5, 2010

Everyday's so caffeinated I wish they were Golden Gated

Are you going to San Francisco?

Wow what a week I've had. I broke free and drove up the coast of California to San Francisco. Kelly and I took the Pacific Coast Highway up to San Simeon, with a stop in Cambria for lunch. We watched the elephant seals fling dirt on themselves in the fog and continued north to Ragged Point where we stopped for a romp in the thick fog and...in my case...numerous bathroom breaks. From Ragged Point we took the twisted winding highway up to Big Sur, where we camped for the night in Pfeiffer Big Sur state park. The colors of the forest we're so vibrant...pictures didn't even do them justice. The next morning we drove to the Monterey Bay Aquarium and tore ourselves away from Cannery Row to drive another 3 hours to Vallejo. For anyone that hasn't ever been to Vallejo...I'd say it's a spot you can avoid on your next roadtrip...

Luckily my dear English friend Niki lives there...and may as well be the only white girl in Vallejo...and we stayed at her place for a few days. She was my roommate when I was living in Waikoloa on the Big Island and I remember why we got along so well. She's just one of those free-spirit people that you can talk about anything with and do anything with and she's completely down for it all.

From Vallejo we drove into wine country, to the town of St. Helena. The grunge of the city left behind us, the sprawl of thousands of neatly trimmed rows of grapes welcomed us to the famous Napa Valley. It had always been a dream of mine to go wine tasting in Napa, and when we pulled up to Beringer Vineyards I was smiling so big my face started to hurt. If anyone hasn't had the opportunity to go wine tasting that lives in California...PLEASE do. It's an experience that is so unique and SO much fun! The area of Napa is so beautiful and the town of St. Helena is absolutely exquisite. Even if you don't drink wine, it's worth a trip up there just for the history. For $20 we got an hour and a half tour around the vineyard and aging tunnels and four samples of wine...even some dark chocolate :)! The port wine from Beringer...OOH THE PORT WINE!...is my favorite...I ended up splurging on a bottle.

That same night Kelly, Niki and I, along with some new friends from Marin...went into the city for Taco Tuesdays. I actually went out! I know, shocking. And I stayed out until 5 am! AH! Even hungover I was able to get up bright and early and tour the city of San Francisco and the Marine Mammal Center. I drank drinking chocolate at the Ghirardelli Factory and saw fishermans wharf and drove across the Golden Gate Bridge. Saved the cable car for the next time I'm up there...so that way I have an excuse to go back :).

But I really don't think I'll have a hard time going back up there. I'm already counting down the days until I can get back to that city by the bay. I'm frantically looking for my chance to run back up to bay area. I love it. Not just the city of San Fran, but all over it. The people, the scenery, the smells, the tastes, I love it all. The hardest part of the entire trip was taking the 5 freeway back towards LA. Don't get me wrong I love LA, but at one point Kelly and I looked at each other and said, "What if we just turn around now and go back? Do you think anyone would mind?"

I WILL BE BACK IN SAN FRANCISCO.

or somewhere along that huge bay.

*Sigh* Until then...

Bree

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