Napa

 Tasting at Frank Family Vineyard, where we were told it takes BILLIONS to start your own vineyard. So much for the dream!

 Rutherford

 Rubicon-Francis Ford Coppola's Vineyard (Bryan dubbed it Nordstroms, I think it was more like Neiman Marcus)

 Peju, where we actually loved the Merlot

Our last day of wine tasting was in Napa. We hired a driver to drive us around in our rented minivan for the day. It was a lot cheaper, but our driver Ron was not nearly as fun as DJ. We found Napa to be a bit over the top in terms of cost, snobbery and opulence. But the wine was still fantastic, and we enjoyed our day. That day we went to Frank Family Vineyard, Rutherford, Rubicon, Plumpjack and Peju. I liked Frank Family & Peju and could have done without the other ones. We finished our wine tasting with a wonderful dinner at Mustard. This was my 2nd favorite meal, but my favorite ambiance!

Sonoma

 At St. Francis, where we began tasting at 11am

 Laura, Mary & I

 In Wellington's barrels

On our first full day of wine tasting, we explored Sonoma Valley. We hired a tour company, Terrific Tours, to take and show us around the different vineyards. Our driver's name was DJ and he was very cool, handlebar mustache and all! This was my favorite day of wine tasting. We went to: St. Francis, Wellington, Sunflower Cafe for lunch, Hawkes and all of our favorite venue, Larson Family Winery. That night we ate dinner at our hotel, at John Ash & Co. The places were more casual, the wine was fantastic and the meals that day the BEST (lamb burger for lunch, diver scallops and pork belly for dinner).

Del Dotto Caves

The first wine tasting we did was slightly extravagant. We went to the wine "caves" and tasted wine straight from the barrel. It was a very cool experience and a unique way to kick off our wine tasting adventure. That night we went to a fun dinner full of rabbit and duck and had a memorable journey home on the twistiest road I've ever been on. A bit like a double black diamond. Thanks to Joe for getting us home safely, I'm not sure I've laughed so hard during a drive in my life.

More pics of the Golden Gate

Here is the Golden Gate Bridge as we were leaving town over it and heading to Sonoma!

San Francisco

 Chinatown

 Buena Vista-home of the 1st Irish Coffee

 Ghiradelli Square

 Panoramic View of the City

 Golden Gate Bridge

 Jimi Hendrix's old home and a mural of him, Jim Morrison & Janis Joplin

 Only in SF

 Remember this from Full House?

Last weekend, Joe and I headed out of Florida and flew to San Francisco for 5 days in SF and Sonoma/Napa Valleys. Thank you Peggy for flying down here and taking such great care of the kids for us. Joe & I had such a great time getting away, sight seeing, drinking lots of wine, eating amazing food and sleeping in! The first day we arrived, we set out on the city of San Francisco and saw the sights. It was sunny when we left the hotel around 1pm and then quickly got foggy and freezing. I loved it! Nothing like being cold every once in awhile! We took a tour during the day and then spent that night having dinner at the Stinking Rose in North Beach. We got there by cable car, which was so fun. We even held out to the outside bars and hung on like that. I was a little scared at first, but it was a blast!