My dad & I eating crab at Scoma's our first night in San Franciso
Had some wine & appetizers at a restaurant on Fisherman's Wharf
Alcatraz
Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco - lots of cool places to eat here
Going downhill in the Trolley Car - downhill is quite different in San Francisco!
Brandyn & I riding in the Trolley Car
Our last night in Calistoga - we ate at a place called "Brannan's" - awesome food
Niebaum Coppola (formerly Rubicon Estates) vineyard - this is their winery/tasting room/gift shop
Enjoying the wine & the view at Robert Mondavi vineyards
We visited Domain * Chandon vineyards to taste champagne (I'm the champage gal in the family)
Hess Vineyards - we joined our first wine club here
A picture going up the mountain --- all you can see is vines growing with a few houses here & there
The first night in Calistoga - we ate at a place called Bosko's - Brandyn had the tastiest pasta
On our "private" tour by Pete Seghesio (read more below) -- original redwood barrels behind us
This is at Beringer Vineyards tasting room - we tried port here too
Beringer's land
Beringer's land with pretty 'weeds' growing between
Our first vineyard was Gundlach Bundschu or "Gun Bun" for short - pretty scenery here
Golden Gate Bridge
Ghirardelli Square in San FrancisoBrandyn and I were fortunate enough to get away for a few days at the end of March. We were able to get cheap tickets & rooms for a trip to San Francisco & Calistoga, California. This was and still is one of our dream vacations and we loved every minute of it. The first day we stayed in San Francisco. We got to go on an original trolley car which was neat. We went up and down the streets of San Francisco which can be a fun ride (depending on who you ask). We also visited Fisherman's Wharf. There are all sorts of restaurants there and Alcatraz is right across the way. We had appetizers and wine at one restaurant then ate dinner at a restaurant called Scoma's. My dad and I shared awesome crab that night. The next day we drove to Sonoma to begin our tour of vineyards. We toured several and hit many of our favorite places to drink wine from. The first place we visited was Gundlach Bundschu and that was one of my favorites. It was so pretty and the wine was good too :) Gun Bun is all estate grown grapes which is very rare for vineyards. Many vineyards buy grapes from other places but this was all their own. That day we also visited Arrowood, Beringer... and a few more. That night we ate at a place called Bosko's. Brandyn had some of the best pasta we've tasted. We enjoyed the hot tub, sauna and steam room that night. I forgot to mention that my parents were our "tour guides" through this whole trip. My dad is quite the wine connoisseur and my parents have been there a time or two before so it was great to have them along. The next day we toured the Napa Valley side (Saturday was the Sonoma side). We visited several vineyards that day as well. The most memorable visit was our visit to Seghesio vineyards. We were done with our tasting and my mom and I were waiting around for my dad & Brandyn to finish up. It just happened that Pete Seghesio (I would say he's the current owner -- not 100% sure) felt bad for the two of us. So, he introduced himself an asked if we wanted a tour of the barrels. We knew we'd be in trouble if we didn't tell the guys to come along. Pete showed us their barrels including 3 original redwood barrels they have. He also let us taste their homemade "salumi" (salami) which was so good. He showed us how they dehydrate it and everything. We felt pretty special when we left that day. All of us agreed that experience made the trip! That night we enjoyed some awesome food at a place called Brannan's. The presentation was very nice and the food was even better. After that my dad drug us to a place where he made Brandyn try foie gras; in other words - goose liver. YUCK! I guess it's a special treat for some people but I disagree. Leave it to my dad to make us try weird foods! We got to enjoy our hot tub again that night with some cheese and crackers and good conversation with family. It was a wonderful trip and I only hope that we can go back again soon. Oh, I forgot to mention that the famous rapper, Ludacris, was on our flight out of Des Moines to Denver. We thought that was a pretty cool way to start the trip. We didn't get a picture (too chicken to ask) but at least we can say we saw him up close.
