So we drove up the coastal highway that took us like an hour and a half to go 20 miles. AJ and I were so sick by the time we were got to our bed and breakfast on point Reyes state park which is on the west coast in Marin county just about San Francisco. It was beautiful! We stayed on a farm and it was on the hillside and we had a big room with a beautiful view which had a fire place and a king size bed and a very large bathroom! It had a beautiful country style living room in the main area of the big house and we were on the second floor. There was a kitchen where the inn keeper made breakfast and a large dining table where we ate it as well! The gardens in the back were beautiful and you could see the pond and the cows from the back yard gardens too! There was a hot tub enclosed on 3 sides and the 4th side was open to small breezes and kept the cold winds out even in the winter. The hot tub was perfect and AJ and I took a bottle of wine we had bought in San Diego and jumped right in! Apparently, some of the other guests didn't know there was a hot tub and that is one of the main things I picked about this bed and breakfast!
After an amazing dinner at one of the local restaurants which actually served pop-overs as their bread (everyone in the Wise family knows what they are)! I ate AJ's too they were so good and he was mad they were empty inside! HA! We went back and fell asleep in our big bed to the warmth of the crackling fire and to the sound of frogs at the pond and cows mooing in the field! It was SO peaceful! AJ loved it!The next morning we got dressed and breakfast was served promptly at 8:30am in the dining room. AJ was kind of nervous of eating breakfast with two other couples but it was really nice having company and talking about everyone’s travels and how they ended up there! The food the inn keeper made was really extravagant and we had fresh fruit, apple strudel, home-made, an omelet and Danishes. Of course milk and OJ too!
After saying good-bye and packing up, we got back on the road again and headed to Sonoma County where we went to this perfect Italian style Vineyard. It was so beautiful outside! We had the perfect day! Almost no breeze and in the 70's! We got a private tour and we sampled all their dips and marinades with bread that they had out to try in their market place. We also got to learn about how to grow, make and taste wine! We loved it but it was a private vineyard and their wine wasn't publicly distributed and you can't ship wine to MD so we bought a bottle to go with our lunch we had and then went on our way. We got to eat lunch from the top of the hill over looking their 90 acres of wet lands and even more of vineyards in little bistro furniture! It was so much fun!
After saying good-bye and packing up, we got back on the road again and headed to Sonoma County where we went to this perfect Italian style Vineyard. It was so beautiful outside! We had the perfect day! Almost no breeze and in the 70's! We got a private tour and we sampled all their dips and marinades with bread that they had out to try in their market place. We also got to learn about how to grow, make and taste wine! We loved it but it was a private vineyard and their wine wasn't publicly distributed and you can't ship wine to MD so we bought a bottle to go with our lunch we had and then went on our way. We got to eat lunch from the top of the hill over looking their 90 acres of wet lands and even more of vineyards in little bistro furniture! It was so much fun!
Sorry about the picture quality but it was the only one we got of us together in Sonoma. After all that, we got back in the car and drove about 2.5 hours east to Lake Tahoe… where there was 10 feet of snow!
The thing we were looking forward to most was going on Alcatraz island (AJ's favorite movie is THE ROCK with Sean Connery on the island Alcatraz). But the tickets were completely sold out until 4 days away! So we took the second best tour of the bay on a boat cruise that went under the golden gate bridge and around Alcatraz island. It was really neat! The weather was AMAZING and perfect! AJ was in shorts and it was breezy on the water but still beautiful!
Yes, again, we saw sea lions basking in the sun! AJ took a ton of pictures of them too. We didn't ride any cable cars but we saw them and even took our picture with them! The roads are steep and it's so strange to see houses built on an angled slope! We didn't stay in the city but it was perfect to spend the day there and move on through! After our day there, we drove up to our bed and breakfast in Marin county, right on the west coast line about 20 miles north of San Francisco and next to Sonoma County. We stayed right in Point Reyes National Seashore Park and we took coastal highway to get there... only 20 miles took like 1.5 hours because of all the switch backs (twisty roads). But that's for the next post!
We also went bike riding on the bike path that goes along the Big Sur! It's called the 17-mile drive and it goes around Pebble Beach as well (a famous golf course). We saw Sea lions again, and saw amazing coast line! When we actually drove down the Big Sur, we got out every 100 feet to take a picture! Everything was so beautiful and looked completely amazing! Bright blue water, the surf crashing against the rocky coastline, it was just like the movies!!
It was so windy as you can tell in some of these pictures, but still amazing! We also saw the little town of Carmel. Tons of little stores and shops, mostly designer. In other words, we didn't go shopping at all, knowing me/us. We even went down to the steep beach of Carmel on the Sea and saw the pacific ocean at sunset! Just blue water as far as the eye can see!
We arrive in sunny San Diego with an amzing view from our bed & breakfast! Right on the top of Point Loma! Everything was blue and green and sunny! We even enjoyed the very classy night life of the Gaslamp district downtown!
Then we just had to visit La Jolla and saw tons of see lions! Those rock looking things on the beach behinds us in that one picture are real sea lions only 30 feet from us! Also, we just had to go to the San Diego Zoo. AJ kept laughing at me because I was like pushing kids out of the way to get my picture taken with all the animal monuments in the park! Look, in one, I'm hiding in bamboo!
Second leg of the trip we just had to go to where all the famous people live! We didn't have ANY interest (despite my little sister Melissa's encouragement to go to Hollywood row..) we drove through LA but right before, we went to Laguna Beach! Yes, that's the beach where they had that popular teeny-popper show! It was cold and the waves were big but it was beautiful and a ritzy, but small town! I even took a picture of the road sign to say we've been there!
Driving through LA, I looked everywhere for the big "Hollywood" sign on the hill like you always see in movies... I couldn't find it anywhere! I was kind of mad but we got over it because we still had "Karen" our GPS (that's the name of the austrailian women voice that prompts us to our next destination). Here we are in the car because it really was a road trip within the vacation!
