Hello! We have had a full day outside of the city today. We rented a car to go north of the city to see some sights and had a great time. It was a full day and we are exhausted again. I do have to say, the hotel bed is heavenly! I slept like a baby last night and plan to do it again once I'm done here.
We started off the day driving over the Golden Gate Bridge. It is a lot shorter than I thought it would be but still pretty neat. It took us out of the city to the next town of Sausalito.
Here is Brian with our rental car. We got a PT Cruiser although Brian wanted a convertible :) It was perfect for us though! We stopped by Starbucks on the way to Enterprise for a morning pick-me-up. There is a Starbucks, literally, on every corner here. And I think they all stay busy every minute of the day.
Here we are in Sausalito. It is such a cute, quaint, warm town. LOVE IT! It has the cutest little houses that look out onto the bay and cute little boutiques with all sorts of clothes, jewelry and art. We were able to get someone to take our picture with SF and Alcatraz in the background. Very neat!
Here is a view of the houses and some of the shops. I could have moved around that big pole in the middle of the picture but I didn't even notice it :)
After we left Sausalito, we headed to the Muir Woods National Monument. We drove up and down the windiest (is that even a word?) road ever! It was beautiful though. We got to the park entrance and the parking options were horrible. We were going to have to park about 3 miles away and walk to the park . Since we had walked about 6 miles last night, we passed. We took some pictures and went on our way.
We stopped at a scenic overlook and got a great view of the forest from there. It was amazing!
After the forest and hunting for a bathroom (that Starbucks shaken tea had filled my bladder), we made it to Santa Rosa. Unfortunately, when we got there, we found out that Tex Wasabi's was still closed for renovations. Their website says it was only closed until the end of September but I guess there was a change in plans. I made Brian get a picture with the sign though anyway. In case you didn't know, Guy Fereri from the Food Network owns Tex Wasabi's. Brian and I love the FN and Brian is a big fan of Guy's Diner's, Drive-Ins, & Dives.
We found out that Guy also owns another restaurant in Santa Rosa called Johnny Garlic's so we used our handy dandy GPS to help us get there. It was great food. This picture makes us look like pigs - and we kind of were :) By that point it was almost 1pm here and I had only had a muffin and OJ for breakfast. If you know me, you know I have to eat! :) So we had garlic chips for an appetizer and they had the best bread too. I had the turkey, bacon, & beef club. Picture below - it was HUGE! Brian had the chicken parmesan and loved it.
Then we headed to wine country. We decided to go to Sonoma as it is smaller than Napa and we were really only wanting to stop at one vineyard for a short visit and some pictures. It was beautiful! Here is a picture that I took coming into Sonoma of the vineyards and the mountains. Just fantastic!
We stopped at Ledson Vineyard upon the suggestion of our waitress at JG's. It was breathtaking. Here is one section of their vineyard. But the house is the best, pictured below.
Here's me with the water fountain, the roses, and the vineyards behind me. It was neat that every vineyard we passed had roses growing around it.
And here's the house, um, mansion. This actually used to be someone's home but was bought and changed into a vineyard. This vineyard is family run and the grounds are just gorgeous. They had tents set up for weddings and I just couldn't imagine having my wedding there...what a fairytale that would be!
We participated in a tasting and bought a bottle. We always prefer the sweet stuff and got to taste some great variations. The lady that helped us used to be a trader on Wall St. and this is her "retirement". She was fantastic - knew so much about wines and grapes. When we came back in to the city around 5 ish, we were headed to the car rental place and passed this:
It was a bunch of hotel workers. I am not sure what they were yelling - I think it was in another language, at least some of it. But their signs said 2009 Hotel Workers Contract Campaign. We asked our bartender about it and he said they have these picket lines all the time since they have so many unions here. It was pretty neat to see though.
Tonight we went down to the Italian restaurant that is connected to the hotel for our free glass of wine that is offered nightly. We had a quick dinner at a diner nearby and we are ready for bed now!
We definitely got the most out of our one-day car rental and got to see such a beautiful part of the state. It's off to bed now. We have the HUGE farmer's market in the morning and we are meeting Brian's cousin for some lunch. Just hanging out at Fisherman's Wharf and seeing the tourist-y sights.
Much love!
We started off the day driving over the Golden Gate Bridge. It is a lot shorter than I thought it would be but still pretty neat. It took us out of the city to the next town of Sausalito.
Here is Brian with our rental car. We got a PT Cruiser although Brian wanted a convertible :) It was perfect for us though! We stopped by Starbucks on the way to Enterprise for a morning pick-me-up. There is a Starbucks, literally, on every corner here. And I think they all stay busy every minute of the day.
Here we are in Sausalito. It is such a cute, quaint, warm town. LOVE IT! It has the cutest little houses that look out onto the bay and cute little boutiques with all sorts of clothes, jewelry and art. We were able to get someone to take our picture with SF and Alcatraz in the background. Very neat!
Here is a view of the houses and some of the shops. I could have moved around that big pole in the middle of the picture but I didn't even notice it :)
After we left Sausalito, we headed to the Muir Woods National Monument. We drove up and down the windiest (is that even a word?) road ever! It was beautiful though. We got to the park entrance and the parking options were horrible. We were going to have to park about 3 miles away and walk to the park . Since we had walked about 6 miles last night, we passed. We took some pictures and went on our way.
We stopped at a scenic overlook and got a great view of the forest from there. It was amazing!
After the forest and hunting for a bathroom (that Starbucks shaken tea had filled my bladder), we made it to Santa Rosa. Unfortunately, when we got there, we found out that Tex Wasabi's was still closed for renovations. Their website says it was only closed until the end of September but I guess there was a change in plans. I made Brian get a picture with the sign though anyway. In case you didn't know, Guy Fereri from the Food Network owns Tex Wasabi's. Brian and I love the FN and Brian is a big fan of Guy's Diner's, Drive-Ins, & Dives.
We found out that Guy also owns another restaurant in Santa Rosa called Johnny Garlic's so we used our handy dandy GPS to help us get there. It was great food. This picture makes us look like pigs - and we kind of were :) By that point it was almost 1pm here and I had only had a muffin and OJ for breakfast. If you know me, you know I have to eat! :) So we had garlic chips for an appetizer and they had the best bread too. I had the turkey, bacon, & beef club. Picture below - it was HUGE! Brian had the chicken parmesan and loved it.
Then we headed to wine country. We decided to go to Sonoma as it is smaller than Napa and we were really only wanting to stop at one vineyard for a short visit and some pictures. It was beautiful! Here is a picture that I took coming into Sonoma of the vineyards and the mountains. Just fantastic!
We stopped at Ledson Vineyard upon the suggestion of our waitress at JG's. It was breathtaking. Here is one section of their vineyard. But the house is the best, pictured below.
Here's me with the water fountain, the roses, and the vineyards behind me. It was neat that every vineyard we passed had roses growing around it.
And here's the house, um, mansion. This actually used to be someone's home but was bought and changed into a vineyard. This vineyard is family run and the grounds are just gorgeous. They had tents set up for weddings and I just couldn't imagine having my wedding there...what a fairytale that would be!
We participated in a tasting and bought a bottle. We always prefer the sweet stuff and got to taste some great variations. The lady that helped us used to be a trader on Wall St. and this is her "retirement". She was fantastic - knew so much about wines and grapes. When we came back in to the city around 5 ish, we were headed to the car rental place and passed this:
It was a bunch of hotel workers. I am not sure what they were yelling - I think it was in another language, at least some of it. But their signs said 2009 Hotel Workers Contract Campaign. We asked our bartender about it and he said they have these picket lines all the time since they have so many unions here. It was pretty neat to see though.
Tonight we went down to the Italian restaurant that is connected to the hotel for our free glass of wine that is offered nightly. We had a quick dinner at a diner nearby and we are ready for bed now!
We definitely got the most out of our one-day car rental and got to see such a beautiful part of the state. It's off to bed now. We have the HUGE farmer's market in the morning and we are meeting Brian's cousin for some lunch. Just hanging out at Fisherman's Wharf and seeing the tourist-y sights.
Much love!
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