Napa Wine Country

In the morning, I knew I was in the places were the best chefs in the world are born. I had to check out bakeries. We stopped by 3 different ones and each one I fell in love with! But we were on time line today. After Sonomas best bakeries, we made our way to Napa County.
First we went to Jack Landon Historal park. He was an adventure and a writer. At this park it was well over 300 acres,  we saw his house, his dream house ( which was in ruins) the meadows and ranch. It was stepping back in time to 1900's.
Then we did two money pit stops at which 1. Was not worth time since there really was much to see 2. Not your money....really $18 per person? Why?  The first was the peterified redwood wood forest. You could see the few trees from the gift shop, and read about it there too. The second was Old Faithful. Reall you are going to chrage me when I can see it from the prking lot? Ok, whatever.
So now it was tme for wine. We were in Casiloga, so I really wanted to go see this castle. We didn't know if $18 per person was worh it. But when we drove up to the grand entrance we both knew we had to go in.
On both sides of the drive had tall shrubs and vinyards behind it. Then there it was...in the sun as it was slowly setting, The Castle! It was like nothing I have ever seen before. You hear about castles in anceint Europe, you read about them in fairytales, but its like nothing until you see a perfect replica of a 13th century castle here in America. Complete with a grand hall, chruch, torture chamber, 5 guard look out towers, a moat, a draw bridge. Its a sight not to be missed if you are in the area. Not only was the castle just stunning, but the wines were the best I ever had. We bought two bottles home...

Going to San Fransico!

Ok I have to say this was by far the most packed day yet! So we woke up early to get a good start on the day. From Santa Rosa we drove 1.5 hours to Fairfeild, through massive rolling hills dotted with cows and sheep and clear blue skies.
We first ate at the home of the chicken sandwhich, Chick-fil-A. Aaron and I have never been here, so we were wondering what was so amazing about it and why my sister was being crazy! Well we had our tat and were hooked. W can't wait to go back again.
I had the chicken nuggets and Aaron had a chicken sandwhich, both had waffle fries. Ok you have to know that this plce invented the chicken sandwhich, waffelfries with skins on, and in mall dining. I had no idea! Anyways we tried all their sauces and my personal favorite was buffalo dipped in buttermilk ranch. We all were silent as we licked our fingers and plates clean. Then we ate some perfectly made soft serve vanilla ice cream. It was a great start to the day :-) at 1pm...
We then headed over to the budweiser brewery, where we had as much beer as we could drink...which was barely half a glass since we just ate a big lunch. They have everything thing here. I had know idea that Anhiuser-Busch made these beers:
Stella Artois
Shock Top - lemon, raspberry, and apple
Budweiser- light, platium, black label
Busch
Natural Ice-black
Rolling Rock
Crazy right? We did the tour, it was okay. Not much to see. The bottling distriubtion was closed, and they only do kegs and cans here. But the distilling barrells were so big! They were 4 stacked tall and 20 deep, each barrell was 75ft long and 10 ft tall. It was pretty incredible, and cold.
Well less than a mile away was the Jelly Belly Factory. We didn't do the tour, but we did take more than enough samples through the sample bar (did you know that Jelly Belly also has a chocolate line?) Oh and that you can have weddings there too? Yeah, someone was getting married at the Jelly Belly Factory....ackward.
We still had some time before the sun went down and none of us were ready to head back. And we were only an hour away from San Fransico....so thats where we headed next! Aaron was so excited he has some very fond memories of the place.
Oh we could of just stayed there for a week alone!
The moment we crossed th bridge we were all in awe! It was amazing. The tall building, the multi cultural segments of the city, the people, there was so much to take in. I was freaking out because my camera was getting low on battery, and I was the navigator to this awesome park.
Eventually we made our way to the park. So we were driving, looking at "full house" type houses, and unquie structures of buildings when all of the sudden...BAM! There it was a picturque 40ft tall columns out of anceint rome like it was out of the coluisem, any time the tigers would come out. We just stood in amazment at the work. The sun was setting, and we all just took a stroll around. It was super cold and windy Ellie even had to have a blanket around her to keep her warm. We were only out there for about 30 minutes...freezing.
Where to next? Fishermans Wharf! But first I hadto pick up a jacket. It was cold. Down to Pier 39 we went. Oh yeah, clam chowder with sourdough bread, great burgers and fresh calamari! It was a perfect end. We walked down the peirs, looking at the sea lions, the city in lights, the street entertainers, and the amazing fine art galleries. The ambience of it all was overwhelming to the point of exhaustion!

Sonoma Wine country

One of my favorite mornings. We woke up and ate an amazing hot breakfast at the hotel. Since weren't in a rush to go anywhere or trying to beat the sun going down, we took our time. We are on vacation right? The guys took the kids down to the pool and Tiffany and I headed to the weight room and had one fun workout.
We cranked the bose speakers up and ran with it. Treadmill, abs, legs, back, push ups...dancing. Yes we attempted to danceon a treadmill and it was hard! Like one of those step revoultion games you see in the mall.
Well after all the fun was over we dressed up for the hundreds of wineries around. The first ones we went to was what the hotel recommended...and heads up, the sucked! Horrible wines, and the grounds were not kept and well we just deciced that wineries weren't for the kids so we left Healdsburg and headed to Santa Rosa.
Here we went to the Charles Schultz muesum. It was interesting. Lots of comics (obvisously) and stutes. We learned about his life and how he lived. He loved hockey (who knew) so muh that he built an ice arena at the muesum were he would watch the skaters every afternoon during lunch.
Another place we went to was Luther Burbank home and gardens although in a shady area in town and most plants were dormant (since it was winter), we still went and looked at it. It was nice, I left after doing a quick walk-through, but the guys felt the need to inspect and read about every plant. The surely learned plenty that day. Over 200 species of plants here, Luther Burbank lived until he was 80.
We continued on our journey to Sonoma. We checked out th historical plaza and even at night it was beautiful. All lit up and so ancient. Some buildings from the 1890's and 1900's, as early as 1850!
We induldged in thai food and headed back to the the hotel in Sonoma...again a Best Westeren Plus.
This hotel was even better than the previous one we stayed ay and cheaper. Some how we found a steal of a deal. For just $10 more than the crack hotel we stayed on the first night! It was mediterean inspired. Greek statues and more grape vines and at least 30 olive trees. There was a beautiful courtyard that our room overlooked. We all unloaded our stuff and headed down there. I soaked in the hot tub then stepped into the steam room where I remained for most of the night.

Redwoods II

In the morning I woke up to my husband bringing me hot waffles from the breakfast room. I usualy eat quite healthy, but this morning I had butter just slathered on top of these bad boys. We continuted to pack and check out of the hotel. Then Aaron drove me around downtown area and it was a historical part of town.
Huge mansions that were built in the 1890's to early 1900's. They lined the streets and the bay was just across from this part of town. Even starbucks was in an old building, (which was next to "asian subs", an asian inspired subway with prime rib, and short ribs).
Then we drove to meet with Tiffany and Jon and we were on our way to see more Redwoods. We went through Ave of the Giants first. They seriously were not kidding about the name. It was a 31 mile scenic drive parrelle to hwy 101. Every tree we saw was in its full glory in hieght and grith. We hiked in the pouring rain to the biggest and tallest trees known to man.
Running back to the car, soaking wet it was just exhilarating.
We drove to "the shrine" drive through tree. No one seemed to be anywhere since the rain was coming down so hard. But non the less, we kept trekking on. And came across a gift shop in the middist of the beauty. We stopped and looked at the muesum, and the history of the forrest.
Then we drove somemore to see the world reknown "chandelier drive thru tree". It was so worth every mile to see this emaculate tree! I have never seen anything like it. We drove through and took pictures in and around it.
The time was geting late so we made our way to Hearldsburg CA.
From big trees just a few short hours away we encountered...sonoma wine counry ! Although it was dark we could see vast amounts of vinyards. I have never seen rows and rows and thousands upon thousands of grape vines. So neatly placed each row going as far back as the eye can see nesteled against the rolling hills in the disance, and sometimes on the hills and beyond.
We stopped for a bite in a local mexcian shop...and the carne asada looked so good all of had an order!
Finally we reached our hotel. And let me tell you Best Western Plus is hands down the best place to stay. Go purchase online (its 30%-50% off the walk-in price) and it was so goregous! It had an Italian feel to it. Huge columns and stone everywhere, and naturally since we were in wine country, grape vines and gazebos were everywhere among the lined wrought iron work.
I could not wait to see what was in store the next day.

The Amazing Hwy 101 and Incredible Redwoods

Wow I guess I can start with this morning. We woke up to the winds off the ocean in Newport. It was beautiful. Staying on Hwy 101, it was the first time Aaron and I have drove this far south together. The entire ocean as we drove down was continually spotted with huge rocks, some peering over the highway at 350 ft. They were so serene just sitting there in the water.
After 2 hours of driving through quaint, sleepy cities, and ocean turnouts, we came across one in particular that stood out. It was a tourist attraction to the largest sea lion caves in the world. At $12 per person, Tiffany, the kids, and I ventured down 200 ft below the ground into a cave. Meanwhile, the guys stayed up top waiting for us.
My sister remembered it, but could not find a memory of that place. I do have to say it was really loud from the barking of over 250 sea lions in an acoustic cave where any sounds is magnified. The water violently came in, crashing into rocks, and leading in more sea lions or taking them back out into the ocean. What a sound it was, and a sight to see. But the cave had an unusual smell. The fresh sea salt air intermixed with the dampness and dew of the cave over a linger of (what I thought) wet dog.
Junior was a little startled from the sounds. He thought they were fighting. So we trekked up a few flights of stairs and there was light. In front of us was the infamous hector light house of southern Oregon. It was a beauty. I remember making a model of it when I was a little girl. The red roof was of licorice, the bricks made of sugar cubes, and built atop paper mache we sculpted a lighthouse. It brought back good memories.
Soon it was time to go one last look through the binoculars and we were back on the road...next stop the redwoods.
After driving 4 hours we finally arrived to Jedidiah State Park, where we hiked a short nature trail (and I climbed a few Redwood trees). Then drove through Prairie Creek Redwoods after a few miles in we stopped at a sign that said "big tree", literally ran to it and looked at it and ran back into our cars.
You see, we were just trying to beat the sun before it went down and we still had one more park to explore.
But our hearts were a little disappointed when we saw no more trees but elk, and the entrance back to 101. We drove a little further and long be hold, off 101 was "lady bird Johnson grove". We couldn't believe it. We heard so much about this place. I was jumping in my seat! And it was a steep incline for 2.5 miles to the grove.  Finally making it to the park, we all grabbed flash lights (since it was getting dark) and headed out.
OK the special thing about this was it was named after some presidents wife. Anyways, another cool thing was it was like a self guided tour through the grove and every tree was a huge tree. We must of seen at least 10 tree with a diameter of more than 25ft! They were incredible. By the time we finished the 1 mile loop it was dark and we were hungry.
We stopped at "live from NY pizza"

and we all split a bbq chicken pizza and olive with artichoke pizza. Both were amazing. Then we proceeded to go to Costco and buy liqueur and fill up on gas. And the last destination ...falling asleep in a warm bed in a hotel right off the bay in Eureka.
...Good night world.

Tillamook Factory and Lincoln City

We started out this morning by packing up last minute items in the car. All set to go.
We dropped of my little teddy bear off at the boarding place. It was so sad. I felt like a mom leaving her child at daycare for the first time. He'll at a good place and be fine.
We were on the road again, meeting up with the Garcias and heading down I-5. I am so glad that I packed so many good health foods.
I packed boiled eggs, grape tomatoes, apples, baby bel cheese, vegan muffins, and a huge thing of water among other things.
I kept myself occupied by ready "Alice in Wonderland"  on my tablet.

Did you know that Tillamook not only has an amazing cheese, but they have a gorgeous state park that goes on for miles. Great rivers and huge trees. Well we just drove through there, but most certainly want to go hiking. We saw a few fisherman. It looks nice.
We stopped by Tillamook Cheese factory and bought a few local photographs for a wall at home. We then proceeded to eat amazing ice cream. I had "cake batter" and my husband had "strawberry" (both on waffle cones I might add).
Then we drove (about an hour) to Lincoln City, OR.

By the time we arrived, it was an hour before sunset . We drove around to find the perfect place to watch the sunset. We decided on "D" river state park. It was beautiful! Clear open skies, rippled lightly with colored clouds. I walked down to the beach and I couldn't help myself...I just started running. I ran until my shoes hit the wet sand. I grabbed my husband and just gave him a big hug. I looked up and kissed him, then as I laid my head on his chest we watched the sun as it was setting. Then the cold kicked in and he went to get some thing warmer on. I saw the Garcias pull up and so we took s few shots of the beach with them and head back to the car.
It was dinner time and we had the perfect place picked out. J's fish and chips. They were so good, they ran out of chowder and almost ran out of fish, so they closed right after the couple who came in as we ordered.
It was amazing!
Aaron and I both had fish tacos with curly fries. Seriously, I always thought that Anthonys had the best fish tacos, but apparently I was wrong. These were the best.
And the Garcias ate the family pack and it was soon time to head down to Eureka. to sleep the busy day away

Orange creamcile drink

2 oz whipped vodka
.5 oz triple sec
.5 oz orange syrup
1 pint vanilla ice cream

Blend in blender and enjoy some awesomeness!