Back to Cali!
- Lauren
- Mar 13, 2016
- 6 min read
I've lived in Georgia a majority of my life but most of my childhood was growing up in California, outside of San Francisco. An hour and a half East of SF in a small town called Manteca, CA to be exact. I've been back to visit a couple times but recently took a trip with my husband and wanted to show him all the things I remembered as a kid, as well as some new fun things.
We went in October and our goals were to hit San Francisco, Yosemite National Park, and Napa Valley in 4 short days! Mission accomplished!
Day 1: We landed at SFO and took the BART to the Powell Street station and walked a few short blocks to our hotel, Hotel Nikko. We checked in and then walked to the closest CVS to get a tram pass so we could take the trolleys around the city.
We took the trolley to Pier 33 to get onboard the boat headed for Alcatraz Island! You can find tickets here!
We explored the island for a bit and did the walking tour with headphones!
Brandon even found a long lost cousin maybe? Darwin Coon- Bank robber!
After exploring where some of America's worst convicts spent a better part of their lives. We walked down to Pier 39 to visit the adorable Sea Lions! Pier 39 has plenty of restaurants and shops to visit and there were families everywhere being entertained by a variety of local acts!
FUN FACT: The Welcome Center, located on the 2nd floor, at Pier 39 will hold your luggage for $5 a piece until 7pm so if you can't check into your hotel, you can stop by there first.
Something I really wanted to do on our trip was to recreate a picture I had with my sister as young kids. My mother and father would take us to the same spot every year to take almost a progression picture and I knew I had to see the same spot and take a picture with my hubby!
Although the picture was more difficult to create than I had planned... doubling in size doesn't help... I loved getting to see that beautiful bridge again! I'd forgotten how windy it was and I'd definitely recommend wearing a jacket or scarf as the temps drop fairly quickly.
After our day so far of travels and sights we were pretty hungry so we continued across the bridge to Sausalito for some pizza! I highly recommend Aurora if you like Italian! (who doesn't?!) They even have an extensive gluten free menu!
Something we didn't get a chance to do on this trip was visit Lombard Street. I went recently for work and had been when I was younger. This is somewhere I'd recommend as a fun thing to see... the World's Crookedest Street!
The walk is very hilly so I would recommend flat and comfortable shoes.
Lombard Street was about a 15 minute walk from Pier 39.
Day 2 and we are off to Yosemite... but first, breakfast! We walked over to a little diner called Pinecrest diner! They had some great food and it was just what we needed to wake up and plan our adventures for the day! Just don't order poached eggs!!! ;)
After breakfast we walked over to National car rental and loaded up the car to head East to see my first hometown and then get our hike on!
We made a brief stop, just long enough to swing by the first house I remember as a kid!
It felt MUCH bigger when I was half my size! :)
After a nice jog down memory lane, we hit the road for another 3-4 hours to seek out Half Dome and Glacier Point in Yosemite Park.
We found a few trees along the way and let me just say, I forgot how breathtakingly beautiful and large they are!
Umm that is me down in the bottom left hand corner.... tinyyyy!
The average precipitation in Yosemite in October averages about 2 inches... I think we got 20 that morning! I was seriously so surprised and kind of bummed as I hadn't packed a rain jacket with a hood and I just had a flannel, leggings and a thin anorak. Off to the gift store it was to find a tiny umbrella so we could keep the camera from being destroyed.
The rain ended up slowing and we had plenty of time to explore. We did a couple mile loops around the park to get to see some waterfalls (that aren't normally there- thanks rain), El Capitan, half dome and some of the most beautiful trees I have ever seen.
Even though it rained this is one of my favorite pictures of our trip! We loved Yosemite and its natural beauty and can't wait to go back! Rain or Shine!
We ended our exploring sooner than we liked as we still had a good 4 hour drive to get to Napa before it was too late to check into our hotel for the evening and I had no plans to sleep in our rental car!
Some of the best views we got were on our way out and we even got to witness a gorgeous sunset driving through the windy and hilly roads on our way to Napa! We made a pit stop at In-N-Out Burger on our way as we hadn't eaten much since breakfast! Brandon gets hangry!
We checked in, fairly late, to the River Terrace Inn and grabbed some late night sushi downtown at Marimoto, which was wonderful but pricey!
Day 3 and we were up early again! Who needs sleep when there are sights to be seen?
We decided we wanted to do a sunrise hot air balloon ride and I highly recommend it! We went with Napa Valley Balloons, Inc. and they were wonderful to work with.
Remember the rain I mentioned? Well it had put a nasty fog throughout the entire valley so we had to drive 30 minutes or so outside of Napa to get better views and they were breathtaking.
The prep email says to wear layered clothing and a hat! Yes on the hat... the fire used to heat the balloon is very warm on your head, and the taller you are, the closer you are to those flames and they are warm!!
Our balloon landed and we went straight to the Chandon winery for brunch and mimosas! (my FAVE)
Our next stop was Robert Mondavi for a winery tour and tasting!
We love to pose with plants!
ALL the wine!
Drinking phenomenal wine really works up an appetite so we headed Farmstead at Long Meadow Ranch and it was divine! We sat outside since the weather was wonderful and everyone was very friendly... it definitely had a southern feel to it!
Our last winery for the day was Cakebread and we definitely saved the best for last! We loved it so much we joined their wine club and have bottles shipped to us every couple of months! It's like the gift that keeps on giving!! (for a hefty price)
At this point we were broke and hungry... again! So where did we go? In-N-Out Burger as our main goal was to become regulars! ;)
After this, Brandon fell asleep for a quick 'nap' that turned into a hibernation and before we know it, it was...
Day 4!
Anytime we travel, I always look for gluten free bakeries, restaurants, etc so I can feel like a normal person and I stumbled upon Oxbow Public Market through some research and it did not disappoint. Cate's Bake Shop inside was heavenly and I tried to order one of everything but Brandon suggested I just try one piece of coffee cake and one danish so I didn't get sick. What does he know?
Brandon also found a legit coffee shop that he couldn't get enough of, and I'd never heard of.... Ritual. He ordered a pour over and even got a mug he was so excited! The man loves coffee.
Our last stop and attempt to burn off all the baked goodies landed us in Muir Woods!
They have a great loop through the woods where you can see some gorgeous and very large trees! We couldn't get enough after Yosemite so we spent some time looking through the trees!
And we also headed over to Muir Beach so Brandon could dip his toes in the Pacific Ocean for the first time!
After this, we reluctantly headed back to our car, drove to SFO and flew back to Atlanta to catch up on some sleep and plan our next adventure!
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