Operation: “The World” is a Go

California here we come! I just love to say it. We arrived in San Francisco Wednesday afternoon and were greeted at the airport by Lindsay and Luke. We decided to drive straight into the city and get something to eat. A sour-dough bread bowl of clam chowder on the wharf seemed fitting….and it was! I never thought I would like clam chowder but it was mighty tasty.

We spent a few hours walking along the wharf and piers and then took a drive over the Golden Gate Bridge. It is one long bridge.

We found a little turn off after the bridge that led us up to a great view of the city and the bridge. We stayed for sunset and all took several night photos of the bridge.

The next day we decided to take a trip along the coast and Highway 1 and head into Napa Valley for an overnight stay. The coastline was gorgeous and really gave us a view of the fog that covers the city.

The roads were windy and reminded us of our drives in Europe. Luckily, no one felt sick this time. The drive took a little longer than expected and we arrived in Guerneville in the afternoon famished. We found a great little burger and sandwich shop to eat at and then we were off to find the Korbel Champagne factory.

We got there about 15 mins after the last tour but we were able to catch up with the group and experience the most important parts of the tour, such as, how it’s made and the tasting.

Cheers!

Our waitress from the burger shop told us where we could find a national forest full of redwoods so we quickly drove the few miles to get some tree hugging in before night fall.

We barely made it. We walked a short little path before we decided that it was just too dark and scary to continue farther in. Except for Brian, who ran in farther to make a quick video of how quiet and dark it was. It seriously is a black video of silence with Brian’s occasional whispers. I’m sure you are all dying to see it…I know I was. : )

We took the short drive in to Calistoga, the start of Napa Valley, to rest our heads for the night, but not before we joined the masses in getting mud baths and hot spring treatments. It was a first for us all and very interesting. I think some enjoyed it more than others. We had a light dinner and went to bed since we had a full day of tasting wine in the morning.

We grabbed a wine tour guide from our motel to help us along the way. The young girls there also recommended a great breakfast place. We filled our stomachs and set out to find our first winery. We missed the first winery on the list so we pulled over in a driveway to turn around and realized that we were looking up at a castle!

We couldn’t believe it. We drove up the long Tuscan-looking driveway to find ourselves staring at a winery housed in a European Castle. We signed up for a tour and tasting that started in an hour. In the meantime we headed back to another winery to get our taste buds ready. I could not believe how similar the landscape looked to Tuscany, Italy and the fall colors were just beautiful!

The Castello di Amorosa tour and tasting was definitely the highlight for us. The castle had been modeled after 12^th and 14^th century European castles. You can see where the look of the castle changes (the quality of stone) based upon the century.

Everything was done by “old world” ways and they tried to keep everything as authentic as possible. Most of the building supplies were brought over from Europe.

The castle grounds have over 16000 sq feet underground in cave systems that are complete with wine cellars, a dungeon, and a torture chamber.

The wine followed suit and was some of the best that we had. We all voted on joining the club in future years to come so we could join in on the parties that are thrown there each year. We visited several more wineries for tastings on our way home and stopped off for some Italian food before we got back to San Francisco.

Over the next few days Lindsay had to work so we took it easy at the apartment with Luke watching movies.

We then jumped the Cal Train to the city for a day of cable cars, listening to Christmas music, playing with the seals, and eating in China Town and Little Italy.

To end the Cali trip we took a scenic drive to Santa Cruz with Luke where we watched the surfers, visited the land bridges, and strolled through the streets.

I would recommend this trip to anyone that wants a taste of Europe for less without crossing big seas. I think Nancy (Brian’s Mom) was right on with San Francisco being one of the most European cities in America.

Overall, we had a great time and when Thanksgiving morning came around we were sad to say goodbye. We had such a great time at home and in California that it was tough to leave. The journey must go on. Off to the airport and the next 19 hours on a plane.