California Roadtrip

I spent the last ten days exploring the California coast with my good friend Hannah and we had the best. time. ever. Our first stop was Napa Valley, which made the rest of the trip hard to beat. We arrived early Monday afternoon and immediately headed to Oakville Grocery for a quick lunch before our first wine tasting reservation at Silver Oak. From there we headed to Girard for another casual tasting and then stopped by Restoration Hardware for a drink and to check out the cool decor. To continue the fun we explored the gardens near The French Laundry and then grabbed some late afternoon margaritas at my cousin's restaurant La Calenda. Our dinner plans changed based on our nonstop daytime activities, so we ended up just grabbing beers and pizza near Oxbo Market before calling it a night.

 

We were moving pretty slow the next morning but made it to Hall Winery just in time from our reservation. I absolutely loved the scenery and artwork at Hall, and our guide Chris was extremely accommodating and personable. Afterwards we grabbed a sandwich nearby at Dean and Deluca before hitting our next two stops at Joseph Phelps and Duckhorn, where we each purchased some wine! Joseph Phelps provides free shipping boxes that come in various sizes, which was extremely helpful since my cousin offered to ship it for us. Duckhorn even stored our bottles in their cellar until the end of our tasting. It definitely paid off to visit the wineries during weekdays to avoid the crowds and get some royal treatment. After a long day of wine tasting, we quickly regrouped before visiting my cousin at work for a cocktail and then dinner at Farmstead. I absolutely loved this restaurant and can't wait to come back!

 

The next morning we quickly gathered our things and headed to San Francisco! We stayed at Le Meridien and much to our surprise, they were able to check us in early. We dropped off our stuff and headed to lunch at Jane on Fillmore. This was the cutest little restaurant with so many vegetarian options that it took us until the last second to decide on our meal. Afterwards we walked to The Painted Ladies for some photo ops, but I honestly was not impressed. From there we headed to Lombard Street, Ghirardelli Square, Fisherman's Wharf, and Pier 39. Following our long day of sight seeing was unique cocktails at Trick Dog and dinner at Flour + Water. Oh my gosh the food was amazing and I highly recommend the Taleggio scarpinocc pasta. I definitely want to recreate the parmesan/balsamic pasta combo at home!

The next morning we headed back towards Lombard Street to pick up our bike rentals. After an initial struggle to find the Golden Gate Bridge bike paths, we felt very accomplished once we joined the crowds and made our way across the bridge to Sausalito. We treated ourselves with delicious cocktails and lunch at Bar Bocce, which was such a fun atmosphere and the perfect way to spend the Fourth. To save time we took the ferry back to town and returned our bikes before a delicious and indulgent dinner at Coqueta (where we may or may not have told the waiter it was my birthday...). We then called it a night by heading home and packing up for our next adventure.

The next day we arrived right on time to the rental car place, only to find out they did not have any cars. After a two hour wait of cars slowly being returned, we finally headed south on the PCH. Our first stop was in Carmel, where we explored the town and Hannah purchased some yummy cheeses. Then we took pictures along the coast until we reached Big Sur. We stopped at the highly recommended Nepenthe to grab a beer and check out the views. From there we continued our trek until we reached Los Angeles. Initially we had planned to spend a few nights in LA, but the news of the large earthquake had us spooked and we decided to cut that visit short. As a result, we booked one night at the Beverly Hills Marriott and left early the next morning for an earlier visit to San Diego. On our way we stopped in Laguna Beach for breakfast at the cutest coffee shop, BLKDot. I loved this town and would definitely go back to visit!

 

As we approached San Diego, our first stop was the Torrey Pines State Reserve for a quick hike. The views were beautiful and I could not get over the amazingly hot yet cool climate. Afterwards we stopped by the golf course for some souvenirs for family members and then checked in our room at The Lafayette Hotel. We grabbed a few drinks by the pool before grabbing a casual dinner at a local Mexican restaurant, Colima's, right down the road.

The next day we headed to the Ho Chi Minh Trail for another hike. While this trail was fairly flat, we felt quite adventurous as we encountered a wooden plank, tight walkways, and a rope to descend along the way. However, the views were amazing and it was fun checking out a local beach. After the hike we headed into the town of La Jolla for a quick lunch at The Cottage. This was such a cute spot in a great location to see more of the town. We refueled before our next adventure of the day- kayaking the sea caves of La Jolla. We purchased our kayaks and tour through Everyday California, which had super friendly and helpful staff. Much to our surprise we were told we would get super wet and advised to rent a wetsuit. However, the tour was super fascinating and easy to navigate, besides our attempt to surf the waves back into shore, which resulted in the kayak flipping. We treated ourselves once again with a beer and appetizers at Shore Rider down the street before calling it a night.

The next day was spent sleeping in before relaxing by the pool most of the afternoon. Afterwards we headed out early to our dinner reservation in La Jolla at George's at the Cove. We grabbed a drink at each level before making our way to dinner at the California Modern restaurant on the bottom. The views were spectacular and the food was delicious. We definitely indulged but continued the fun with drinks down the street at Hennessey's Tavern and karaoke at The Lamplighter with some random friends we made at the restaurant.

We had a slow start to our last day but eventually made it to Puesto for lunch near the marina before catching the ferry over to Coronado. We spent the rest of the afternoon at Hotel Del Coronado and then in typical California tourist fashion grabbed In and Out Burger before heading back to the hotel. We packed up our stuff and reminisced on our favorite memories from the trip with some Real Housewives in the background.

Until next time, California!