For Hannelore's (Shawna's mom) 70th birthday gift, Shawna treated her mom to a 5-day, girls only weekend in Carmel, one of Honey's (this is her nickname) favorite places in the US. Honey lived there many moons ago (before Shawna was born) when her first husband was stationed in the Amy at Ford Ord in Seaside. We had an amazing time, touring both Carmel and Monterey and the surrounding area. While the temperature was a little cool, we didn't let that stop us - we stayed busy the entire time.
Accommodation:
Front Entrance of Hyatt Carmel
Keith was quite generous and let us use his hotel points to stay at the Hyatt Carmel Highlands which is a beautiful, rustic hotel about 5 miles south of Carmel overlooking the ocean. The hotel grounds were full of colorful flowers and our room was on the top floor near the pool with an ocean view. It was so relaxing to wake up in the morning and hear the sound of the waves and birds and to look out onto the ocean as we got ready to seize the day!
Activities:
On Friday, we both flew out of our respective cities and met up on the connecting flight in Dallas to San Francisco. We had first class seats on the flight from Dallas so we enjoyed a nice lunch, warm nuts and good conversation. From San Francisco, we drove to Carmel. Our flight was delayed arriving in San Francisco and the traffic was quite heavy which left no time to tour on Friday so we checked into our hotel and headed out for dinner.
Hearst Castle
On Saturday, we drove about 90 miles to Hearst Castle and did about a 2 hour tour of the grounds, pool, guest cottages and the main house. The tour is very interesting and well organized, providing a good overview of the castle. The gardens and pool are quite beautiful. We grabbed a late lunch at the castle and then took our time driving home along scenic Highway 1, stopping periodically to take pictures of the stunning coastline. One of our stops was to see a colony of elephant sea lions - not the most attractive animals! In the evening, we had a lovely dinner in the hotel with great views of the sunset over the water.
Carmel Mission
On Sunday, we visited the Carmel Mission which contains an old Spanish style church along with beautiful courtyards and a few museums. We took our time walking around the grounds and as we left, we heard the choir singing during Mass. We grabbed a quick lunch at a Swiss style decorated restaurant (Little Swiss Cafe) where we had a sandwich and salad - surprisingly the menu was mostly American food. We spent the rest of the day walking around Carmel, stopping in many of the shops along and around Ocean Avenue. Many of the shops are quite pricey so we mostly browsed and did not buy much. We walked down to the beach at the end of Ocean Avenue and put our hands in the water - it was very cold! The flowers were amazing every where you looked in town - with full blooms in every color imaginable.
Seahorse at the Aquarium
On Monday, we drove to Monterey and walked around the shops in Cannery Row - the shops were mostly touristy, souvenir type places so we did not spend a lot of time in them. We then went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium where we saw cute and playful sea otters, amazingly colorful seahorses and jelly fish, flamingos and fish of all kind. It is definitely a worthwhile aquarium to visit. For lunch, we ate at one of the seafood restaurants (The Fish Hopper) along the wharf where the clam chowder was very good. We sat outside and watched a few dolphins and sea otters playing in the ocean. After lunch, we quickly drove down the main street of the town of Pacific Grove and then drove along the incredibly scenic 17-mile Drive. The houses in this private community are probably the largest and most beautiful we had every seen. We stopped along the way taking pictures at a few of the scenic overlooks. Sadly, we had to drive back to San Francisco where we stayed at a Hyatt hotel close to the airport as our flights the following morning were early. Once at the hotel, we had a light dinner and retreated to bed.
Restaurants:
While I cannot recall everything we ate at each of these restaurants, I highly recommend them all - the meals were amazing!
Christopher's
Located in Carmel, the food was very good and the environment warm and casual. For a starter, we shared the Roasted Butternut Squash Ravioli which was quite rich and tasty. For dinner, we shared the special which was a crab stuffed fish served with a light, lemony cream sauce. Yum!
Pacific's Edge
This restaurant is located in the hotel where we stayed, the Hyatt Carmel Highlands. It has large windows with great views of the ocean, allowing for amazing sunset watching. We shared the Mission Fig Tart for an appetizer and California White Sea Bass for dinner with a side of Parmesan Potato Gratin. Nothing was left on our plates! For dessert, we had the Warm Valrhona Chocolate Tart with Lemon Verbena Ice Cream - we were fighting for the last bite and tried to convince the waiter that they forgot the ice cream (it didn't work).
Cantinetta Luca
Located in Carmel, the restaurant serves Italian food in a casual setting. We skipped a starter and each ordered a pasta which we then shared - we had the Pappardelle alla Bolognese and the Red Wine Tagliatelle with Lamb and Fava Beans -- both were quite tasty!
Shawna had a work conference in San Francisco, so we used that as an excuse to head to Napa Valley for a weekend. Keith flew out on the Thursday night, meeting Shawna at her hotel super-late.
Accommodation:
We stayed at the Marriott in Napa - we had stayed here once before when we met Charlie and Melissa a couple of years earlier. It's a convenient location to the wineries in Napa and a nice hotel with a large gym, spa and outdoor seating area.
Activities:
We drove out to Napa on Friday after Shawna's conference was finished. Despite traffic we made it to the hotel in 1.5 hours - not bad for a weekend rush.
Darioush Winery
Trefethen Winery
On Saturday, Shawna was adamant that we visit some vineyards before lunch, so we hit Trefethen, Darioush, and Signorello. Both Trefethen and Darioush are worth visiting - Trefethen for it's wine and Darioush for it's interesting tasting room. We shared tastings so that Keith could actually drive the rest of the day.
For lunch, we met Rakesh, Simran, and Ria at Bistro Don Giovanni where we had a wonderful Italian meal. Rak showed up with a bottle of wine to kick us off and we ordered one more over lunch. Lunch took 3 hours, with 5 year old Ria being extremely well behaved! After lunch, we all headed over to the outside deck at Robert Sinskey, where we had more wine tastings. It then seemed like a really good idea to head over to The Carneros Inn to have even more wine. Rak and Sim had previously stayed there so we acted like customers and went to the back pool area. Unfortunately, the waiter figured out that we did not belong and kicked us out - the game was up! So, we went to the outside bar at the front of the hotel and had another couple of bottles of wine and a few appetizers. Ria started doing cartwheels on the lawn and Keith decided that she was terrible - it was time for lessons. Keith's first 5 cartwheels were perfect. However, number 6 resulted in a pulled hamstring - argh! Keith and Shawna retired back to the Marriott while Simran convinced Rak to stay and watch Under the Tuscan Sun which was playing on the outdoor screen at the hotel before they headed back to their home in San Francisco.
Domaine Carneros Winery
On Sunday, we were supposed to rent bikes, but the pulled hamstring from the night before put Keith out of commission. So instead, we headed to Yountville, one of the cutesiest towns in CA, to walk around (or hobble in Keith's case). We saw the French Laundry where we have tried to get in the last 6 visits to Napa to no avail - maybe some day! We dropped by Bouchon Bakery and bought some treats - wow that was good! We had a glass of wine at Domaine Carneros, a beautiful winery overlooking the valley which specializes in sparkling wines. We then drove back to San Francisco to Rak and Simran's house, where Sim's parents were visiting. The four of us (sans Ria) headed out to Volcano Curry for a late lunch - holy smoke that was hot - Keith was seriously sweating. We returned to Rak and Sim's house and sat on their front porch, drinking more wine and visiting with friends of theirs who were moving the following day. Keith had to head to the airport and Shawna stayed behind to have a yummy home cooked Indian dinner made by Simran's mother. Stuffed and ready to detox, Shawna went to the airport later that evening to catch the red-eye flight back home.
Bardessono is a boutique, eco hotel and restaurant in Yountville with a modern decor. On Friday, we ate outside and had a wonderful meal and evening. We tried the Kongsgaard Chardonnay which is now one of our favorite white wines. Definitely worth going to!
For our birthdays (which are 2 days apart), we have a tradition to drive somewhere for the weekend rather than buy one another gifts. This year we chose Charlottesville - we had been there for a basketball game with the Raleigh gang a few years ago and Keith had been there in '85 for the National Scout Jamboree, but we had not been there just the two of us.
Accommodation:
We stayed at the Boars Head Inn, which is a lot larger than the name suggests. It is more of a resort with a massive tennis and fitness center as well as a conference center. The place looks nice, though the rooms could use a bit of an upgrade - the interior design seems circa '80s at best.
Activities:
This was a weekend for the convertible - though it was HOT! We drove up topless on the Thursday night with the thermometer hitting 100 degrees - but we persevered and made it the whole drive without giving up on the suntan.
On Friday, in order to get a bit of culture, we first hit Monticello, Jefferson's house. We walked around the grounds, with the gardens and views being quite impressive. We then had the 30 minute tour of the house before heading out for a more fun activity: drinking wine! We hit four vineyards in the area: Blenheim, First Colony, Veritas, and King.
On Saturday, we hiked Old Rag Mountain in Shenandoah National Park. It is an 8 mile circuit hike that is quite grueling as it requires some strenuous rock scrambling and squeezing between tight spaces in the rocks. It has spectacular panoramic views and is one of the most popular hikes in the Park (therefore very little solitude).
On Sunday, we relaxed in the morning at the hotel and took our time driving topless back home, soaking in some more of the HOT sun!
Restaurants:
Zocalo
Zocalo is located in downtown Charlotte on the pedestrian mall. It is a casual restaurant serving Mexican food. We were not terribly impressed with the meal and would likely not go back.
Old Mill Room at Boars Head
The Old Mill Room is a nice restaurant at the Boars Head Inn. The decor is warm, country style with large wooden beams throughout. For starters, we had the Heirloom Tomato Terrine and the Crab and Corn Chowder - both very tasty. We do not recall what we have for an entree but remember that is was quite tasty. Definitely worth going to!
Fossett's at Keswick Hall
Fossett's is a very nice restaurant at Keswick Hall, a resort hotel located north of the city. We started with a drink on the balcony, overlooking the grounds of the resort. For dinner, we had the tasting menu which was amazing! At the end of dinner, we found out that Graham, Keith's brother, had paid for our dinner for our birthday gift - we were quite surprised and elated!
