We returned from our side trip to TX to continue our West Coast road trip. We spent three weeks in CA - enjoying the various wine areas and seeing friends.
Sonoma Area
We originally planned on staying here for a full week in Sebastopol but our side trip to TX cut this short. We got a last minute AirBnB in Cotati, a small town just south of Santa Rosa. Because it was last minute, our 'affordable' options were limited but we did enjoy the place where we stayed. It was a new, very clean one bedroom with a large living room / kitchen area, a nice sized back patio (which we never used) and a comfortable king sized bed! Only downside is that the neighborhood was not that special or nice but it was quiet.
While here, we did the following:
Merry Edwards Wine Tasting - This winery has one of our favorite sauvignon blancs and since Keith had never tasted here, we decided to give it a try. Shawna had been here once before with Rakesh and Simran but Keith had a work call so he never got to go inside. We sat outside on the patio and enjoyed their premium tasting - we had a sparkling wine, chardonnay, several pinots and ended with their sauvignon blanc - we bought a few bottles to take with us.
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| Wine tasting at Merry Edwards |
Dinner with Claire and Cheryl - We met them at Wild Goat Bistro in Petaluma. We sat outside and shared a salad and pork tenderloin. Food was tasty. Shawna had not yet met Cheryl so was nice to meet her and spend time with them both.
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| Dinner with Claire and Cheryl at Wild Goat Bistro |
Hiked Taylor Mountain - This trail was about 15 minutes from our AirBnB. We did the hike in two hours totaling 6 miles, and 1.3K elevation gain. The trail was good - mostly exposed so would not want to do it in very hot weather.
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| Hike on Taylor Mountain |
Wine Tasting and Dinner with Randee and Brian - They live in Sacramento so decided to meet them half way in Napa Valley. We first went to Bremer Family Winery - a small winery on Howell Mountain that they had been to before. We sat outside and enjoyed several tastings of rose, chardonnay, claret and cabs. We also got a tour of the wine caves which were pretty expansive. The place is nice and low key. We got a couple of bottles to take with us plus a rose for us to enjoy at dinner. For dinner, we went to Farmstead and Long Meadow Ranch in St Helena. The place was great - nice decor and really good food. We shared some biscuits and shishito peppers for the table and then the two of us shared a salad and pork chop with brussel sprouts - every thing was tasty. After we finished the rose that we had bought, we had a bottle of red that they brought from one of their favorite wineries.
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| Wine Tasting with Randee and Brian at Bremer Family Vineyards |
Paso Robles
On our way to Paso, we stopped in Los Altos to have lunch at Bluestone Lane with Fran (Shawna's roommate at Fuqua) and her husband Dave. We had not seen Fran in a very long time so was great to catch up. We each had a salad which was pretty good.
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| Lunch with Fran and Dave at Bluestone Lane |
We stayed in Paso for four nights in a one bedroom AirBnB. The place was a good size, was fairly modern and had a backyard that is shared with the other unit (which we never used). It was showing signs of 'wear' and there were a few items in the unit that were broken. That said, it was comfortable. The town of Paso was not as cute as Shawna had remembered.
While here we did the following:
Afternoon with Ria - We drove down to San Luis Obispo where Ria is attending Cal Poly. The town itself is very cute and the campus is quite nice, nestled in the mountains. We took her to lunch at Novo where we sat outside and had a mezzo platter and lamb rogan josh - both tasty. We then took her to Trader Joe's so she could stock up on some food and then got a tour of campus, seeing her dorm, our friend Ralph's old dorm, the student center and many of the classroom buildings. We walked up the canyon to see the architecture graveyard which are remnants of items built by the architecture students.
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| Afternoon with Ria at Cal Poly |
Wine Tasting - We did an afternoon of wine tasting, stopping at four places. First stop was Adelaida - Shawna had been here once before and had remembered she liked the whites. We sat on the porch and tasted several of the wines. We had intended on getting a light lunch here but they didn't have their food delivery that day. So we squeezed in the next stop, Halter Ranch, where we got a charcuterie board and brussel sprouts as well as a glass of wine. The tasting room was very nice. The third stop was at Brecon Estate, another place Shawna had been to before and is where she bought a piece of artwork in the prior visit. We sat outside on the patio and did the tasting. Our last stop was Booker, a modern tasting room where we shared a tasting. Overall, the wines were pretty good but nothing really stood out so we did not buy anything. That said, it was still a nice day.
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| Wine Tasting at Adelaida |
Dinner - After a day of wine tasting, we decided to have dinner in town at Hatch. They are known for their fried chicken so we had to give it a try - it was delicious. We also got a yummy salad and pork belly appetizer to start!
Santa Barbara
On our drive down to Santa Barbara, we decided to hit two wineries in the wine valley north of town. We first went to Presqu'ile which we had been to once before. It is definitely one of our favorites in the area. They have a beautiful tasting room, some really good wine and food options to order. We sat right in front of the fireplace. We did the tasting with a few extras and also had lunch - sharing a great salad and a cheese plate. We bought seven bottles (Shawna fell prey to their marketing ploy of buy more / save more) - we got some sparkling, rose, chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. This is definitely a place we would come back to! We then stopped at Roblar, which has a more traditional tasting room with a nice patio - we were not as much of a fan of their wines so we did not get anything.
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| Wine Tasting at Presqu'ile |
We then got to our hotel, Hotel Virginia (a Hilton Property) where we stayed for three nights. It's a nice hotel with small but nicely decorated rooms. It is here that we met up with some of Keith's former LivCor colleagues and their significant others for the weekend: Julio / Meghan, Jeff / Christina and Brian / Kyle.
While here we did the following:
Hike - We wanted to do a long hike so hiked up Montecito Peak, which is a 7 mile, 2.5K elevation gain hike that took us 4 hours. It was a great trail with nice views! We did this hike just the two of us.
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| Montecito Peak Hike |
Drinks / Dinner with Livcor Gang - We first met up with the gang at Test Pilot for drinks - it's a tikki bar. We sat outside and had a few rounds before heading over to dinner. We then had dinner at Santo - a great Mexican place. We shared a yummy pork dish but also got a few appetizers for the table. After dinner, we stopped at Wildcat Lounge (someone had recommended this place to Kyle) - turns out it was a dance club and we definitely were the oldest in the crowd. We danced a bit and got a bunch of laughs!
Wine Tasting and Dinner with Livcor Gang - Brian had booked us three different tastings, all in town and walking distance from each other. We first stopped at Margerum - we liked most of their wines and we grabbed some nibbles for lunch. Our second stop was Au Bon Climat - also really liked most of their wines - the host was pretty funny as well. And our last stop was Longoria - we didn't care for their wine as much. We had dinner at Sama Sama - a great Asian restaurant. We got a bunch of dishes to share - everything was yummy.
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| Wine tasting with Livcor Gang |
Lunch with Nikki and Chris - We met up with Nikki (Fuqua Alum) and her husband Chris for lunch at the Boat House - it was a beautiful day so we sat outside while we waited for our table and caught up. We shared a few salads which were great.
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| Lunch with Nikki and Chris at the Boat House |
Thousand Oaks
We spent one night at Danelle and Dan's house in Thousand Oaks. We arrived around 4:30 pm and sat outside enjoying some cocktails while catching up. They made a yummy dinner of steak and potatoes which we had with some wine. We also got to see their kids which we had not seen in a while. The next morning, we had coffee and a croissant with them and then headed out.
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| Dinner with Danelle and Dan at their house |
Los Angeles / Venice Beach
We stayed for three nights in a AirBnB on the canals in Venice Beach. The place was small but cute and very convenient to walking around the area. We had a separate bedroom with a small kitchen / living room area.
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| Our AirBnB on Venice Canals |
While here we did the following:
Lunch with Terry - We met up with Terry, a childhood friend of Keith's at the Tipsy Cow and had salads.
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| Lunch with Terry at Tipsy Cow |
Dinner with Michelle - We went to dinner at Felix Trattoria with Michelle (Alicia's sister). The place was great - very cute and yummy food. We shared several dishes for the table.
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| Dinner with Michelle at Felix Trattoria |
Dinner with Ryan and Miranda - We met up with Ryan, a former colleague of Keith's and Miranda at Gjelina, one of our favorites restaurants in Venice Beach. We had shared several dishes for the table - all very good.
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| Dinner with Ryan and Miranda at Gjelina |
Walked / ran along the canals and the boardwalk - the canals are very cute. We also sat on the beach one evening and watched the sunset - very peaceful.
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| Walking the canals |
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| Watching the sunset |
Dinner at Sushi Enya - We had a date night and had some of the best sushi we have ever had. This place was within walking distance of our AirBnB.
Dana Point
On our drive down to San Diego, we spent the day near Dana Point at the Waldorf Astoria. We decided to treat ourselves to the spa there. So we worked out in their gym, had lunch at Aveo with views of the property from the balcony, sat at the spa pool and had very relaxing massages.
We then had dinner at Salt Creek Grill with Rick, a former colleague of Keith's and his wife Corey. We shared a salad and fish dish - both tasty. After dinner, we drove to San Diego.
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| Dinner at Salt Creek Grill with Rick and Corey |
San Diego
We spent three nights in San Diego with John and JoAnna who joined us for the weekend. We stayed at the Hotel Indigo in the Gaslamp District, using Shawna's points. The hotel room was quite large and was really nice. While here we did the following:
After John and Jo arrived at the hotel on Thursday night (after 11pm), we had drinks at Neighborhood, a swanky cocktail bar that was two blocks from our hotel.
On Friday, we had lunch at The Kebab Shop - tasty greek wraps and bowls - and then went on a long walk up to Balboa Park and then down to the waterfront. We stopped along the waterfront to have a few drinks at TopSail - a nice bar at Portside Pier with outside seating with views of the water. We then went back to the hotel to freshen up, first stopping at the rooftop bar, Borrego, at our hotel for another beer.
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| Drinks at TopSail with John and JoAnna |
That evening, we had a yummy Italian dinner at Roman Wolves in Little Italy. We shared several dishes for the table - the best of which was the pasta in the parmesan cheese bowl and the cacio e peppe pasta. After dinner, we met up with Patrick, Lauren, Nejla (Patrick's sister) and Gerry (her boyfriend) for drinks at Ballast Point Brewing. JoAnna's nephew, Paul, who is stationed in the Navy in San Diego also joined us. We wrapped up the night with more drinks at Kettner Exchange.
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| Drinks with Patrick, Lauren, John, JoAnna, Nejla, Gerry and Paul |
On Saturday, we drove out to Mission Beach as JoAnna wanted to see a bar that is owned by her friend's brother - we popped into The Beachcomber and had a few beers while chatting with a few of the other patrons there - it was quite funny. We walked along the beach for a short while and then grabbed lunch at The Draft House - the food was not the best.
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| Lunch at the Draft House |
Back at the hotel, we showered and then grabbed one drink at the brewery next door, Half Door Brewing. JoAnna's nephew and his girlfriend met us and then he drove our car to give us a tour of the Naval base, seeing the many ships in dry and wet dock. We then went to Coronado Island and went to the beach on the Naval base there and watched the sunset. Here we drove past three aircraft carriers: Nimitz, Theodore Roosevelt, and Carl Vinson. We went over to the Hotel del Coronado, the grand hotel on the island, walked around a bit and had a drink at the hotel bar. It's a simply stunning property. We drove back to our hotel to drop off our car and then walked to dinner, having Greek food at Mezze Greek Fusion - we shared a bunch of dishes for the table - food was pretty good but ambience was on the cheesy side with belly dancing at the tables. We capped off the evening with one more drink at the rooftop bar of our hotel.
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| The gang on the beach watching sunset |
We were supposed to stay another few nights at Patrick's house and then make our way to Phoenix and then NM but our trip was cut short. We found out a week prior that Keith has very early stage prostate cancer so we had to get back to TX to meet with doctors and start treatments. So on Sunday, we drove back to TX over two days - stopping for an overnight in El Paso. In total for the West Coast trip, we drove close to 6K miles!
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