California Parts 3 and 4: Wine Country and Half Moon Bay

After the round at Pebble, we had to head out to Glen Ellen to check into our hotel, The Gaige House, about three hours away. We drove in the dark and as we drove through Glen Ellen it was even darker and kind of creepy. We got to the hotel at about 10:30ish and there was no one at the front desk. We had to figure out this hardcore secure mailbox and find our way in pitch black darkness for our room, which was so cute and cozy. The next two days: wine tasting and exploring Napa and Sonoma!  

The first day we drove a big loop up to Healdsburg back down to Sonoma, exploring the beauty of the wine country and stopping at wineries along the way. Although we didn't find any wines we loved, the experience was still awesome. The landscape was beautiful and the number of wineries was overwhelming! We learned about wine and growing grapes and skins and stressed out grape vines and hills and flat land and climates for wine grape growing. I still don't really know which wines go with certain foods best and I don't know how to pick up all the aromas and aftertastes and all that complicated stuff. I still love wine though! The two days of wine country exploration gave J and I the much needed rest and relaxation we needed. We hung out at our hotel and watched some old movies and ate at Saddles in Napa, which was probably the best meal we had while in California. The best part: a salad, the main course and a scoop of ice cream was just $24.99. HECK YES for the weekday special! J got a delicious steak, which he'd been craving all week. 

 
The second day of wine tasting began with a morning of J hitting golf balls (he can't help himself) in Yountville. Then we headed out for another adventure. We wanted to see some redwoods (but the Redwood National Park was toooooo far away) so we went to Guerneville Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserves. The trees were ginormous, and that's an understatement. We explored around, taking lots of pictures of the huge and beautiful trees. When we left the park, it was getting a bit late so we decided to go to Korbel and try some bubbly. This was actually the only place we bought some booze, and it was delish! We are looking forward to getting our shipment in the mail! We were only able to hit up one more winery before all of the tasting rooms shut down for the night. We headed back to Glen Ellen and ate dinner at the Glenn Ellen Inn Oyster and Martini Bar, where we had neither oysters nor martinis. We enjoyed an all American burger and fries and a glass of wine, just to keep it classy. We met some locals who seemed very happy to know that we weren't married but actually enjoying each other's company (for some reason some older married men have this weird thing where they think married couples can't be happy). When we got back to the hotel, we decided to take advantage of their jacuzzi and sat in boiling hot magma I mean water until we got too hot then jumped in the pretty cold pool. It was a great night, and we enjoyed our time very much in wine country.

On Saturday, which was our second to last day in California (boo) we made our way to Stanford to have some lunch and see the University. (FEAR THE TREE FOR IT IS SOOOO SCARY) J was patient with me and didn't kill me when I got impatient and hangry and was even nice and let me pick where to eat next. We went to Pizza my Heart in downtown Stanford which was ok. We walked around downtown, which is the nicest, cleanest downtown I have ever seen for a university town, then headed to the University. My domestic partner got to visit the only other college in the USA he would have attended, and it was really a lovely and large campus. Oh, also, I learned that Tiger Woods went there for some time, which I guess is another reason that J liked it so much...bless his golf-loving heart! When we were done exploring the campus, we decided where to go to next. The entire trip until that moment, we didn't know where we'd be spending our last night in California, which was kind of cool! We decided on Half Moon Bay, and OH BOY we were not disappointed!

Half Moon Bay is this super cute and beautiful at the same time little town on the beach. We stayed

the night at the Zaballa House, which was this cute bed and bath. (our bathroom didn't have a shower in it; instead a double soaker with a shower attachment on it that you had to sit in to use and I could NOT figure out the water temperature for the life of me, so I took a half shower that involved washing the most necessary body parts and shaving my legs in boiling hot magma) I had never stayed in a b&b before, and I love love love experiencing new things with my man. Well, it was new for me. He's traveled all over the world and done everything. Anyway I'm getting off track. We explored the town a little bit and I loved how into Halloween the whole town was. We ate at San Benito House and while we were there I talked about how bad I wanted to watch the sunset over the water. I looked up images of sunsets in Half Moon Bay, and The Ritz Carlton came up. J was like I KNOW THAT PLACE! and we scarfed down the rest of our food to make the sunset in time. It. Was. Stunning. J was able to get The Money Shot by balancing our camera on a fence and setting the ten second timer then sprinting to me out on a cliff. I must say the sunset will be forever etched in my memory. The night was young and we headed back to the bar at San Benito House before going back to the hotel to sleep our last night in California.

Morning came and after breakfast, we went back to the beach so I could take a momento back home. I found a big sea shell. It was time to head back to San Francisco. On our way there, we stopped at Mavericks Surf Shop and at a Fresh and Easy to get supplies for the last thing I wanted to do before going to the airport. It is the same thing that any 90's kid would do: have a picnic right where the Tanner Family did in Alamo Square, right across from their house!! It was the absolute perfect way to end the vacation, and J is the absolute best for fulfilling this wish of mine. And, with that, after that picnic it was time to come back home. We headed to SFO, turned in our gangster Chevy Impala, and waited for Flight 601 to Phoenix.

I had a wonderful time. The vacation couldn't have come at a better time, and it was a marvelous 10 days. There aren't enough words to describe just how awesome it was, but I am so glad that I got to experience (once again) the beauty and fun that was offered with my J.