March 4: We celebrated our 10 years together at Michael Mina's flagship restaurant in Union Square. I have heard great things about this place and really wanted to try it out. We started our 3 course meal with Lobster Corn Dogs and Black Truffle Popcorn. The second course was Lobster Pot Pie and Brandt Farm Prime Beef 'Bourguignon'. For the final course, we had the Rootbeer Float and Chocolate Caramel Mousse. It was all so WONDERFUL!
March 5: We headed out to Alcatraz for the day. We also ventures to Union Square for some shopping and Fisherman Wharf for some seafood!! We also stopped off at Buena Vista, the first pub to create the Irish Coffee. Ron and I both prefer the Bailey's and Hot Chocolate over the Irish Coffee, but the atmosphere is amazing and it is a must do in San Francisco.
March 6: We went to the Golden Gate Bridge, Lombard St., Golden Gate Park and Haight Ashbury.
As many of you already know, I have been working on tasting all the Hamburgers on the GQ Best Burgers in America list. Burger Joint is number 16 on this list and it is located in San Francisco. We both ordered the Hamburger and Fries. It was not the best burger and I did question why it was on the list...I have had better at In& Out! However, everything was fresh and made to order...(However, In&Out is also fresh and made to order)...So, I wouldn't go out of my way for this place.
Alcatraz
Buena Vista Pub
Burger Joint
Lobster Pot Pie
Rootbeer Float with Warm Chocolate Chip Cookies.March 7: We left the big city and headed North into the Redwoods forest. It is about a 250 mile trip from San Francisco to Humbolt State Park - Avenue of the Giants. While visiting the Giant Redwoods, I drove our little CRV through a redwood tree!! It was cool, but Ron said I was a little to close on the passenger side...lol.
After visiting the Avenue of the Giants, we headed further North to a small town called Ferndale, CA. I made reservations for a B&B up there called Victoria Inn. I had no real clue about the area before we booked the hotel, but it turns out this small town is famous for a few reasons: (1) It is the place Jim Carey filmed his movie The Majestic and (2) They have the oldest pharmacy in CA. Other than that, you are not missing much in this small town. The place was wonderful and the only restaurant that was open was good...lol.
Victorian InnMarch 8 and 9: We left Ferndale, CA and headed South for Napa, CA. We had big plans in Napa; Wine tasting, cute little B&B, Jelly Belly Factory and Hot Air Balloon ride. Well, Hot Air Balloon ride was cancelled because of winds, but everything else was a go!.
B&B: Pink Mansion....It was WONDERFUL! Our first night, we were the only ones in the house. It was so peaceful and quite. I sat by the pool drinking sparkling wine and reading my book and just enjoying the atmosphere. Every night @ 5:30-6:30 they serve wine & cheese...It was so yummy! Every morning @ 9AM they feed you a gourmet breakfast. First morning, we had baked pears, blueberry scones and egg souffle. Second morning we had baked apples, croissants and hash brown casserole. It was all yummy!
We did two wine tastings while we were there; Mumm and Chandon. Both are sparkling wine vineyards. At Mumm they had sparkling red wines...they were good and different, so that is what we brought home!
Jelly Belly Factory Tour...Well, we were both glad it was free...lol. Not something we would recommend to adults, but if you have kids in the area...maybe. The big thing at Jelly Belly is that you can buy Belly Flops...Jelly Belly's that don't make the final product. Way cheaper than the perfect Jelly Belly's, but just a good.
One of the Best Burgers in American lives in Napa. Number 11 on the GQ list, Grilled Bistro Burger @ Bistro Don Giovanni. This burger was AMAZING!! The burger was by far one of the best burgers I have ever had in my life. They had pickled veggies and placed them on top of the burger. Normally the burger is served with Onion Rings, so Ron and I decided he would get Onion Rings and I would get fried so we could try them both! I would recommend this to EVERYONE! Just a friendly note they do not have this burger listed on the menu and do not serve it on Friday or Saturday nights.
Red Sparkling Win @ Mumm Winery
Grilled Bistro Burger
Pink Mansion
March 10: We left Napa and continued South to Monterey and Big Sur...We are closing in on the end of the trip! On our way to Monterey, we decided at the last minute to stop at the San Francisco Creamery...which is really in Silicone Valley - outside of the city San Francisco. Adam Richmond from Man vs. Food went here and ate the entire kitchen sink by himself. Ron and I knew we couldn't eat that together and went ahead and got smaller sundae's. We still didn't eat them...lol. It was great and I would recommend to anyone in the area. The ice cream is home made and so thick and wonderful. There food looked pretty good too.
Once we got into Monterey we went to Fish Hopper for lunch. It is located on Monterey Bay famous Cannery Row, right next to the Aquarium. Ron had crap and shrimp for lunch and I had their award winning clam chowder. During lunch, a bird decided to land on our table and try to steal some butter. He got the butter, but hit the glass on the way out, go stuck and dropped the butter! The waiter had to help the big bird out! The bird was making all kinds of noise and his friends came from all around...it was like that movie, The Birds! It was crazy! The rest of lunch...she just sat on the ledge looking at the butter on the ground. I wanted to kick it to him, but Ron said no!
After our fun lunch, we went into Monterey Bay Aquarium to look at the fish! It was smaller than I thought, but just as fun!
We drove South to Treebones Resort to spend the night in a Yurt. This was by far our favorite place to stay! It is an Eco-Friendly resort...they make their own power, veggies, fruits, etc...There are 16 Yurts you can stay in...We stayed in Yurk 5. In the future, I might want to stay in Yurk 16. It is the most private Yurt of them all. The most amazing thing about this resort was the stars....you could see them for miles! We highly recommend this resort to anyone!! Also, the restaurant on property is amazing.
Monterey Bay Aquarium
Yurt #5March 11: Last day of the trip!! We headed South to Hearst Castle for Tour #1. You will not believe how big this place is until you are actually there. Took them 15 years to build and it is still not complete. The entire property is still decorated as it was when it was built between 1919-1940's something. I can't wait to go back and do other tours of the property!
Okay, so in CA they have these commerical's called, California Happy Cows....You can catch them on YouTube if you like outside CA. Anyway, the whole trip I was telling Ron, "Look CA Happy Cows!" At Hearst Castle, they not only had CA Happy Cows, but CA Happy Zebra's!! These Zebra's are descents of the original Zebra's purchased by Mr. Hearst in the 1940's.
Main House of Hearst Castle
CA Happy Cows and Happy Zebra's.