Honeymoon San Francisco: Part 4

Last one! And this part's my favorite too.

The second to last day of our trip we drove out to Napa Valley and Sonoma. These two towns have a little rivalry over their wines, but from what I understand, they aren't all that similar.

We decided just to drive through Napa Valley in the morning. We found a driving tour route to follow online--try this one if you go. You pretty much get a good idea of Napa just by driving up and down this one road, Highway 29. We stopped in downtown Yountsville, and drove past many famous wineries, such as Beringer and Robert Mondavi. I'd never seen so many grapes! The way the valley is shaped offers a great view--looking up on both sides of the road you can see oceans of vineyards.

We didn't feel like stopping in Napa--it's very showy, tastings are expensive, and we were a little put off by all the vineyards whose wine we could just buy in our local grocery store (although I should note that we found out later that those wineries always make sure to carry releases of wines not available in grocery stores). So we drove on to Sonoma, where we visited several vineyards. The vineyards here seemed more smaller, more family-like, and much more down-to-earth.

Since we know some Larsons, we stopped at the Larson Family Winery (no relation to our friends). Tasting there was only five dollars (waived if you buy a bottle). Derek thought their gold medal chardonnay was very interesting, and I really appreciated how patient the staff at the tasting room was with me.

We also stopped at Sebastiani Vineyard, which was much more of a commercial operation than Larson Family (not that Larson Family wasn't business-like). This was one of the oldest vineyards--they survived Prohibition as one of only ten wineries allowed to stay open, for the purposes of providing wine to churches. Tasting there started at $10, but what was nice was that they let Derek and me share a tasting glass. They had a great tour of the winery, where we saw huge old oak barrels and got a good glimpse of the wine-making process.

We spent some time in downtown Sonoma, which has a very cute square. We ate at Della Santina's, a nice little Italian restaurant, where we celebrated our 2nd "Monthiversary." All in all, Napa/Sonoma Day was a good one.

On the last day of the trip, we went to Muir Woods National Monument. We saw some gorgeous tall redwoods and took an exhausting hike up "Ocean View Trail" (which, due to the fog, had no ocean view...). It was definitely a site to see. Admission there is $5.

In the afternoon we headed to Point Reyes National Seashore (ate at a great little deli along the way in Olema), which is just on the other side of the San Andreas Fault. The weird thing is that it's really like you're on another continent once you cross the fault line. The landscape totally changed, and so had the vegetation--you get grassy fields and ranches (we saw what we thought were California Happy Cows) instead of the mountains.

The lighthouse was pretty cool (although definitely a work out to get back up the 300+ steps!). Unfortunately, the fog prevented us from seeing much of the ocean.

That was our trip! Derek and I had a great time in California, and I hope my posts have been educational and informative. Maybe they have even enticed you into visiting some of the beautiful sites in the San Francisco area.

Honeymoon San Francisco: Part 2

The first thing we did was go to Mass at Mission Dolores, the oldest intact building in San Francisco. Going to Mass is a really cool way of experiencing a culture, as opposed to visiting a museum or seeing a landmark. Also, it's free! Parking was free at this church, too, on weekends. We did make a donation, however.

The next day we joined up with some friends of ours from college and toured Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park. We had a lovely picnic, saw some fantastic nature, and swam in the river on the grounds at a spot called the "Garden of Eden." Very relaxing. Because we parked on the side of the road instead of going in the main entrance, we were able to save ourselves the parking fee.

After that we went to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, where we tried fried oreos (at least I can say I tried it) and road their "ski lift" ride to see the whole beach. Admission to the Boardwalk is free, but rides require tickets, ending up costing $3-$5 per person each ride.

On the Monday we visited Sarah's Vineyard, in Gilroy, California, where a family friend works. Tasting there is $5 each, and they let you walk along the vines--the pinot grapes were just starting to turn color! This vineyard is not in Napa or Sonoma--it's south of San Jose--but that made for a quieter, not-so-flashy vineyard, which was nice and welcoming. We ended up buying two bottles of their Cote de Madone Blanc, I liked it so much.

Turns out Gilroy is also the Garlic Capital of the World! And you can smell it when you drive into the town. We had just missed the Garlic Festival by one day! Unfortunately, on Mondays in small towns, we noticed that lots of the restaurants were closed, so we popped into the Visitor's Bureau, where a helpful lady named Pam pointed us to Mama Mia's, where we could try their Garlic Festival menu. We had a delicious garlicky meal.

We also visited Garlic World in Gilroy, a garlic retail store, and bought some garlic oil. Unfortunately, though, we were fooled: after we'd bought the oil and were in the car, I read the label, and it said "made in Maine." We did buy a Garlic cookbook though, and made sure that that was a local compilation, which it was. Very exited to try it out.

When we got back to Pacifica, where we were staying, we decided to check out Twin Peaks and Fort Funston State Park, which offered beautiful views of San Francisco and the Pacific Ocean. Again, parking and admission were free!

For dinner we went to Taipei Restaurant, which is not actually in Chinatown, but offered delicious Chinese cuisine. A weird thing about the Chinese restaurants we ate at--we were the often the only ones in the restaurant! I couldn't figure out why this was. Perhaps people eat later than we did? Or maybe these restaurants just had really good take-out business? Delicious, nonetheless.

Honeymoon San Francisco: Part 1--General Travel Info

While there are many romantic locations abroad, there's a lot to be said for exploring your own country. We have a lot to offer here in America, and I had never been to California. Since Derek and I ate so much Chinese food at Notre Dame, we decided to go to San Francisco and Northern California for a week after I took the bar exam. Who uses cheap, delicious, unhealthy food to choose their honeymoon location, I don't know. But it turned out to be a great trip.

There is a TON to do in Northern California. Really, I don't think a week is enough. We biked across the Golden Gate Bridge, visited Sausalito, toured vineyards and wineries, ate fresh strawberries from a stand on the Pacific Coast Highway, visited the Garlic Capital of the World, and so much more. I'll try to summarize the trip in a few posts.

First, you should know that renting a car from SFO is a pain in the you-know-what. I think we waited for an hour to get our car, that we had already reserved, just because the line at Hertz was so long. And this didn't seem to be a Hertz-specific problem. Make sure that you get a AAA Membership! This membership has more than paid for itself, even before this trip. I believe we paid less than $500 for our rental car, a Nissan Versa (a good percentage of this was California taxes and fees) for a full week.

We stayed in Pacifica, California, which is about 15-20 minutes south of San Francisco. Turned out this was a good move. We didn't have to pay for parking in the city, which gets pricey if you want to stay overnight, especially in a touristy area like Fisherman's Wharf (best parking in Fisherman's Wharf is on Beach between Taylor and Jones--$7.75 for the whole day if you arrive before 10am). Our hotel, Best Western Plus Lighthouse Hotel, offered us 20% off because we were staying for a whole week. We had a partial ocean view room, and next to the hotel there was a nice hill to climb, from which you could watch the sun set over the ocean. Very pretty.


At the hotel, I put my feet in the Pacific Ocean for the first time ever at Rockaway Beach. It was cold!

We found that it's not actually that hard to find free parking during the day in San Francisco, except in Fisherman's Wharf and Chinatown. There's a lot of parallel parking available on the sides of many streets--but make sure you don't get a ticket like Derek did! We got a $50 parking ticket for having our wheels turned the wrong way when parking on a hill. When parking uphill, you're supposed to turn your wheels away from the curb (correct me if I'm wrong), and when parking downhill, you turn your wheels toward the curb.

Derek insists that his wheels were turned the right way, so we're going to fight the ticket. We can't ignore the ticket since the car was a rental. Hertz would not only pay it and charge us reimbursement, but they'd charge us extra administrative fees.

All in all, I'm really glad we didn't stay in San Francisco proper. Many of the things to do aren't in San Francisco itself at all, so staying in Pacifica was a really good choice. And, of course, I like access to a beach (even a cold one).

Domestic Honeymoons

A lot of romantic brides fall in love with the idea of a European honeymoon in Paris or a little Italian villa. The fact is, however, that such vacations are expensive, and there's a lot to be said for exploring your own country. The United States has a lot to offer in the way of honeymoon spots, and if you are really looking to save, a location in drivable distance is the way to go.

I recently had the chance to visit Philadelphia, which, being in the middle of the Eastern Seaboard, is close to almost anywhere on the east coast. The city is full of places to go and see. The Liberty Bell and Independence Hall (where the Constitution and Declaration of Independence were signed) are must-see artifacts of American history. Admission to either is free.

Dining options are almost limitless in Philly. A delicious Philadelphia classic is the cheesesteak. Lots of locations claim to have the best version, but if you head into South Philly you'll find two right across from each other: Pat's and Geno's. Buy one from each place, try both and make your own judgment!
Another type of restaurant popular in Philly is the BYOB restaurant (try Figs, a Moroccan restaurant on Meridith Street near Fairmount and Pennsylvania Aves). Reading Terminal Market also has a lot of great food options.

As far as entertainment goes, Philadelphia has an extensive arts district, called Avenue of the Arts. The Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra offers community rush tickets at only $10--they go on sale at 5:30pm the same day of an 8:00 and a great bargain for a spectacular performance. Another inexpensive option is a mural tour. Philadelphia has literally thousands of murals painted on the sides of the buildings and there are both guided tours available or maps so that you and your spouse can explore for yourselves.

If you want to get out of the city for a little bit, Longwood Gardens is only an hour away. This garden conservatory hosts brilliant botanical displays year-round, indoors and outside.

These are only a small, small portion of things to do in the Philadelphia area. For more Philladelphia ideas, click here.

Your honeymoon should be a place both you and your fiance are excited about. Other domestic ideas to think about are:
--Northern Michigan (think waterfront historic towns like Mackinac Island)
--The Great Smokey Mountains National Park (great for hikers and naturists), or renting a cabin/camping in any National Park for that matter, for a peaceful, relaxing getaway for less money
--Bar Harbor, Maine (lobsters, blueberries and rugged coastline, anyone?)
--Chicago (pizza, shows and shopping). There's a lot to explore in this big city that most people only get to visit on business trips and flights are pretty cheap if you aren't close enough to drive.

Additionally, an excellent one-stop web source for travel information is WikiTravel.