California Girls

A few weeks ago my best friend (from middle school) and I headed to California for a girls trip. It was a first for both of us. We were there for 4 days; spending 2 days in Napa/Sonoma and then the last 2 days in San Francisco. 

Please, forgive me for the photo overload!

While in Napa/Sonoma we stayed at this amazing cozy bungalow we rented off VRBO. It was so quiet, secluded and gated. It was only 30 minutes from Napa, so not too bad. (Disclaimer: avoid the hills to get to Napa. I learned the scary way.)

The one winery that we went to was a family owned winery, Kunde. It was beautiful and the views were amazing. One of the reasons I chose this place was because you could do wine tasting on the hill and the views were unremarkable! I’m not a big red wine drinker, so the tasting went okay. I did try them all though. You can’t let wine go to waste!

Amazing wine tasting views! I wasn’t lying. I told you.

Before we headed to the winery we had breakfast and strolled around downtown Napa. We found this great breakfast place called Sunflower Caffe Espresso & Wine. We sat outside, enjoyed the cool morning breeze, and enjoyed breakfast.

This was from dinner one night at a local restaurant.

The next 2 days we spent exploring San Francisco. So much to see in so little time, so we did a guided trolley tour. It was absolutely packed with highlights and information about SF, I was even teaching my cousin (who lives in Cali) a few things, ha! Before our tour we had to go and see what all the hype Fishermans Wharf was all about.

The food was nothing short of amazing. I’m so glad that we decided to eat lunch there.

The guided tour was about 4.5 hours long. One of the stops was at the famous painted ladies, you know from Full House. While we were there we discovered that none of the houses was actually the Tanner house. One of the houses on the far right does belong to the Tanner family dog, and apparently they still live there too.

The Mrs. Doubtfire house being completely renovated.

The San Francisco Bay. Did you know the fog has a name? The fogs name is Karl. That’s right, Karl with a K. The temperature and atmosphere change that happens just by crossing over the bridge is crazy! One side is cold and foggy and the other sunny and slightly warmer.

The tour ended back near The Fisherman’s Wharf. We shopped until it was dark and enjoyed a nice, tasty dinner.

The next morning we met up with my cousin and had the most amazingly ridiculously tasting breakfast I’ve ever had. Yes, it was simple, but everything was so fresh and just damn good! I had 2 glasses of  that $7.00 freshly squeezed orange juice. The fruit was great and the avocado, yum! Makes me want to go back. Now! This amazing place we ate at is called Eight AM. We waited about an hour outside in the cold to eat there. It was worth every minute of waiting. The one thing I LOVED about California is that everything is organic and oh so fresh!

Next stop, Ghiarardelli square!

Lomard St.

(the crookedest street in the world)

After seeing the Painted Ladies the day before, we decided to hunt and find the REAL Full House. We did. It was nowhere near the Painted Ladies and, fun fact, it was recently purchased by the producer of Full House and he is renovating it to look just like the one in the show. The previous owners of the house did their own renovations to change the appearance so that fans wouldn’t be stopping by. How rude?! (lol, you like that !)

Our next stop was Chinatown! Such an interesting place.

My cousin, Mark!

Last meal on our trip and it was the perfect way to end this trip! Until next time San Francisco. Next time, I won’t be driving around with your crazy hills!