Hello to everyone who found out about our blog from our Christmas card. Feel free to look around and subscribe via the links over on the right.
Moving on to Part 3 of our vacation -- Sonoma.
Day 7
We took one last walk along the beach the morning we were going to leave. You may notice the fear in Tricia's eyes as she was sure I was going to let the wave hit her without warning.
The travel from Aptos to Sonoma was MUCH easier than any of the other travel days thus far. That helped to keep us much more calm and relaxed. We arrived in Sonoma and found our rental house to be the nicest place we had stayed at yet (and very cheap, considering how expensive the area seemed to be).
Tricia was SO ecstatic that just a few miles away were the Napa Premium Outlets, so we headed there next. Most importantly, there was a United Colors of Benetton there, so Tricia was able to buy more of her Italian pants that she loves so much. There aren't any of these stores in Oregon/Washington and she was last able to purchase them when we were in Boston. Seriously, it was an exciting moment for her.
After all that shopping we were famished, so we did what all Californians do (supposedly) and went to In N Out Burger. Yes, amongst all the great restaurants in Napa County, we choose fast food :) Of course, it was great and we devoured it.
On the way home we got some cookies and coffees at Whole Foods (which reminds me how lame it is that Salem doesn't have one) and watched a few movies before going to bed.
Day 8
We start the day with an awesome breakfast at the Big 3 Diner consisting of apple oat pancakes and lemon cottage cheese pancakes (I know that plenty of my comments relate to how great food is, but that's just because it's a very important aspect of all of our vacations).
The main part of the day consisted of a bike ride around Sonoma. However, there wasn't much of a shoulder on the road as was promised in the cycling book we got the route from, which made us have to trust the drivers on the road more than we anticipated. Looks like we still need to build up some courage for road cycling!
Still, the area we rode through was beautiful.
More food! We ate some burritos and Gourmet Taco, took a nap, and then went out to the Sonoma Farmer Market, where we picked up perhaps the greatest treat of the entire trip -- Uncle Bill's Gourmet Corn Dogs. They put the corn dogs at the Fair to shame.
Still tired, we headed back to the house, where I watched TV (I'm just assuming that's what I did) while Tricia picked up a book at the house to read, the Dali Lama's Art of Happiness, taking notes along the way :)
Day 9
Today was our big day trip to San Francisco. It started off with more directional mishaps, as we ended up going to the wrong Legion of Honor. Yes, San Francisco has two museums called the Legion of Honor. Once we figured that out, we got realigned and set off for the Legion of Honor we intended on going to, the one that contains The Thinker, as well as some famous glass art (the artist's name escapes me).
The museum is situated on The Presidio and where we were parked had a great view of the Golden Gate Bridge (even with the fog).
Next we headed over to the DeYoung museum, just a few miles away in Golden Gate Park. We initially intended to eat lunch there, but we absolutely refused to pay the $7 they were asking for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich or a hot dog. We were positive there had to be some kind of food situated somewhere within the park. Much to our chagrin, that was not the case. So, even though we were starving, we made our way into the Japanese Tea Garden in the park, where we saw they had a tea room (which only served tea and crackers...but better than nothing).
The zen garden made us want to have one of our own at home and did a good job of relaxing us and our hungry stomachs (Typically, we get cranky when we don't eat, although I don't think there was any repercussions in this case :) )
Back we went to the DeYoung to enjoy the art. We've found that looking at art is relaxing for both of us. Plus, we got this great view of the city.
This carriage is made entirely of sugar. Neat.
NOW, we are starving, yet it's only 4 PM when we arrive at the restaurant we wanted to eat at, a Peruvian restaurant called Fresca. Unfortunately for us, it didn't open until 5:00 (always a problem when you try to eat at a actual nice restaurant). So we had to a) waste an hour of time without moving the car and b) get a snack so we didn't pass out from our hunger (remember all we have since breakfast is some crackers and tea). So we grabbed a bagel at the Noah's across the street and Tricia made the bad choice of getting a pumpkin bagel with a pumpkin schmear, which succinctly gave her a combo upset stomach/sugar coma from which she never recovered.
Eventually we ate dinner, which was great. Sadly (well not for me) I had to eat 1/2 of Tricia's meal since the she was no longer feeling well. Still, she had enough energy for us to take a cable car ride up and down California Street, ending with the Bay Bridge in the background. As silly (and expensive) as it may seem, it's a must-do experience to ride the cable car.
After the cable car, we arrived back at our car and took the trip back over the Golden Gate Bridge (which looks awesome at night) to our house.
I'll cover the last three days next time...
