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Monday, August 30, 2010

Anniversary Trip Day Five: Goodbye San Francisco and Hello Napa!

We began our fifth day with a visit to the Painted Ladies.  We had seen these them on all of the visitor brochures, and being the lover of beautiful houses that I am, I didn't want to leave San Fransisco that day without seeing them.






It cracked us up that the playground in Alamo Square had little Painted Ladies, too!



Beautiful fountain in Alamo Square right across from the Painted Ladies.


After walking around the houses and enjoying the rest of the neighborhood, we went back to the harbor and ate sushi while filling out postcards for our family.
YUM!!


Once our postcards were in the mailbox, we got back in the car and waved goodbye to San Francisco

and drove across the Golden Gate Bridge
Kind people at the church we had visited on Sunday told us how to find the picture-taking spot on the other side of the bridge, so we got out of the car in Marin County and walked back across the bridge (just to say we had)  :-)

It was just a little windy!


Pretty view on the Marin side looking over the gate


It was just a gorgeous day!  I loved the colors.




Jesse was being goofy around the control box


Who's that good looking guy?



Still walking across the bridge...

Jesse was excited that someone had already marked his place for him

It was fun to walk past so many people who were doing the same thing.
Can you really feel like an adventurer when walking across the Golden Gate Bridge?
Maybe :-)

One of the most exciting things was that some dolphins put on a show for us.  We have about 60 pictures that look exactly like this one.
We also saw pelicans, sea lions, and a whale.  It was so much fun! 

And the rarest of all sea creatures, the helicopter.



Back across, victorious, wind-blown, and...apparently sideways.

View from where we parked




Hello, Jesse!





We had a wonderful time in San Francisco! 

Now off to winetasting in Napa!


We enjoy Beringer wines at home, so when we decided to try wine tasting in Napa, Jesse was very excited to find that we could go on a relatively inexpensive tour of the Beringer Winery.

It was absolutely beautiful!


The Beringer Brothers Estate greets you as you drive in.

Our tour guide took us to one of the vineyards. 
This is the vineyard for sauvignon blanc grapes.


Sampling some wine


Baby grapes!



Rows and rows of grapes.  So pretty!


The back of the Beringer Estate and its grounds


Heading in to the wine cellar and tasting room


It smelled so good in here, and was so nice and cool.  Very refreshing after the heat outside!

Tasting Room


Sampling merlot straight from the barrel





We enjoyed our first wine tasting tour!


Here is a list of what we got to try
So glad we didn't have to pay for all of that!
We had a lot of fun on our wine tour.  We'll look forward to doing something like that again!

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Anniversary Trip Day Four: The Sights of San Fran

After church on Sunday, Jesse and I did the 49-mile Scenic Drive of San Francisco.  It was good to do once, and to remember that driving around the crazy streets of San Fransisco is not my cup of tea!  My tummy and I were very happy to get out of the car and see things on foot instead :-)

I can't read maps in the car without getting sick, so Jesse was our fearless leader!


Some of the sights of San Francisco




Lombard Street is waaaaaaaaaaaay up there


Good Ol' Alcatraz


Pretty Golden Gate


Happy couple


I liked the lighthouse
(I also like being able to wear hoodies in the summer!!!)


Lunch at Boudin's Sourdough Bakery (yum!)


At the top of Lombard Street







Check out the view!



We ended our night with another trip to Ghirardelli Square for a chocolate sundae and another opportunity to watch the sun set behind the Golden Gate Bridge
(this picture cracks me up because we forgot to ask that they not put chopped nuts on the sundae since Jesse is allergic.  Oops!  Oh well, here is a picture of  Jesse trying to blow them all off!)



On our drive back to our hotel, I was determined to get a picture of the Bay Bridge all lit up at night.  It's kind of hard to get a good picture from a moving car, though!


Here is attempt #1...

...which was much more successful than attempt #2...

But check out how perfectly I centered that palm tree!!!
That takes TALENT from a moving vehicle, let me tell you ;-)