San Fran & Napa!

So after our gorgeous trip up the coast and short stay in San Carlos, we picked Beverly and Ben up in San Fran! (They got to the west coast the day before and checked out some SF tourist stuff.) We had tossed around ideas several times for this day -- Bridge, Muir Woods, Sonoma wineries. And where did we end up?? At a UGA Alumni game watching party, ha! Sure is nice to see some red and black on the west coast..

After the misery of watching the dawgs lose yet again, we headed to lunch at Presidio Social Club. Age and I had grilled cheese, tomato soup and mac & cheese.  Forgot to take pics, but clearly it was delish.

Next stop -- look out point of the San Francisco bridge. We walked around to several different areas, and every single angle looked like a post card!! 

LOVE this forever travel partner of mine :) 

Driving over the bridge.. 

We checked into our Airbnb, and headed out to downtown Yountville. Our dinner reservation was not until 8:30, so we escaped the rain at JCB, a super funky tasting room per the hostess recommendation. 

We had been planning this trip for a YEAR and it felt so surreal to finally be there, doing our first tastings, with some of our absolute favorite people. 

Next up we had reservations (that we made monthssss ago) at Ad Hoc, Thomas Keller's more laid back, much more affordable restaurant. We had the tasting menu that was served family style and was to die for! The menu changes every single day, and fortunately there was no blue cheese wooo!

We do birthday months around here - loved celebrating with Bev like old times.

The next morning we were up bright and early to start the day off with champagne at Mumm. Holy glasses.

I've never been able to tell much difference from one champagne to another, but definitely could drinking them side by side! Such a cool experience going sweet to dry and some rose thrown in as well.

We were so nervous about the weather - originally it was 100% chance of rain all day. But it barely drizzled and made for some great sweater/hat weather!

Next up - cave tour and tasting at Pine Ridge. Fun fact, if the wine is stored under ground, it's not taxed. Who knew??

Definitely the favorite winery of the day!! And bonus, it was perfectly timed during the downpour rain.

We learned a ton and got to taste wine straight out of the barrels. 

FAVORITE part of the day.. cheese pairing with some insanely good (and insanely expensive) wines! The great thing about tastings is you get to try some really, really nice wines, but don't have to pay an arm and a leg. And how dreamy is this set up!? 

We tasted the wines solo, then we tasted them with their respective cheeses. Several people around the table changed their favorite. So cool seeing how stuff pairs and how your taste buds may change.

I could go on and on and on about how awesome this experience was. Seriously, book your trip to Napa and book this winery now. (Sorry, you can't have our travel partners!) #purpleteethclub

We had a picnic lunch outside this cute little country store. AND Ashley surprised Bev with birthday cupcakes! 

Next on the list.. Silver Oak. Very low key tasting room, not much fluff. But we did have some yummy cabs and a great conversation with a Bama fan. (Who knew that was possible? Ha!)

Best part about Silver Oak - The views!! 

And I can't decide what pics I like best, so you get a million of me and Age in the same clothes, just a different glass of wine.

Last winery was Hall. It was fun.. it was windy. Glad we saved it for last when we didn't really care about learning much anymore, ha! Just bring on the wine! (And water bottles, #thankyoumam)

We had our driver drop us off downtown Napa after our winery tours. (Side note: I would highly recommend getting a driver to drive your car/rental car when in Napa. We changed plans midway through the day, and were not tied to a tour bus and others' timetables.) 

Burgers and beer were EXACTLY what we needed after a looonngg day of wine. We had these delicious ones at Gott's Roadside. 

The next morning we were moving reallyyyy slowly and finally made our way back down to Sausalito before dropping Beverly and Ben off at the airport. 

We had never been to this part of SF -- it's stinkin cute! We had lunch at this great place, Bar Bocce. Fresh air and pizza helped.. a lot.

This trip was good for the soul. It's one of those that you could do time and time again. It was the perfect get away for our first Maddie-less trip. We had amazing views, amazing food, amazing wine ... and most importantly we were with some pretty amazing friends. We laughed all.weekend.long. Can't wait to start planning our next trip with this pair!