A Girl's Trip to San Fran!

This is going to be a long post...full of photos and stories. Just giving you some warning!

Last Saturday my sister Meagan, my great friend Becky and I headed to San Fran, CA for a quick and fun-filled girl's weekend. The plane ticket was an early birthday present from my sister and I am SOOOO glad she convinced me that this trip was a necessity. We headed out early Saturday so that we would have the whole day to hang out in San Fran.

When we arrived we were picked up by my amazing friend Lori who lives in the area with her husband. Lori is a dear friend who I met in college and has always been one of my favorite people. She was even one of my bridesmaids! She played hostess all weekend and we couldn't have asked for a better one. We headed straight to the Palace of Fine Arts from the airport. In all of my trips to San Fran (and there have been many growing up) I had never been there. It is beautiful and was a great place to start our weeked. We also couldn't have asked for more amazing weather...it was always in the high 70's!

Meagan, Lori and I sightseeing on our way to our Saturday activity!





I really do love the city!



We walked to Ghiradelli Square to take part in the Annual Chocolate Fest (thanks for the steal on Living Social). We sampled everything from chocolate filled marshmallows to mini-cupcakes to chocolate stout and ice cream sundaes. We were filled up with Chocolate and enjoying the beautiful weather and views from the square.

One of my favorites was the frosting shots. So yummy! Oh and those truffles...pretty amazing!

We decided to do something educational while we were at the Chocolate Fest. So we signed up for the Wine and Chocolate pairing class. It was tough work, but someone had to do it! We got to taste four wines and samples four types of chocolate items, including sea salted chocolate (my fav), chocolate powdered mixed nuts, chocolate covered apricot and chocolate covered bacon (surprisingly good...hint, hint Jenn...truffles!). It was really fun!

After the chocolate fest we took a walk back to our car and over to an adorable street down in the Marina district to find some dinner. We needed something savory and we were hungry for "real" food. I had gotten a tip about The Tipsy Pig (thanks Amanda!) so we headed there. It was the cutest gastropub and we dined in the library. I really enjoyed their pulled pork sandwich and we had fun with their tiny beer glasses. They needed a pinky moment.

We headed back to Lori's to spend the night - tired and full, but so happy from a relaxing and food filled day.

Sunday morning came and I was excited, kind of like a kid on Christmas morning, because we were heading to Napa! A place I had only dreamt of going. As a lover of wine and an even bigger lover of wineries....this day seemed like the perfect excursion.

Our first stop was Pine Ridge Vineyards for a wine and cheese tasting and a cave and vineyard tour. I came across their website while searching for places to visit and hearing (again thanks Amanda!) that The Silverado Trail was less crowded. I am so glad I took the chance and booked us an appointment for the tour. It was AMAZING!

When we arrived they handed us a tasting of their Rose in their tasting room and we headed out to their front patio to wait for our tour.

They then poured us a Chardonnay as our first "walking wine" and our tour guide, Anne, took us into their teaching vineyard to explain to us about how they grow and harvest their grapes. We got to taste different styles of grapes right off the vine.

And listen and learn about the history of Pine Ridge.

After that Anne took us into their caves where they store their french oak barrels. It was a maze down there, but it was beautiful and had the most amazing light and smell of wine. We got to do a barrel tasting. It was interesting to taste a wine that wasn't quite ready to bottle.

She then took us to their entertaining area in the caves. They host wine pairing dinners and corporate parties down there. Pine Ridge also has a Chihuly installation in their caves. Always surprising to find a little taste of Tacoma, WA on your trip to Napa! We got to sit at this amazing table, taste amazing cheese and nuts and taste 3 more reds. We also got to know the other couple on our tour, Ron and Karen from New Hampshire. They were a great couple who were really experiencing Napa for the first time too. We really lucked out to have such great company on our tour...so we invited them to meet us for lunch the next day. Ron couldn't come (had to work...boo!), but Karen accepted our offer!

My beautiful sister and I

All of us enjoying the cave. Thanks for taking our photo Ron!

I loved the blurry light!

When we got back to the tasting room we got to taste the rest of their wines. I don't think I had a bad wine there and really enjoyed their blends. We went back to the patio and vineyard for some more photo opps and to enjoy the weather.

We decided to head to Yountville to pick up some food and to stop by Bouchon Bakery! Yes, it is worth the stop and the caramel macaroons are to die for.

It was time for some bubbly! So we headed to Mumm Napa after many suggestions to go there. They had a great patio with table service. We enjoyed flights of champagne in the sun and we loved that they served crackers in FYB's -- Famous Yellow Buckets!

Last stop on the way back to Lori's was Silverado Vineyard. This place probably had the most amazing views of Napa....well at least that we had seen that day. They had an amazing patio and we sat down for one last flight.

We were so happy and relaxed! It might have been the wine, the company, the weather or the scenery...but I think it was a combination of all of it.

We got back to Lori's and ate some yummy apps we had picked up in Yountville and ate a scrumptious dinner that Lori's hubby Jim cooked up. Thanks for the steak and veggies. It was the perfect end to a wonderful day.

On Monday morning we had to say goodbye to Lori (so sad she had to work!) and took the BART into downtown San Fran to spend the day sightseeing and shopping.

We stopped at a couple of stores and then headed to a lovely park with an amazing MLK fountain.

As we walked through it we noticed that the wind caused Meagan's shirt to blow in such a way that she looked like she was expecting. It was hilarious!

We stopped for lunch at a little place called Tropisueno. They had amazing food and even better margaritas. We met up with Karen, who we had met at Pine Ridge the day before, since her husband was busy working and she was in the city too. We had a great lunch just talking about life and connecting with a new friend. She and her husband are some of the most amazing, kindest people I have met and I hope we get to see them again soon.

Karen was so lovely. She even brought me flowers for my early birthday present. Thanks again for a great lunch!

We then headed back to check-in to our hotel. It was the Best Western Americania and having booked it sight unseen we were pleasantly surprised by how modern, trendy and all around boutiquey looking. We just wish we would have found the fan at night instead of in the morning on our way to the airport :)

Our last activity of the weekend was meeting up with my friends John and Amanda who live in San Fran. I have known John since I was 18 years old and we worked with the Sonics together. I don't get to see them nearly enough and I was so happy they could fit us in to their crazy schedules. We had an amazing Sushi dinner and some great conversation.

When we got back to the hotel we decided we would have one more drink and some sweet potato fries before bed! It was such a fabulous weekend and I loved spending time with Becky and Meagan. They were great traveling companions and I can't wait to do it again soon.