California Dreamin'

I never completed the post about my week long trip around California that started in Yosemite. After a beautiful day in Yosemite National Park, James and I went back to Merced for one more night and then hit the road on Sunday to get down to L.A. Driving down the uneventful 99 and 5 freeways, I was anxious to show James another side of California. We were making good time, and we were even able to make it to Santa Monica for a late lunch by 1:30pm.

The next day, we went to Disneyland! We mostly went on the more adult rides, and tried to get some good photos on Splash Mountain and Space Mountain. This is my favorite, particularly because James looks freakishly muscular. It must be the lighting. haha.

I worked on Tuesday and Wednesday from my parents house, while James did LA stuff. My parents and I went to a really fun event at Fleming's Steakhouse that was a European wine and food themed dinner. There were 35 of us seated in a private dining room, and my dad even won a $25 gift card for answering a wine trivia question correctly!

On Wednesday night, James and I drive up to Camarillo to get through LA before our epic drive on Thursday up to the coast to Carmel on Highway 1. We made sure to be on the road early enough to allow us time to stop for some wine tasting in Santa Ynez (Lafond and Firestone), and lunch in San Luis Obispo at Big Sky Cafe. We of course also stopped several times to get photos of the incredible California coastline.


We made it to the beach in Carmel for sunset, and then out to dinner at a lovely French restaurant, Andre's Bouchee. I also highly recommend the B&B we stayed at, the Briarwood Inn. It was nice, cozy (gas fireplaces in the room and kitchenette) and very reasonably priced for the area (low $100-$150 for rooms; ours was only $108).

Friday started out with the 17-mile-drive through Pebble Beach and the iconic Lone Cypress.


We also drove through Santa Cruz, did a quick wine tasting, and then headed up to San Francisco for a beer at sunset with Lisa at the Beach Chalet Brewery at Ocean Beach. Then, a quick change at the apartment, and out to dinner with Lisa and Stephanie at Izzy's Steakhouse in the Marina.


We tried to show James a taste of San Francisco nightlife, and we hit up East Side West, the Balboa Cafe, and the Matrix, but after an early start at sunset, we were back in a cab heading home around 12:30am.

On Saturday, we drove around the city, did a bit of shopping and met up with my brother and his girlfriend Rachael to take the Alcatraz tour. They had a bit of traffic on the way up from Santa Cruz, and they were literally the last ones on the boat. But, they made it! None of us had ever done the Alcatraz tour before, and it was really interesting plus a gorgeous day for it.



We all went to Pizzeria Delfina in the original Mission location for dinner, where after a 30 minute wait we got an outdoor table (with heat lamp) and enjoyed three delicious pizzas.

Jon and Rachael

View of downtown from our parking spot at the top of Dolores Park

Sunday was James' last day in San Francisco, so we rode a cable car to breakfast over at the Buena Vista Cafe, rode the cable car back and then after more SF errands and shopping, drove over to Sausalito for lunch at Horizon's. Then, time for James to pack and to head out to the airport. I rented a zipcar for the first time to take him (a sweet Jetta that was parked in the base of my building) and then met up with Brett, Michelle, Bikash and Lorenzo for SND (Sunday Night Dinner) at Lers Ros, a fantastic Thai restaurant on Larkin.

The week was fantastic. We had literally amazing weather everywhere we went, I was so excited to show James my California, and having him visit makes me feel better about leaving the UK, proving that it won't be the last time I see my friends from there!