For the Wine Lovers

I'm home from my trip out west and super jet lagged, but I wanted to share some of our wonderful experiences out there.  It was a work trip, but that never stops us from having a little fun!  Wednesday my friend, and colleague, and I left BWI and headed west for San Francisco.  Neither of us had been there before, so we decided to spend some time there before heading to Napa for our conference.  We got there and started our very touristy journey on the cable cars.  

It was pretty cold and drizzly our first day there, but that didn't stop us.  The scenery in the cable cars was pretty cool as we headed down to Fisherman's Wharf.  

 We walked all over the area, but with a chill in the air, we decided to head in for some wine and cheese…the first of many, many plates and glasses we had!  This place was great, as even though it was chilly out, they had heaters outside so we could still take in the view over the water.

We headed to a couple other places and had a nice night filled with wine, dinner and TONS of laughs.  

The next morning we got up and headed back down to Fisherman's Wharf (after taking showers and drying our hair in the hotel that did not have AC…apparently this is quite common there?!  Nicole insists she could NEVER liver there due to this, but I didn't mind too much, as I'm always cold).  We had lunch at the Wine Market and then headed to Sausalito by ferry.  It was a gorgeous day and Nicole showed me how to use the panoramic feature on the iphone…perfect timing to capture the Golden Gate Bridge!  

 This was the best of many pics we tried to take on the ferry.  After a couple glasses of wine and a pretty windy trip, this is our best.

 We arrived in Sausalito and just walked around admiring the beautiful town and popping into a couple shops along the way.

 After our trip back on the ferry, we had some time, so we walked around downtown San Fran and just HAD to stop in Bloomy's….and surprisingly, neither of us got into trouble there!  Obviously, we didn't have as much time as we thought ;)

 We came back to get our luggage and say our goodbyes to our wonderful host/hostesses at The Inn at Union Square.  I highly recommend this little B&B.  They were so kind and helped us organize everything we wanted to do and made arrangements for us to get back to the airport.  As we got on the shuttle back to the airport, they even sent us on our way with an additional bottle of wine and some wine glasses to enjoy during our trip to Napa!

 Thursday night, after we arrived in Napa (it was quite an adventure that I will save for another day), we retired to bed, as we had an early morning of orthopedics for our conference.  After the conference on Friday, we headed out to our first vineyard.  The tasting room was in a cave, which was beautiful.  If you keep walking back, that is where there is a room for entertaining…rehearsal dinner/reception for a wedding?! I think so! To the left was the spa and to the right was where we headed…the tasting room!

 After our tastings, we headed out in the vineyard and took in the amazing scenery. I wish I was better at taking pictures, as it was breathtakingly beautiful and my photography does not do anything here justice!

Can you tell I might have just liked this wine just a little bit?!

 After our tasting and getting a bite to eat at the hotel, we headed into downtown Napa for dinner at Morimoto Restaurant.  To say the food was amazingly delicious is such an understatement!  It was out of this world!  Chef Morimoto is better known as the star of Iron Chef.  

 Not only was the food great, but the scenery was beautiful, as you were able to view water, mountains and beautiful forestry.  Again, this picture does NOTHING for the view.  

We started off with edamame and some shrimp dish and then shared a bunch of sushi rolls.  We probably looked like we had not eaten ever, as we could not get enough of it!  Plus, we were enjoying some Sauvignon Blanc from Leaping Frog Vineyard…Mmmm!  

As full as we were, we still decided to have dessert.  It was just too good to pass up.  We got two and split them.  My pic…the "S'more."  

Graham cracker, chocolate mousse, and toasted marshmallow…heavenly…

 Nicole's pick?  Doughnuts.  

Sugars, honey, and mollasses all wrapped into one….food/sugar coma!  

Sadly, that is the last of the pics from the trip.  We had a great time, learned a little something, and laughed harder than I have in a very long time!  Girls trips…something about it is just amazing for the soul!