Our Mini-moon in Cambria <3

It's amazing when you've lived in California as long as I have and traveled up and down it as much as I have, that you can still find a new place to discover. At the recommendation of Chris's mom, we headed up the coast to Cambria for a few nights right after our wedding. We meant to get there in the evening, but with everything going on, ended up getting there at 10 pm. We checked in to our fabulous B&B, the Pelican Cove Inn and were delighted to find our room luxurious and comfortable with a balcony looking over the ocean.

The next day we had a delicious breakfast and then got picked up to go wine tasting in Paso Robles. Our first stop was a castle atop a hill, complete with moat and suit of armor. The wine was eh, but all the decorations were cool.

Next stop, Rotta Winery had delicious wine and a hilarious, sassy, bubbly wine pourer that made the whole experience. After about 20 minutes we figured out that she went to high school with my mom, and had gone to Long Beach the weekend before to the Poly High Reunion that my mom helped organize - small world!

At the next stop we tasted and had lunch. Our last stop was Tobin James, a saloon-like place with a gruff wine pourer that poured too much and tried to make us taste upwards of 20 wines!

The bus ride back

HEARST CASTLE!!!
Wow, we took the tour that was recommended for first timers, it gives an overview of the grounds. I just love that there are (or were) crazy old eccentric rich people that decided to build an outlandish, ornate castle in the middle of nowhere. My favorites were the pools - the outdoor italian/greek style and the gold plated indoor.

can you see the woodpecker? hacking away?


pigeon


...walking on gold as we left...
As we were leaving Hearst Castle, we saw the zebras! Then we headed over to see the elephant seals- there were a few lazing around on the beach and some playing in the surf. They are so fat and cute!

Woah.

Check out this post from 2 or 3 things I know.

http://2or3things.blogspot.com/2009/05/west-with-night-i-have-learned-that-if.html

ooh. aah.

Today we went to the Beach

jellyfish

Picnic at Shammy's

the cake thats supposed to expand 6x but takes 72 hours... well we left it in a bowl and it got a lil bigger, then it did this:

Birthday Wine Tasting

We left SF bright and early!

We visited 5 wineries on a rainy day in Healdsburg. We took the Westside Road in the Russian River Valley but started in downtown Healdsburg at the La Crema Tasting Room.

Twomey

C. Donatiello

... like a fwog fwog fwog!...
The wine guy here was really friendly and let us use there awesome room for our picnic- otherwise it woulda been out in the rain or crammed in the car.

Arista

Korbel - our last stop on Westside Road

The whole group at Korbel - we tasted champagne with strawberries and dark chocolate.

Back to the City...

Happy Birthday to me.

I started my birthday extravaganza by picking up Emily from the airport. In true Sanders fashion, she had lots of props and fun stuff that would prove to be a lot of fun throughout the weekend. We went to get dim sum - yum!

Then we went to my house and waited for Chris to get home to open presents! We called Lucy and then videochatted her and Jeff and all cheersed!

Next we headed downtown to the Ferry Building for happy hour oysters and beer.

We wandered over to the Irish Bank, where Em blew up the instruments and we jammed for a few hourse. Then we marching banded down the street and headed home. All in all a wonderful birthday :)

Chris's View

Chile

i saw the sign