Since opening Farmhouse Market back in July of 2015 I haven’t taken a “BIG” vacation. So when my fiancé, Joe, surprised me with a trip to California with just a couple days to plan and pack I was all in. However, if you know me at all, you know that I am a planner. I like everything, including vacations, planned to a T. So this on a whim trip, was probably the best thing for me because I really didn’t have the time to over plan and stress.
This is a full outline of our trip so its a lengthy one... i included links because so many of y'all were messaging me through out the trip for info!
Our trip started with a bright and early flight to San Francisco, California. I loved the early flight because it really gave us a full day to explore the city. And explore, we did!
We walked to the windiest street in the world - Lombard Street. Walking up and down the steep hills of San Fran was the best way to see the city because we got to take in all the wonderful quirks. Like the fact that there is gorgeous flowers every block (at least in the nicer areas). The architecture is incredible and the layout of the homes was so puzzling to us both.
We went off the beaten path a few times when we saw something cool. If we would have stuck to the "plan" of our directions to Lombard Street, we wouldn't have come across the amazing views this Art School had to offer.
We did eventually make it to the jam packed and very touristy Lombard Street. It was a steep hike up the hills to the top but we wanted to see it from both ends.
We both love looking at homes so we of course had to go see the "Painted Ladies" - basically what you think of if you were a fan of "Full House" as a kid...
The next morning we headed into Napa Valley wine country. Which the drive was not bad at all and on the way out we stopped at the Golden Gate Bridge of course!
If you follow along with me on weekends on our Instagram stories you also know that we are big Wine-O’s! We love a big and bold red and like to try new ones all the time! So this California trip was focused on wineries and seeing and tasting as much as we could.
Day 1:
Domain Carneros : We bought a bottle of champagne that we will have the night of our wedding. This was for sure one of our favorite stops!
https://www.domainecarneros.com
Robert Mondavi : We quickly breezed through this large spot. It was beautiful but the wine wasn't our favorite.
https://www.robertmondaviwinery.com
Next we went to Inglenook. This Winery was for sure one of our favorites. It was owned by Frank Coppola who was a famous director. The grounds were incredible and the inside tasting room (too dark for photos) was very personal and quaint. (We left with a bottle from here as well)
Last stop for Day 1 (I told you we wanted to see as many as we could! haha) was Rutherford Hill Winery. By this point we were starving and our favorite thing from this winery was probably cute picnicking area and the delicious cheese board! We were tired and hungry so no pictures from here either! But it was on our Insta story!
http://www.rutherfordhill.com
We stayed the first night in Calistoga which was a super cute and quaint town. The food was incredible and the cute little B&B was so luxurious.
We brunched and then we were off to Day 2 of Winery tours!
First Stop was Chateau Montelena. It is a historic chateau established in 1882. The grounds of this winery as well as all the history was our favorite - the wine, not so much. People seemed to love it and they had sweet white that we knew my mom would love - so we bought her a bottle as a thank you for watching Miss Dolly!
Next we stopped by this fun winery that a friend told us we should visit. Tank Winery. We were super excited because as we were walking up we realized they were having an event and we totally lucked out! Food, drinks, games and more - we didn't want to leave!
If we lived locally, this is a place we would be on the regular!
https://www.tankgaragewinery.com
Our third stop of the day was "The Castle". By far my favorite for so many reasons including the wine! We left with three bottles... We did a full tour of the castle which was awesome because we got to see all kinds of behind the scenes stuff! Be sure to check out our Instagram Story Highlight "adventures to see all the details.
https://www.instagram.com/farmhousemarket_tx/
We enjoyed this one a little too long and almost mixed our next appointment so unfortunately we didn't get a picture from the outside , but look it up - IT IS AWESOME!
https://www.castellodiamorosa.com
Our last stop for this day was Sterling Vineyards. We purely did this one for the incredible views and the cool gondola you got to take to the top! Thankfully we made it just in time for the last gondola ride of the day!
https://www.sterlingvineyards.com/en/
After leaving Northern Napa area we headed to downtown Napa, where we would spend our last two days. We stayed in the cutest B&B again called the White House Inn. I did a full tour of this on our Insta story - so hopefully you caught it :] because I didn't get any pictures! So click on the link to see!
https://www.whitehouseinnnapa.com
Our fourth day we did the Napa Train tour! And if there is one thing I would say to absolutely do - this would be it! The service was awesome, the food was even better and you were on a super cool retro train!
Again, we really enjoyed our time on the train so we didn't take a ton of pictures. But I linked the tour and all the details here
https://www.winetrain.com/tours/famiglia-tour/
The wineries we visited that day were Silverado, Whitehall, and Grigich Hills Estate.
Our last day was filled with more wine, OF COURSE! Haha We basically just explored and pulled in wherever we thought look interesting. This had us ending up at....
Caymus Winery where we felt like we were in a lush Garden.
http://caymus.com
Alpha Omega Winery. Great views and really good wine!
https://www.aowinery.com
Then we headed up into the hills and ended our day at Schweiger Vineyards. Their vineyard was up in St. Helena mountains and it was breathtaking. It was a small family owned winery which we also really enjoyed!
http://www.schweigervineyards.com
By this point we had decided we weren't going home and we wanted to stay forever. Unfortunately, the adulating side of us kicked in and we headed back to San Fran to crash for the night and hop on a plane the next morning.
California was beautiful, the wine was incredible and our memories were priceless. This was a vacation that will be hard to top for sure!