The "Other" Bay Area

Sunday: San Francisco 

Once we arrived in Oakland after our three-day-long cross-country drive, we went straight to our Airbnb to get changed. Unfortunately for us, like most of the Bay area, the house was on a steep hill. Yikes! Parking on the street was like a roller coaster. 

The house was so cute! Our host even had a sign on the door with my name on it. We quickly took showers and ran back out the door to sightsee in San Francisco. We were on a strict schedule and we had so many things that we wanted to see and do so of course I made an itinerary for each day.

Downtown San Francisco was only about 45 minutes away with traffic. Once we went over the Bay Bridge, my sister's terror began as we drove up and down the steep hills in the heart of San Francisco. Not gonna lie, it was pretty scary. The car rolled back a little bit every time we stopped at a traffic light on an incline.  

We drove through the beautiful Golden Gate State Park and saw people having picnics, riding bikes, and jogging. 

Side note: Why were ALL of the dogs in San Francisco so huge? They all looked like horses and bears!

As you can imagine, we were absolutely starving and couldn't wait to eat hot food again. One can only eat so many sandwiches. I was craving a nice, juicy cheeseburger and fries... Maybe it was because of all the cows we rode past. LOL. Sorry, not sorry. 

Once we were finished eating at Bullshead Restaurant, we walked outside and the temperature had dropped so much that I could see my breath... Weird. It was mighty chilly and foggy though. I'm glad I had a jacket!

Next we drove to Ocean Beach to watch the sunset. It was so beautiful. People were enjoying the evening and even had bonfires lit right on the beach. 

 

The area looked just like the set from Planet of the Apes. Although the film was set in and around San Francisco, I did some research and found out that the movie was actually mostly filmed in Canada. Fail.

When we left the beach, we rode through Chinatown and past the Golden Gate Bridge. It was so pretty in person. These pictures do it absolutely no justice. One of these days I'll invest in a camera so my night photography actually looks like something... But for now, my iPhone's just gonna have to cut it. 

Monday: Sacramento 

The day began with an early trip to Sacramento. On the ride there, we rode past some sort of bare animal. I swear they looked like aliens. Apparently they were sheep. Ha! 

We also rode past an entire field of dead, shriveled up sunflowers. My feelings were so hurt. I talked about running through sunflower fields the whole way across the country. Rude. 

Any who, downtown Sacramento was nice... And SUPER HOT. I'm talking like 108 degrees in the shade. 

We had brunch at The Tower Cafe. It was such a nice little restaurant. We sat outside and even though it was sweltering outside, it was very comfortable in the shade. 

I had the most delicious custard soaked French toast with a side of potatoes, onions, and peppers. Yum! 

We also ordered corn meal blueberry pancakes. They were different... Not bad, but different. Tasted more like cornbread than pancakes. 

We saw lots of walnut trees and hops for beer on the way back to Oakland which was pretty cool. We were still really exhausted from the drive across the country so we decided to go back to the Airbnb and relax for the rest of the day.

Tuesday: Napa

Our next adventure was to tackle wine country. I call it Napa on a budget. It was only about an hour away from our Airbnb in Oakland and the views from the car were spectacular. So many beautiful vineyards. 

We stopped in downtown Napa first and it looked just like a little town out of a movie. 

When I did my research online, all of the websites and other blogs say to stop at the visitor's center first because sometimes they have coupons. The ladies who work there were so nice and helpful. They gave us recommendations of which vineyards to visit and where we would get the best view. 

My sister's not a big drinker so she just came to see the sights anyway. I, on the other hand, was there for the wine. 

I bought a Groupon for a wine tasting and chocolate pairing at Vintage Sweet Shoppe. 

It was a cute little store right on Main Street. It wasn't too crowded at all and the Groupon was an excellent deal. 2 for $20, which was 50% off of the original price. 

We tasted five different wines: two white and three red and each had a different kind of chocolate to go along with them. Kiki took one sip of her wine each time and poured the rest in my glass. LOL. 

Next we went up to Mumm Vineyards in Yountsville and it was soooo pretty. They even had an art gallery!

After we left Mumm, we stopped at Luna Vineyards, which was small, but very pretty. Napa was just gorgeous in general. It was like I was whisked away to a magical place.

Once the vineyards closed, we stopped at Oxbow Market. They had meats, fruits, cheeses, and of course, all different types of wine. 

We sort of stumbled upon The Culinary Institute of America at Copia which was directly next door to the market. They had a cute little garden that we were able to stroll through. 

Our adventures in Napa ended right back where we began with a nice walk down the riverwalk. The temperature was nice and breezy, the view was beautiful, and there was even lots of history, too!

Wednesday: Oakland

Our last stop in the Bay Area was downtown Oakland. 

We had lunch at Portal Restaurant at Lake Merritt. It was a cute little open-air beer garden with a great view and an EXCELLENT music selection. I mean they were playing all of my favorites: The Isley Brothers, Sade, Earth Wind and Fire, Hall and Oates, and Al Green. I literally sang the whole time we were there... Loudly, might I add. I bet my sister wanted to go sit at another table ;) 

The food was pretty good. I had two sliders and fries and Kiki had a gigantic salad. 

I thought that since it was SUCH a beautiful day (73 degrees, sunny), it would be a great idea to walk around Lake Merritt to digest our food. 

Well, before we even got there, I googled it and saw that it was a 3.4 mile long walk... I just didn't know that it was THAT long. I told Kiki how long it was when we were halfway around the lake. 

Her response: "We didn't even stretch first!" BAHAHAHA.

There was even a man giving gondola rides. We could hear him serenading a couple as we walked by.

Even though our walk was much longer than I thought it would be, the view was absolutely beautiful. There were people running, biking, having picnics, and even a few people flying drones. 

Thursday: Road trip to LA

"Oh dear," was all I could say as I opened my eyes, sat up, and saw a rash all over my body. It wasn't itchy or anything... Just everywhere. I kept jokingly saying "I have scabies." As it turns out, I was having an allergic reaction to the antibiotics I was taking for a sinus infection. Fail. 

Before we left, our Airbnb host made us breakfast which was so nice! Fluffy pancakes, an omelette, toast, and even homemade chocolate muffins. She was such a sweetie. 

We left for LA around 11:30 PST. It was a whole 6 hours and 16 minutes away. 

Yep, ANOTHER road trip. 

Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed my adventures in the "other" Bay Area! (Get it? I live in Tampa Bay. HA!)

Stay tuned for the last post in the Great American Road Trip series: Labor Day weekend in LA!

-A