After our road trip in California we stopped in San Francisco for a few days to spoil ourselves and get to know the city. I've heard all my life that I would love to live in San Francisco, so I just had to see why it was so wonderful. We stayed at the Serrano Hotel and the above photo was the view from our room. The hotel was really wonderful but the neighborhood left something to be desired.
Please click below to see what we did while on vacation:

The furthest south we made it on our California VW Bus Road Trip was to Big Sur. Have you ever been? It was my first time and I found it extremely beautiful and breathtaking. We where not as prepared as we should have been for camping in Big Sur - we had no plans on where we where going to stay and once we where there we realized that there isn't any cell service in Big Sur.  A lot of the campgrounds are first come first serve unless you made reservations months ago - this means that you need to be at the campground at 8:00 am to claim your spot (this was a shocker to us all.)

The first night we spent was at a campground in the mountains (no ocean view) and woke up early to get the best spot at Kirk Creek Campground for the next night. The morning drive down the mountain to the ocean was out of control (this is where I made the photos above the fog.) Kirk Creek is really an beautiful location right on the ocean. I found it freezing cold in Big Sur from all the fog (guess I'm use to the Caribbean weather) and was happy that this was our last night of camping for our road trip.

Next stop San Francisco!!!

PS You might also like this post about the VW Bus we rented for our trip.

The furthest north we made it in CA on our road trip was Calistoga where we spent a night camping. We where in Calistoga for one reason - Indian Springs! We where in need of a little pampering on our vacation and thought that sitting in a volcanic ash  mud baths and swimming in an Olympic-sized mineral pool was the way to do it in style!

Indian Springs is a resort that has an amazing spa that I would highly recommend checking out if you're in the neighborhood. I regret that I didn't get any photographs of the mud baths; I was in relaxation mode.

The experience I had was wonderful: after being immersed in volcanic hot mud you will soak in a mineral tub where they serve ice water with cucumbers, than a moment in a eucalyptus and lavender filled steam room, and lastly they wrap you in a soft flannel blanket and you take a nap in a private room (it's amazing!!!) Eric and I then met up at the Olympic-sized mineral pool to eat lunch together and plan our drive to Napa.

 PS Another CA spot that sounds amazing!

Have you ever started up a conversation with the person sitting next to you on the airplane? Last spring Eric started up a conversation with a couple (Dona &Dave) on a flight who live in Sonoma and they exchanged contact info. So, when we where in Sonoma we met up with them and they spoiled us! First stop in Sonoma is Nicholson Ranch for a wine tasting ......

A photo of us with Deepak, owner of Nicholson Ranch

We did the full tour of the Nicholson Ranch and learned how wine is made. Deepak even let us sample the wine right out of the barrel... it was out of this world amazing, not to mention some of the best wine I've ever tasted!!!  Thank you so much to Deepak & Dona & Dave for an unforgettable day.

Tasting right out of the barrels, the way it should be!

Deepak is very serious about Pinot Noir and upon us questioning the differences in vintage: he decided to show us instead!

Wouldn't you just love to spend the rest of the day relaxing in the photo above sipping a glass of wine?!!


PS Another wonderful winery that we visited this day was Homewood check them out online HERE.

 When Eric and I first started planning our trip to California we realized that there was a lot that we wanted to see and thought the best way to do this would be a road trip. I had never been on a road trip; I think the longest drive I’ve ever been on was from Maine to New Jersey, which doesn’t really count. So, I thought the road trip itself would be exciting!