2nd Annual Girls Trip: California 2012 - Day 1

My mom and my two sisters have started an annual tradition... this year marks our 2nd annual girls trip! Last year, if you remember, we went to New York City! This year, we chose the opposite coast, and headed to California... wine country to be exact!

 

I brought along some shirts for us to wear that I thought would be appropriate!

(although some were not very appropriate)
But we got lots of compliments either way!

Sunday morning, We all met up in San Francisco. And we loaded up and headed north to Wine Country! But not before blowing through a toll booth and missing our turn....

which meant driving through a very steep residential area....

Going UP!

And what Goes UP... Must Come DOWN...

As you can imagine, the backseat was not the best place to ride...

 

But soon we were driving across the famous Golden Gate Bridge! 

After about an hour's drive, we were in Dry Creek Valley, heading toward a couple very special wineries.

 

 It was a beautiful drive the entire ride up. Vineyards as far as the eye could see...

 

Our first stop.... Fritz Winery

 

The view was gorgeous!

 Barrells hanging out in the basement.

 On the tasting tour... Meridith, Me, Angela & our guide.

 I got to taste this wine straight out of the barrell. Yummy. Do i look flushed???

 Having fun with the barrells. The gal asked mom if she was in marketing, because she had such a creative eye for taking pictures. We had to laugh at that... sorry mom!

 

More barrells in the cave. Very cool. 

 Angie posing next to the gates to the winery. 

Her married name is Fritz..hence, the reason we hit up this place.
The wine was okay.

We took a quick stop for roadside cherries...

 

Then we stopped by a quick little organic shop that made the most amazing sandwiches!

Wilson Winery

For those of you who don't know....

Wilson is my maiden name so this was another MUST SEE winery.
Believe it or not, these two wineries were very close to each other.

 We had a lot of fun at this winery....

 I was so bummed that this wine glass wouldn't fit in my suitcase.

 Me & my sister Meridith

 One of the gals who worked there was from Iowa and her son owns a restaurant in Cedar Rapids! It was so nice talking with her. She even gave us some insight on where to go and eat in the area!

 My sister Angie, me, my sister Meridith

 My mom

 More gorgeous views...

We could totally be a fountain...

We drove back to Healdsburg where we were staying to get some food.

We went to Mateo's for drinks and guac.

Then saw someone order these, so we had to try them too... "Tacones"

We walked around the square right around the time of the eclipse and noticed the shadows were looking a little funky... so we took some pictures with them.

 and so Meridith and I showed off our best shadow animals....

Then we finished our night off with dinner at Zin's

If you  MUST try their famous Mexican beer battered green beans with mango salsa