Last summer, we were fortunate to have a couple of destination weddings, one of which was in sunny California.  Well, it was sunny part of the time!  The wedding took place at the gorgeous Carvalho Family Winery at the Old Sugar Mill in Clarksburg.  After the wedding festivities, Tim and I took a couple of extra days and headed to San Francisco, making stops along the way.  I should probably warn you, I am a total tourist/nerd when I’m visiting new places, ESPECIALLY if it’s a place filled with lots of history!  Poor Tim is constantly having to slow down and wait for me as I’ve lagged behind trying to photograph everything I can :)

We actually started our “tour” on the Friday before the wedding.  We headed to downtown Sacramento to check out the State Capitol Museum and just a few blocks away we sampled my newest love:  Big Spoon Yogurt!   I don’t have any good pictures, but imagine an ice cream topping bar like no other where you pay by the weight of your creation…DANGEROUS ;)

Sunday morning came very early after a fun night at the vineyard, but we wanted to cram as much into two days as humanly possible!  We started our drive West and into the mountains.  I’m not sure where this was along the way, but people were pulled over along the road taking in the view so we did too :)  The clouds were actually blowing so thick across the road you could see them!

I had never before seen the Pacific Ocean…and this was my first view.  On one side of the road is the above view…and after you cross, the ocean is literally just over the side of the cliff.

Seeing the Redwoods at Muir Woods was also on our list of “things to do.”

We drove down through the twisty mountain roads…to the twisty shoreline road of Highway 1.  Seriously, constant hairpin turns where any wrong move looked to mean a certain death as you fell off the side of the earth.  Dramatic?  Maybe.  Was I scared?  YES!!!!  We arrived safely at Stinson Beach to put our toes in the ocean…which was FREEZING!  I couldn’t believe there was a beach full of people in bathing suits when it was cold and no sun peeking through the layers of clouds and fog!

Back onto the Highway of Death and onward to San Francisco!  We came in over the bridge which felt like a wonderful welcome!

Did I mention it was cold in sunny California?  It really was!  Monday morning we bundled up and drove in to Pier 39 to catch our ferry to Alcatraz.  This was one of my favorite things we did!  The history of the island and the prison are amazing. I won’t bore you with all the details…I told you I was a nerd!  I was actually very surprised how pretty the island was.  The gardens were beautiful.  The architecture of the buildings was much more pleasing to the eye than the ones we’re building now.  Not that the inmates ever got to enjoy that…. ;)

The last thing on our list was to drive back towards the bridge and explore the Golden Gate Park.  Again, it was so cold and foggy.  I was a bit disappointed that I didn’t get to see the bridge clearly, but I’ll take what I can get!  We again did the touristy thing and walked onto the bridge then asked a very nice stranger on a bike to take our picture ;)  Tim was thrilled!

Our trip was a whirlwind of four days, a wedding, getting lost (since I left my gps in Indy!)  and walking more than I thought humanly possible.  I am so thankful that I have the opportunity with my work to visit such fabulous places!

Alright, who wants to get married in Australia ;)