Napping in Napa: Wine Country and San Fran Travel Tips

This last Labor Day weekend, we took a trip to Napa Valley and San Francisco with our friends (or framily) Laura and Bryan and their little one Aiden. This was trip number two for this crew, with two extra tag a longs, our 6 month old Jemma and Aiden who was 9 months at the time of the trip. Our first trip was to Italy and was pre- baby having and this was quite different. {here is a link to my previous post about our Italy trip: http://lifewiththeluikens.blogspot.com/2016/06/trip-of-lifetime-italy-and-switzerland.html}

One of our goals as parents is to teach Jemma about Christ and because of that, a simple lesson: {life is not about you}. We are determined to take her on family adventures, travel with her, teach her about the world, teach her to serve others and know her creator God {who IS what this life is about}. So even when it's hard, even when it means packing a stroller and car seat and pack n play and diapers and bottles, even when it means renting a van for all our STUFF, even when we have to stop a thousand times to feed the little girl and change her and figure out how to help her, by golly our goal is to teach her to fit in with our life as a family and not let her baby stage keep us from exploring. So for 10 days in California we hit up our annual softball tourney in Medesto, and checked the bucket list off for Napa and Sonoma Valley and San Francisco with our besties who have a mutual love for teaching baby to enjoy adventuring.

 

Let's be honest about traveling for a second though: sometimes it's hard and we are human so sometimes we get grumpy. One thing I have learned about traveling with friends (and babies) is to just go with the flow and try to let go of your vision of your perfect vacation with all those expectations and just have FUN. Enjoy the people you are around and the scenery and what you have right in front of you and try to stop worrying about your expectation of the experience. Enjoy the gifts God gives you in the moment. Conflict is 100% normal. Be real with the people you are with and let them know how you are feeling. Don't stew when you are upset but talk about it and try to laugh about the things that happen that didn't go as planned (because things never go perfectly as planned).

I have found with traveling with our friends that some of my favorite experiences were the ones that didn't go as planned like when we end up missing a reservation at a nice restaurant, walk miles around the city and experience the city a little more, and end up at a fun place that we never would have picked but made for some incredible memories.

One of the things we really enjoyed about the California wine country is that we tried to take on different experiences to get a feel for the area as a whole. We went to some wineries that that were higher end and had all the bells and whistles, like a gondola ride across the winery (Sterling) and also some that were quite different like Blanchard that was just a guy and his brother who love wine and now own a warehouse where they buy grapes from the area and make the wine right there. One reason we loved that experience is that it was really personal and intimate to meet the winemaker and talk with him about his love for wines.

We also love to use Air BnB with traveling and it cut costs to travel with friends! We love it. 

One tip we have for traveling in Napa is an app called winery finder where you can get two tastings for the price of one. You have to drive around to the specific wineries but it saves a lot of money.

We also felt like we saved money and had an amazing experience by focusing most of our time in Sonoma. We had heard that Napa was very touristy and Sonoma had a lot to offer and so we spent a lot of time at wineries around Sonoma. We saved money by eating cheap breakfast and packing lunches also. We also hit the jackpot because there happened to be a music festival in the Sonoma City Square while we were there.

Here are some links to some of our favorite wineries we visited:

In Napa, we visited:

Silverado http://www.silveradovineyards.com/

Raymond https://www.raymondvineyards.com/

Sterling https://www.sterlingvineyards.com/ At Sterling, there is an aerial tram ride you can take which was so beautiful because you could see the lines of trees and the whole vineyard- we loved this!

In Sonoma, we visited:

Arrowwood https://www.arrowoodvineyards.com/

VJB http://vjbcellars.com/

Wellington http://www.wellingtoncellars.com/

Benzinger- https://www.benziger.com/ - this winery was a really unique experience because they focus on "biodynamic" wine making and they have an outside exhibit where they explain the process that you can walk through and learn about this kind of wine making. I highly recommend this stop!

Blanchard- http://www.blanchardfamilywines.com/ this winery is also one I would definitely recommend - we had such a fun time at this winery- it is run in a warehouse by two brothers who just really love wine and wanted to give making it a try. The owner gave us a personal and "behind the scenes" tour and showed us the process in the warehouse!

Silver Oak- https://www.silveroak.com/visit-us/

Twomey- https://www.twomey.com/

Beringer- https://www.beringer.com/

Paradise Ridge- https://prwinery.com/ - this winery has a really beautiful view where you can sit and see the grapes from up above! We loved this one.

Kendall Jackson- http://www.kj.com/ 

Some of the places we visited had cellars and caves and you could sign up to get a personal tour which was fun!
 
Some of our other recommendations:

Palooza was a fun brewery/ resturaunt with a fun outside environment that we enjoyed:

http://www.paloozafresh.com/

During our time in California, we also spent time in San Francisco. 

We are definitely "foodies" and so when we travel, we like to explore the best possible food opportunities. So Tony did his research and we spent almost an entire day exploring the "Mission District" of San Francisco. We really enjoyed the food in that area and some of our favorite spots were:

Tacolicious (super yummy maragaritas and tacos with a twist): https://www.tacolicious.com/menu/eat/

Mission Cheese (artisan cheese and wine): http://missioncheese.net/

Tartine Bakery (AMAZING croissants!!): http://www.tartinebakery.com/ 

Standard Deviant Brewing http://standarddeviantbrewing.com/

Dandelion Chocolate https://www.dandelionchocolate.com/

There is so much to explore even in the mission district and of course you could food tour San Fran for years but these were some of our favorites and we read that the Mission District was known for its spectacular food.

Another fun place we went and enjoyed was Hogwash: http://www.hogwashsf.com/ 
It was a fun little gourmet hot dog restaurant with a modern atmosphere.

Of course, we had to go to the pier and try a lobster roll- the "touristy" thing to do but it was yummy! The rolls are pretty pricey at the pier though due to the tourist action so you might be better off finding a more affordable option that is just as good but we enjoyed the view. Here is a fun link to an article that shares the 9 best lobster rolls in the bay area: https://www.purewow.com/food/best-lobster-rolls-bay-area

We also explored San Fran China Town at night and we tried some chinese food which did not disappoint: http://houseofnanking.net/default.aspx?utm_source=tripadvisor&utm_medium=referral . Lots of options to explore all over China Town!

I hope my little reflection on our experience helps you in your traveling and I hope to share more thoughts about traveling with friends and babies in the future! In the mean time, I wish you the best in your adventuring! :)

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