Ramblings....: August 2021

Pat & I were chatting one day about where we should go on vacation sometime during the summer with the kiddo.

It all started when she said she really wanted to visit the Winchester Mystery House. So this turned into a San Jose/San Francisco/Russian River/San Luis Obispo trip! We left on a Sunday and returned on Friday.

We packed a lot into those 6 days. 3 hotels and 1 air bnb later - trip accomplished! I took a slew of pictures so this blog is looooooong. One thing we did learn - we prefer the comfort of air bnb's. The one night hotel stays were perfect for our hopping around, but it's so nice to stay in one place for a few days. The three of us had a wonderful time! Check out the trip!

Here we go!

Pat & Elise had never been to Solvang and I insisted this is a must stop on a trip up north. We rolled into town, had a delicious breakfast, found a geocache, wandered the town a bit and of course purchased plenty of pastries for the trip. I think I convinced them to come back sometime! I've always wanted to stay a few days there and hike and wander the town more.

What is this foreign thing...and why is it missing?

Had to get these!

Solvang Geocache!

After a very long drive (Jami was getting a little slap happy) we finally landed in San Jose, checked into our hotel, found a geocache of course...then had sushi for dinner. I wouldn't recommend the place - although the food was pretty good the service was absolutely horrible.

Had to tackle the staff for our food...

Oh there's a geocache down the street?

Rose in a paper cup. I'm classy

The next morning - out the door to the Winchester House! It was so friggin cool!! I've always wanted to go and was thrilled to check this off the list. The architecture was just stunning and what story! We got tickets for a 1 hour guided tour. The tour guide was a delight and our group was very chill. It's crazy how many rooms this place has and how many we hit on the tour! I tried to include interesting tidbits in the captions.

Hell yes we got the Souvenir Photos!

One of the staff. Sarah Winchester took amazing care of her staff and built them houses to live on the property

So pretty!

Front Garden Area

One of my favorite shots

We made our wishes!

Our tour started in the Carriage House - Sarah had this built so the carriage could pull in and pick her up

There were a few staircases to nowhwere

Her bedroom

She was always asking for volunteers to do random things and guess who was the only one always volunteering? #actorforlife

She was only just under 5 feet tall!

We went up and down some crazy tiny staircases

Amazing Stained Glass everywhere

Her fam

Sarah was apparently quite the plant lady. Had a couple of special rooms built just for her plants - great light, water system, etc

This was made of hair. I shit you not

Random things that went nowhere

Her bathroom - apparently heated up like a sauna!

Everything was in 13's - like everything from hooks, to designs in the panels, to EVERYTHING

The unfinished ballroom

Loved this shot too - the bee was a happy accident

Specially made so it had 13 lights

She had stairways built so it was easier for her staff to get around

Some places are just scary random things that drop into nowhere

Sarah was trapped in here when the big San Fran earthquake hit! She never had it fixed

Selfie before we head in!

From here we then headed up to San Francisco - this caused my anxiety to spike because - have you ever driven in San Fran?! Ugh. I've been many times actually and the thing I hate the most is driving in the city. Those hills and the chaos - it's rough. So of course getting to our hotel was quite stressful and Pat booked a perfect hotel right in Fisherman's Wharf but pulling up after driving in the city, bus boys and bellman and chaos - Lordy. We stayed at The Argonaut Hotel and it was super cool! I'll warn you though - $75 for parking!!! There's also some $30 amenities fee which is ridiculous. So although the location is perfect and the hotel is quite nice - be ready with your pocket book. The hotel was cool as hell though. Loved the nautical theme and once I got my little Rose - I was happy.

Gimmie a damn drink!

If you want to lounge in the lobby. LOL!

After we got settled we headed out to explore. Later, back to the hotel to doll up for dinner. Pat had suggested we dress nice for one night out which I loved! We then re-hit the town and had a wonderful time! We also got blessed with one of the most incredible sunsets I've ever seen!

Games in the hotel lobby

Paint setting!

Elise loves her Boba

Fancy time!

He posed for me

Our one family fancy shot

Can you even?!?!?

I couldn't stop looking at it

A fave

Cool battleship

Hell. Yes.

The Great Crab Adventure! I haven't had crab like this in years..it turned into quite a delicious mess

We're still clean

This is a lot of work

So messy

We did it!

After our night on the town we hit up GoldenGate Park the next day before we headed out to Russian River. I've only been here once a million years ago. The place is huge!! We decided to hit up the Japanese Tea Garden, the de young museum and Shakespeare's Garden (which had a geocache!)

Warm Miso

Such a cool bridge!

I want to do a play here!

Paint setting fun

The Scream

My yummy beautiful lunch

Shakespeare!

They had quotes from his plays on the wall!

The geocache was called The Bard of Avon

That's not Shakespeare...

Hey Will!

After our beautiful day at the park we crossed over the Golden Gate and headed to Russian River. We stayed at the most adorable air bnb in the community called Rio Nido in Russian River. There's a pool and a restaurant there that we never made it too, but it's friggin gorgeous!! Canopied under redwoods just down the street from Korbel Winery which of course I had to hit up! The place had a hot tub that we went in both nights we stayed there and was just perfect. My mornings were spent having coffee out on the little deck listening to the squirrels battle each other and smelling the glorious smell of the dank forest. I was in heaven! Definitely the highlight of the trip for me!

Bridge Fun!

In my element

I love us

Got me some Korbel!

This air bnb had a complimentary bottle!! YES!!!

Mimosa time

The perfect mornings

We hit up the River on day two, little chilly to play in there but we had a nice afternoon relaxing on a random beach we found. Wandered the town a tad, then had a yummy BBQ at the place that night. In fact we ate in both nights. It was so nice to just cook!

Fam on the River

Loved the messaging around here

My kinda town

The BBQ Master

From here we headed to San Luis Obispo. We figured the drive home from Russian River would be too much so we threw in one more stop. This got Pat to his favorite Farmer's Market in SLO and we had a lovely evening. I even found an awesome geocache!