NoCal? YESCal!

Don't worry, I'm not packing my bags and introducing "hella" into my vocabulary but I'd just like to state right here, right now, that I'm having a mini love affair with Northern California. B, BFF Nivek and I spend 36 hours in the woodsy part of our state and we had a fantastic time!!

We woke up bright and early on a Saturday morning and drove straight to San Luis Obispo to grub in B's college town. Firestone Grill is known for their yummy burgers, tri-tip sandwiches, and basket of fries. I'm sure if it wasn't 11 a.m. and we didn't have wine in our future, we would have enjoyed some beer (who am I kidding? like I drink beer? ew!)

We drove around campus and BFF Nivek and I made parallel comparisons about our alma mater. It pretty much entailed how college girls are all the same; the only thing that changes from one school to another is the name of the college embroidered onto their butt shorts. 

We stopped for a little bit about 45 minutes north of SLO in Templeton. There's nothing in Templeton but this  brand new little wine bar that is delicious and owned by the daughter of one of my professors I do business with. Thankfully we were craving wine (and I'm craving some new business), so we stopped in and introduced ourselves. We were treated to a lovely cheese plate and tasting flight. We even bought the pinot grigio from Argentina that was included in our flight -- it was delish! I totally recommend this place if  you're, uh, ya know, ever in TEMPLETON! It's called 15Degrees.

A couple hours later, we finally made it up to Los Altos, changed real quick in a restaurant bathroom, and breezed into Tim and Rachel's party. It was great to see them and even though they were so busy and couldn't give us all of their attention, we could see how happy they are as an official married couple (they'd been ACTING married for years! This was a long time coming!). A few other college friends were there so B got to meet a few new people, too. B fitting right in with the UofA AEPi guys, Jody, Tim, BFF Nivek and Dave.

Kevin with his 2 AEPi sweethearts

Two of my favorite fraternity guys, Timmy and BFF Nivek!

After the party, we crashed at our hotel room and relaxed for a little bit after a long day of driving. We hadn't really planned what to do in the evening and decided to play everything by ear. This is a first for an OCD girl like me who usually has everything set to a schedule. For once, I went with the flow and it was actually fun (and B appreciated my low-key/whatever attitude!). So, around 7pm, B realized we could meet up with his now-married friends from college who live in The City (NorCal people call San Francisco  The City a la New Yorkers calling Manhattan The City. Oh so very cosmopolitan). So, before we knew it, we were in the car en route to SF to meet up with Brian and Anna for some yummy margaritas and Mexan food. BFF Nivek and I don't even like margaritas but these were some of the best I've ever had. And our tacos were gigantic. If you're ever up north and want some comida deliciosa, I recommend Tres Agaves with much enthusiasm! Ole! Brian and Anna are so much fun! Brian and B were in the computer science program together at Cal Poly and became friends through the honors program. Early on in college, Brian fell in love with Anna and after a lot of chasing and waiting, she finally realized how great he is and they got married shortly after college. They are adorable together and have a lovely condo right next to AT&T Park where the Giants play (booo Giants but it IS a nice park...).  They'll be at our wedding and we can't wait to party with them! After dinner, they hopped in our car and narrated a tour of the city for BFF Nivek (who'd never been to San Francisco before) while I drove around. The city is beautiful at night and it was fun, but nerve wracking to drive down squiggly, windy Lombard Street.

We said our goodbyes and got back to the hotel safe and sound around midnight where we realized we were a little delirious from our extremely LONG day. The evidence:

    Crazy boys.

 

Anyway, the next morning we lazily got up and drove to San Jose to see the Winchester Mystery House. I'd been there as a kid and wanted B and BFF Nivek to see this crazy place so we took the tour and confirmed that Sara Winchester was indeed insane. I mean, she built a door to NOWHERE:

What? Yeah, this woman built because there was crazy talk in her head that if she kept building and building, it would confuse the ghosts of dead people killed by Winchester rifles.   Bryan had a good time feeling up statues in the garden. A good time had by all at the Mystery House!   "OOooooohhh!!!!!!!!"

After we left San Jose, we went to Santa Cruz. I'd always heard that it was a cute, fun town with good wine tasting so for some more vino, we headed to hippie town and met some cool winemakers and enjoyed free tastings!! Unlike Napa, you don't pay a gazillion dollars to taste and you also get more than 3 or 4 wines to taste. After our first winery, we were already wasted.  Very yummy stuff. We ended up going to 2 more wineries before sobering up and heading home. It was late afternoon already (times flies when you're drinking wine) and one of the winemakers told us about this yummy seafood place in Moss Landing about 20 minutes south of Santa Cruz so we stopped there and it was yummy indeed. I did my best to forget all about that little wedding dress I have to fit into in 2 months and devoured some delicious fish 'n' chips! Next time you're in Moss Landing (?!?!?) and you have a hankering for seafood, give Phil's Fish Market a try. We bought a round of sourdough bread to eat in the car. It was also delicious! Wish we had something closer to us just like it!

And then, off into the sunset, we drove south and only stopping for a quick pee break in SLO, we arrived home a little after 10 and we said goodbye to our fun weekend of adventures! I love road trips and hope to do more of them up and down the coast of our great state. We have lots of friends and food along the way to make it special!