'A Babymoon' refers to a one last long trip a couple may take before their baby is scheduled to arrive and lives change forever.
We decided to take full advantage of this new concept and hop on a flight out to Northern California to see several family and friends from each of our respective families!!! We flew into San Francisco and started the trip off in Santa Cruz, where our cousin Heather lives. She took us all along the PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) down to Monterrey, Carmel and Big Sur. We had lunch at Nepenthe, where the views were amazing! We also had breakfast at Cafe Brasil, which had the most amazing Acai bowl ever!! I'm still dreaming about it! The next day we went hiking in the Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park, where Drake finally (after searching for a couple hours) found his banana slug. Read more below...
After that we headed up to Morgan Hill, where Drake's Aunt Teresa and Uncle Larry live. They made us an amazing dinner and we had a fabulous time visiting with them for a couple days as well as Drake's cousins Justin, Ashley and their 2 boys, Vander and Oliven. We even got some time with them to play baseball and bubbles in the backyard!
After that, Theresa and Larry handed over the keys to the Brit, (aka MINI Cooper) and we headed up to the city. We went on the Alcatraz tour and then experienced a taqueria in the Mission. We stayed at a fancy hotel near Union Square and drove all around the city to see all the San Francisco sights! I'm pretty sure we saw every tourist attraction possible:)
We then headed up toward Napa, where we stopped off to visit our cousins Brooke and Kyle and their most adorable little boy, Hunter! We had lunch at the Blue Barn Gourmet in Marin, which was AMAZING! And then headed off to visit Mt. Tam, Muir Beach and The Pelican Inn. A super cool English hotel and restaurant just off the PCH. It was so great to visit with them for the day!
And then....there's wine country! I think we drove the entire Napa Valley and stopped off at multiple wineries along the way including Cline Cellars, Viansa, Casa Nuestra, Markham and ended the day with our friend Peter at theFarmstead at Long Meadow Ranch in St. Helena. Drake had a great time tasting all the wines and I enjoyed taking in all the views along with the Online Pokies occasional Volume Pills sip of wine:) We stopped by the Oxbow Market and picked up some fresh cheese, bread and meats and had a feast back in our hotel room at the Andaz Napa, which was fabulous!
The next day we headed up toSebastopol, where Aunt MaryAnn and Gary live. They treated us to a fantastic salmon dinner and we relaxed on their deck for hours and even spent some time in their hot tub!! They drove us up the PCH the next day to see the majestic cliffside views and take in the ocean air. It was pretty cold so I stayed in the car most of the day:) We made it up to Jenner and had coffee by the ocean! We came back and explored the cute, hippyish town of Sebastopol that night! The Hopmonk Tavern was a fun place for us to relax after a long day in the car. After that, we went back to the house and got a tour of Gary's recording studio, Gatmo! It was fun to see all his musical instruments and listen to his new recordings.
The next day on our way back to the city, we took a detour to thePoint Reyes lighthouse! It was a hike to get to but well worth the effort! We also got to stop by Drake's Bay Oyster Farm. It's a shame, we don't like oysters:/ After that, we stuck in the tiny town of Inverness for a few hours due to a car/cyclist accident. Good thing it was warm, so we got to sit out on the water and enjoy the perfect weather! When we finally got through, we headed back to the city where we met up for a "cousin dinner" at Padrecito in Cole Valley. Our cousins, Brooke, Kyle, Mitch, Katie, Tori and Mark all made it out to hang with us for the evening. We had a fantastic time catching up and eating delicious food! The chilaquiles were great!! (Thanks to Brooke's restaurant group for accomodating us!)
We ended the trip with Mitch and Katie in the city, where we had a fabulous brunch at Outerlands and then hung out in Dolores Park, which is the happening place on the weekends! We had a fabulous time and are so happy that we were able to visit so many places and family members!! We are also glad that we got to spend the time together since Baby Grayson will be joining us soon on our future adventures:)
