Last time I blogged, we were 750 miles to the south… Today, we checked into Portland, Oregon. This will be the last stop of our vacation… Over the past 3 days, we traveled from Carmel to Sacramento, California, then to Medford, Oregon, and then to Portland, Oregon. During this stretch, we traveled the Interstate 5, a major highway running South-North in the interior of California, Oregon and Washington. The drive was not as pleasant as the drive down, which we […]
I knew staying in Carmel was a good idea, but it turned out to be the best idea ever! The 2 days we spent here have been the best of our entire trip!! From the town itself to the drive leading to it, to the beach, to the road to Monterey… Everything is spectacular, mind-blowing!! We went for a stroll on the beach this morning, and I couldn’t stop firing my camera… Got a little trigger-happy, shooting every new wave […]
That’s it, the inexorable return home has started… We finally left the hotel we called home for the past 5 days, in San Diego. All good things have to end, but it ain’t over til it’s over!! Quickly, before I tell you about our past couple of days, a quick note on the title of this post… When we were in Florence, we had a nice dinner in the old town and I had to choose a bottle a wine. […]
Over the last few days, we have been taking it easy, and getting to know San Diego and its surroundings. We have seen Del Mar and La Jolla, the Mission Beach area, the Old Town, Point Loma, the Coronado neighborhood, Balboa Park and the Zoo, and multiple bars and restaurants in the Gaslamp district. But, the highlight was what we couldn’t do the first time we were in La Jolla, because of lack of wind: PARAGLIDING!!! Yes, we did it, […]
On Monday night, our last night in Pismo Beach, we decided to go to a restaurant that looked very nice on paper (actually, glass, but let’s not be picky): Ventana Grill. After a 20-second drive, we realized how close it was from our hotel… The place is very nice, both on outside and inside. The location is also prime, as it is perched on top of the cliff, overlooking Pismo Beach and the Pacific Ocean. The view was not spectacular […]
As we drive south, we notice the increasing Mexican influence, from people to street and city names. As a result, I will blog in Spanish from now on. You can find translation tools on the web to help you make sense of it all… Es una broma! (just kidding!) So, what happened since last time? Well, we had a very nice breakfast at Pat’s Cafe, a few blocks away from the overcrowded Fisherman’s Wharf and did some more strolling in […]
Two days ago was our last day in the Sonoma/Napa area… Our first order of the day was to check out the ‘Seed Bank’ we had noticed the first day we were in Petaluma. “Seed Bank?”, you may ask… No, this is not a specialty clinic we used to fund our trip… The seed bank is simply a store selling seeds, which happens to be located in an old bank. Very nice building, full of seeds, and plant-lovers… I have […]
Another good couple of days under the Californian sun of the Napa and Sonoma region… We eased into it with a tour of the Mumm Napa winery before the noon hour. I have no problem drinking champagne in the morning! Mumm, originally from the Champagne region in France, decided to expand their horizon and picked the particular spot of Los Carneros in the Sonoma region to grow grapes and emulate the sparkling wine made in France. The tour was very […]