RoadTrip: Bay Area II

I could have combined this post with the other Bay Area recap but since this was in a different city with different people, it felt right to split it up.  So after the Giants game we drove down to San Jose to meet up with Mike Smith, a college friend of mine.

We arrived at his place and started laundry, which was desperately needed at this point.  We chilled out at his place for a bit before his girlfriend Stephanie arrived.  Smith has a place down in Santa Cruz that is awesome and only locals know about it so we were headed that direction. 

It was a bit of a drive, maybe 45 minutes  but we arrived at this gravel parking lot just off of the PCH with the sun still high in the sky.  There wasn't anything around except a few cars and some grassy hills but Smith insisted that there was a trail out to a secluded beach.  We found the trail and it was about a 5 minute walk away from the road when we reached the beach.

Locals' Beach in Santa Cruz

The beach had a few surfers in the water and few others sitting on the sand watching and that was it.  It wasn't a very big beach with rocks creating a small bay but the surfers seemed to enjoy the spot for the waves as well as the privacy.  Smith said that we were going to climb out on the rocks to the point to get an even better view and we had no reason not to follow him as he had been there before.  So we took off our shoes, rolled up our pant legs, and started edging our way along the rocks.  There were a few parts that involved climbing up the wall and a little jumping and with some good timing we were all able to avoid the big waves and reach the point high and dry.

Looking Back at the Beach from the Point

The views from the rock point were spectacular.  The sun was setting, the beach back behind us, the waves crashing all around us.  We were happy to sit, open a beer, and discuss life from such an amazingly unique location.  As we were sipping our beers we realized that the waves although were big before were now consistently bigger and stronger.  We didn't want to get stranded out on these rocks so we chugged the last bit of our beers and started the treacherous climb back down to the beach.

This part of the climb involved some skill and finesse as you had to time your movements with the waves.  The first step off of the flat point was difficult as it was about 8 feet down and all the waves seemed to crash right into the tight spot.  Smith went first and helped Stephanie down and made it to a dry spot, Megan was next and as she was inching her way down a large waves came up on the point.  Smith yells to jump as he scales the wall to get as high as possible but Megan is stuck with her feet dangling off of the ground as the wave reaches her.  She gets a pants full of salt water as everyone else was able to avoid the wave.  After this encounter with the ocean, we move confidently and quickly towards the beach, well Megan actually from then on in didn't care if she got wet because she was already drenched but the rest of us reach the sandy beach warm and dry.

The Wave that got Megan

We were graving some food and beer and didn't want to make the drive back to San Jose before we ate so we went in to town to a place called 99 Beers on the Wall.  First, we stopped at a surf shop to find Megan a pair of sweatpants because she didn't want to eat dinner in soaking pants.  We devoured some grub and beers before making the drive back to Smith's place where we had a few more drinks with his friends.

First Stop: Sequoia Grove Vineyards

The next morning we woke early to do a Smith and Stephanie wine tour of Napa Valley.  We had a bagel and some Starbucks and headed North towards the vineyards.  Our first stop was at Sequoia Grove for some morning wine as we arrived at 10:45, a few minutes after they opened.  We sat outside on the patio and our winetender kept bringing out samples to us instead of us having to go inside to get them, definitely a perk of being at the place when we were the only ones there.

Enjoying the Nice Weather at Sequoia Grove

We wanted to have a tour of one of the wineries and the one at Hall Winery that Smith normally does was booked so we decided to go to one of the large scale wineries, Robert Mondavi.  We lucked out because it was Mr. Mondavi's 99 birthday and they were giving our free samples.  We signed up for a tour and pretty much just made fun of the guide for being so pompous.  It was cool to go through the cellar and barrel room though.

Round Two: Celebrating Robert Mondavi's 99th Birthday

Next Stop: Hall

We didn't stick around for any of the birthday festivities as we wanted to make it to Hall Winery because Stephanie's parents were members and they typically treat Stephanie and Smith well.  This trip was no different as the winetender was very friendly.  We made some friends with another couple from Indiana and chatted about the Hoosiers before moving outside for some seats in the shade as it was a hot day in Napa.  We were really starting to have fun, if you know what I mean, and our winetender kept bringing us samples of Reserves and Specials which at this point everything tasted great.  When we went to pay he only charged us for 1 tasting, which cemented the reason why Smith and Stephanie would keep going back to Hall.

125th Anniversary Selection Madeira

In dire need of a meal, we went to V. Sattoi Winery next as they have a deli with a great selection of entries and sides and a large outdoor seating area.  I had the turkey and cranberry sandwich with the thai salad and Megan had the Italian sandwich with a side of crabcakes.  We of course had some wine with lunch but also added some water to help stay sane.  The lunch was delicious and reinvigorated us to try more vino.  We went inside the winery and our winetender was the granddaughter of V. Sattoi.  We tried a few samples and I found my favorite wine, a dessert wine that had hints of burboun and I had to have a bottle of it.  It was the 125 Anniversary Madeira, what can I say, I have expensive tastes.

We were going to make one more stop at Prager Winery for some Ports but they were closed so we decided to head home.  We started down the road but the traffic was atrocious.  There was a winery that I had seen on the show, Drinking Made Easy, called Peju that we were inching by in the traffic and decided to stop in because it couldn't be worse than sitting in traffic.  We had about 14 glasses of water and decided to just get a bottle and enjoy it outside on the patio.

Last Stop: All of Us at Peju

After we waited out the traffic, our drive was much more enjoyable.  We stopped at the grocery store to pick up some steaks and sides and grilled out when we got home.  We ate out by the pool and some of Smith's friends joined us as we drank a few beers and listened to some music.  I had been envious of Smith's longboard in his apartment and decided I needed to try it so we grabbed it and took to the streets.  I found it to be relatively easy especially considering I can hardly stand on a normal skateboard.  After a few trips up and down the parking lot I had the hang of it and was loving it!

Drunk Longboarding, Drunk Photography

Before we knew it was already midnight which of course is a great time to start doing some chiropractic work.  Smith laid us down on his table and straightened us out.  I went first and without any delay Smith cracked my back in a few places and gave my neck a good twisting.  I stood up and felt like jelly as everything was feeling good.  Megan was next and would not relax while up on the table.  After some coaxing, Smith got her to relax enough to start and cracked her back, which was so loud might have woke up the neighbors.  Megan was limp for the rest of the alignment and had a huge smile on her face as she stood up.  We all were pretty exhausted from our long day and turned in soon after our backs being worked on.

The next morning was rough.  No one was in any hurry to move.  Megan had told her cousin that we would try to make it for brunch at 11 but since she didn't wake up until 11:15 we missed that.  I took a shower and longboarded around the neighborhood to get the car.  Megan still wasn't moving as she tends to only lay in bed during bad hangovers.  Smith and I wanted to eat something greasy and In-n-Out Burger was just what we were looking for.  We forced Megan to come to the pool with us and we ate down by the pool.  It was a hot day and the water felt great but since we missed brunch we decided to do dinner with Megan's cousin and second cousins so we had to leave the cool water and head out.

We made it over to Amy-Beth's house and her four little kids were running around excited to see cousin Megan.  Megan was less excited about the encounter.  But I was feeling much better than Megan and was able to play around with them as Megan chatted with Amy-Beth.  We jumped on the trampoline with the hose misting water on us and of course I impressed the 5 year old with my juggling and flips.  I'm really just a big child.  We then moved the circus inside where we made some fresh squeezed lemonade which was amazing!  Steve, Amy-Beth's husband had made dinner and we ate some BBQ chicken and homemade mac 'n cheese.  We sat around a little and chatted with Amy-Beth before having to leave and drive towards Yosemite.

We drove a little over 2 hours when we stopped at a crappy motel in Merced, CA but we knew we would only be staying for a few hours before leaving for Yosemite early in the morning.