Our first day was the long haul down to California, about 13 hours drive; but we ended in gorgeous St. Helena, CA, and checked into our wonderful room at the Harvest Inn. In the morning we discovered that our hotel room overlooked a beautiful vineyard and we enjoyed a bountiful breakfast in the rose garden that also overlooked the vineyard. We spent the morning perusing the streets of St. Helena and ducking into almost all my favorite shops and I loved sharing my favorite places with Nick. We ate a delicious lunch at the Market restaurant and then headed back to our hotel where we spent the afternoon by and in the pool. That evening we had a couple's massage in the Redwood Grove in a gorgeous cabana. The evening was topped off by dinner at a local restaurant called Farmstead - the food was divine!
Tuesday was our dress up day - we spent the afternoon riding the Napa Valley Wine train and enjoying a divine 4 course lunch that was complimented by some scrumptious anniversary truffles. We had hired a driver (found out he and his wife's names were Ken and Barbie; he had also been the former mayor of St. Helena for 3 terms!!) to take us to the train and back to our hotel and after speaking with him we decided to book a wine tour after the train ride. He took us to two incredible wineries - Keever Vineyards and Fleury Winery where we sampled some amazing wines and enjoyed ourselves immensely. That evening we enjoyed dinner on our back patio overlooking the vineyard while eating delicious burgers and garlic fries from Gott's Roadside. The next day we had to check out of the gorgeous Harvest Inn and begin our journey north. We headed out of St. Helena and through Sonoma Valley, as we started up the highway Nick made a quick judgement and sailed off a side ramp and decided to take us up Highway 1. He could not have made a better decision!! We traveled through little bitty towns along the coast and through Redwood forests, drove through Mendocino and stopped at the cliffs to overlook the ocean. We stopped at another place and hiked down to the beach and dipped our toes in the ocean and chased the seagulls that tried to eat our socks. While we stopped there we decided to find a place to stay for the night and settled on the Benbow Inn right outside the Redwood National Forest. On our way to the inn we made our first Redwood tourist stop - the drive through Chandelier Tree - quite spectacular. The Benbow Inn is hard to describe - historic, stunning, something out of a movie set and quite divine. Nestled 12 miles from the entrance to the Redwood National Forest this is the place to stay if you are ever planning on traveling through the Redwoods. After a glorious dinner and spectacular breakfast, we walked around the grounds a bit and then headed for the Redwoods. We spent all day driving the sacred 31 miles of the Avenue of the Giants. Trees that have been around since Christ walked this earth, trees that are so huge you can hardly see the tops of without nearly breaking your neck and forests that are ancient and feel as though you should speak in hushed tones as you stand among them. As we exited the Redwoods we decided to not drive for too many more hours that evening and stopped in Brookings, Oregon (we should have driven further!). The beach was spectacular and we enjoyed a breathtaking sunset. We left very early to a foggy morning with some amazing coffee from The Salty Dog in hand. We crossed beautiful bridges, caught views of the ocean and still enjoyed pieces of the Redwoods. We continued reading through Harry Potter as well - we finished book one and most of book 2 on our trip. Our goal was to make it all the way to Cannon Beach so we could enjoy one last night on the coast and a relaxing morning before heading home. We had called ahead while in Brookings and made hotel reservations at a fantastic resort on Cannon Beach called the Surfsand Resort. There is nowhere else to stay on Cannon Beach than this place!! Fantastic views, access and hook-ups with local restaurants. The staff was so helpful and when we checked in there were warm cookies in the lobby and a bottle of champagne chilling in the fridge in our room. We spent the evening walking down to Haystack Rock and playing in the tide pools (so glad we did because the next morning it was high tide and we weren't able to see the pools!). We ate at the Wayfarer Restaurant and the waitress was kind enough to switch us to a booth seat before our dinner came. The atmosphere was about 2 stars, but the food was 5 - absolutely spectacular!! The next morning we enjoyed breakfast in our room, coffee from the Sleep Monk and one last walk on the beach. Then we headed home - it was soooo hard to come home! We spent the evening having dinner at our favorite local Greek restaurant, Cafe Neo. There are hundreds of pictures to look at so I apologize for the length of the slide shows, but I hope you enjoy all the beauty we experienced.
Day Minus 1 and Zero of our trip
Days 1-3 Napa Valley
Day 4 - Driving up the coast to the Redwoods
The Benbow Inn
Day 5 - The Redwoods
First night at the beach
Days 6 and 7 - Cannon Beach and Home
We came home to some pretty amazing garden produce and a lawn that had turned into a jungle. This was our best vacation ever and a wonderful time to celebrate 11 years of marriage. We are looking forward to the next trip already!!
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