Cali Swing - Part I

We planned a trip to the beautiful California coast for our 3rd wedding anniversary. We absolutely love it out there and couldn't wait to go back. We flew in to San Francisco Friday afternoon and stayed with our good friend Josh. He has an amazing house in the Marina District, just a 5 minute walk to the Golden Gate Bridge. Josh has been the best tour guide every time we visit SF. We have toured every square inch of this beautiful city and love and appreciate it as much as we do Austin.

We decided to hang out in the Marina District and get a feel of how the locals live. On Friday evening we went to the California Wine Merchant for a cocktail and then picked up some from Pizza Orgasmica & Brewing Co. (a local favorite). The pizza was phenomenal!

On Saturday morning we took our usual jog to the Golden Gate Bridge and the jogged over to our favorite brunch spot in SF called The Squat and Gobble. Just to be out in the fresh air on the bay is breathtaking.

There was a lot of fog and it was much colder than usual for SF in August. Here we are in front of the GGBridge and Alcatraz.



After brunch we headed out to wine country. We have vistied Napa and Sonoma before and loved it; but this time we ventured into Zin-country and went to the Russian River Valley in Healdsburg, CA. We were not very familiar with Zinfandel before this trip, but we will order it more often in Dallas now that we know all about it! Most of the wineries in the Russian River Valley are family owned, which gives the customer a more personal, hands-on feel such as tasting from the barrel.

We toured Dry Creek Vineyard, which has won several awards for their Zinfandels with ratings of 93 points and higher. This winery had some similarities to a Fredricksburg winery. Although it was absolutely gorgeous, it had a laid back Texas charm with an acustic band to entertain us on the lawn outside the winery.







We also toured Bella Vineyards, which was a cave tour we had never done before. It was amazing and the Zins were full of flavor. They even had a dessert wine (a petite sirah) paired with these amazing chocolate brownie bites. Some of the vines are 85 years old. We enjoyed a couple of bottles of our favorite Zin on the estate, while listening to live music.







That evening we went out on Chestnut to Izzys Steaks & Chops. It was one of the best meals we have had in a while. We had calamari, oysters, shrimp cocktail to start and the boys had the bone-in ribeye and I had the Tiger Prawns. When we are in SF, we like to take advantage of all things seafood because it is so fresh! You can't get that freshness in Dallas.