oh how lovely a trip we shared last weekend. so much good quality downtime with nothing to worry about, no schedule to keep or to plan ahead for, no meals to cook or kitchen to clean up - just good, pure, adult relaxation and enjoyment. we stopped for lunch in santa barbara and enjoyed a little look around the cutest little sea village. loved watching them pull in the catch of the day right from the dock and wheel it into the kitchen! and it was definitely the best clam chowder i've ever enjoyed!
even the super long car trip was enjoyable, such gorgeous views-and the most time reid and i have shared to just chat or sit in silence or sing along to the radio in ages! the scenic highway 101 is just breathtaking, even though some of it was obscured by fog - we were just awe struck.
we drove to napa valley via monterrey to visit our dear friend adam. i could have stayed there another four days, what a gorgeous area that is - and we only saw it at night and early morning. we enjoyed a lovely sea food dinner out with adam and then relaxed at his place late into the night catching up with each other. he was a darling host and saw us off with a great big breakfast prepared for us before we left. thank you adam! how did we get away without taking a photo together? on our way to napa we took the famous bridge - so cool to see!
and then we hit napa valley - gorgeous, quaint, charming. we visited our favorite little no-frills, winery - casa nuestra - and had a wonderful time. later visiting the bigger, fancier, more expensive wineries, we felt the experience couldn't compare to the intimate, friendly, hands-on approach of casa nuestra. and their wine was tasty (and way less expensive too!).
as you can see, the tasting rooms at the other wineries are a bit fancier (there were some super amazing incredible fancy wineries, castles even, but we just ran out of time and only got to visit a couple) - and we definitely had great wine at all of them, but i will still take the laid back low key any day!
we really loved calistoga which is in napa valley about 26.2 miles outside of napa, tiny little town with a sweet main street. st. helena was also awesome - equally tiny and equally charming. we spent saturday afternoon local in calistoga and reid did a pouring tour as part of the mud music and mustard festival - pouring and live music at all the local shops.
and then after a long road trip, a few days of wining and dining and taking it all in, it was race day. rainy. cold. and 26.2 miles to be run. it was a great course and had fabulous race support the entire route, but the cold and the sloped roads to account for all the winding really did a number on my knees. i ran my fastest half marathon to start it out and felt great, but the middle was winding and sloping and my knees were absolutely screaming. i knew the last place i would see reid spectating was mile 18 (which it turns out was lucky i saw him because the poor guy was trying to find me after getting stalled with a dead car battery at one of the spectator spots!) and i was considering stopping. but i wanted it too bad and decided i'd try to finish even if i had to walk. luckily at about mile 19 i got my second wind, the road flattened out and i managed to run a respectable pace the last 6 miles finishing my first full marathon in 4 hours and 5 minutes. the rest of the day was all about consuming as many calories as possible in the form of an amazingly huge breakfast for lunch and then a looong afternoon of laying around napping a little and listening to the rain fall.
mile 15ish
the next morning we enjoyed breakfast at our little b&b and then my amazing husband drove the ENTIRE ten hour trip home while i read and napped and practiced bending my very angry knees. thanks again to the nannen grandparents for giving us the opportunity for a getaway together!
