Kauai

In December, Ashley and I made our triumphant return to Hawaii.  This time we focused our visit on the island of Kauai.  We'll have to hit the Big Island on our next trip to round out all of the major Hawaiian Islands.  We had heard a lot of great things about Kauai from friends that have been there, so we were really excited about this trip.

Our base of operations was the Kauai Marriott Resort and Beach Club in Lihue, which was in an excellent location for exploring the rest of the island.  While the rooms were somewhat dated, they were comfortable and more than sufficient for a relaxing week in paradise.  The Marriott is on Kalapaki Beach in a cove that is protected from the ocean.  This keeps the water fairly calm and makes it an excellent place for stand-up paddle surfing, which we tried for the first time.  If I lived in Hawaii, I would go stand-up paddle surfing everyday as it's a lot of fun.  The beach is also really nice for relaxing and enjoying the sun, and we did quite a bit of both.  One kind of weird/unique thing about Kauai is that there are chickens running loose everywhere.  We saw them pretty much everywhere we went.  Apparently, they were freed by a hurricane in the early 1990's.

Kalapaki Beach

Stand-up Paddle Surfing

Rooster on the loose!

For this trip, we rented a car for the whole time, something that I would highly recommend in Hawaii.  There is so much to see and having a car gets you access to all of that.  Plus, taxis are insanely expensive in Hawaii.  It's much more cost effective to rent a car.

A big first for both of us on this trip was going on a helicopter tour.  Neither of us had been on a helicopter before, but we had heard this was the best way to see the island as a good portion of it is not accessible by car.  We did a tour with Blue Hawaiian, and it was definitely one of the highlights of the trip.  The beauty of Kauai is hard to describe from the Jurassic Park waterfall to Waimea Canyon to the Na Pali Coast to Mount Waialeale (the wettest spot on earth).  It was definitely amazing to see it all from a helicopter.  Our pilot Dean gave us an awesome tour, and we ended up getting the DVD they offered as our pictures didn't quite do the tour justice.

Helicopter we flew on

View of North Shore from Helicopter

Two of our favorite things in Kauai were shave ice and poke (pronounced po kay).  For some reason, we didn't try shave ice on our last trip to Hawaii a couple of years ago, but we definitely made up for that this time.  If you've never heard of it, shave ice is finely shaved ice with flavored syrup poured on it (it's best to get it with a scoop of macadamia nut ice cream in the bottom).  It is kind of like a snow cone but far better than any snow cone I've ever had.  There are several shave ice stands around the island with different flavors and combinations.  I've listed the ones we went to and our thoughts on them below.  As for poke, it's typically a salad of cubed raw ahi tuna with some onion and seaweed and flavored with soy sauce and sesame oil.  There are several variations of poke, though, from spicy tuna poke to shrimp poke to octopus poke.  There are several local markets around Kauai that serve freshly made poke daily.  We typically got a few containers of different kinds of poke and shared them for lunch on the beach.  So tasty!!!

Shave ice!!!

Here are some other highlights from our trip:

Activities

• North Shore beaches - This is pretty much a must do if you come to Kauai.  We drove all the way to the end of the road to Ke'e Beach and worked our way back.  The drive itself is amazing, though the last few miles are a bit dicey with several one lane bridges.  Ke'e Beach is one of the most amazing beaches I've ever been on.  This beach is undeveloped so it almost feels like you're on a deserted tropical island (at least until you see all the other people who found the spot).  This beach has an amazing view down the Na Pali coast.  Early in the trip we purchased a couple of cheap beach chairs at K-Mart.  We brought these with us so that we could relax on the beach for a while.  We also stopped at Hanalei Dolphin Fish Market on the way up and got some poke and a sushi roll to snack on hanging out at the beach.  After leaving Ke'e Beach, we stopped at Ha'ena Beach and snapped a few pics.  After getting some shave ice in Hanalei, we ended our day on the beach at Hanalei Bay by the pier.  Hanalei Bay is in one of the most amazing settings you can imagine.  It's got a long curved beach backed by mountains.  Words can't do it justice.  One of the neat things about our visit to Hanalei Bay was seeing all the local families hanging out and enjoying the day.

Ke'e Beach

Hanalei Bay

• Waimea Canyon - Waimea Canyon is called the "Grand Canyon of the Pacific."  It's certainly an amazing site and does look similar to the Grand Canyon.  If you're staying in Lihue, I would recommend leaving first thing in the morning for this trip.  It takes a couple of hours including stops for pictures to get to the end of the Waimea Canyon road, but there are some amazing views along this drive.  We hit the Shrimp Station in Waimea on the way back, and that is a place that's not to be missed (more on that below).

Waimea Canyon

• Po'ipu Beach - After driving up to Waimea Canyon, we stopped at Po'ipu Beach on our way back and spent the afternoon relaxing on the beach.  We had heard that this was one of the best beaches in Hawaii, so we were excited to check it out.  While it is a great and picturesque beach, it's not as spacious as other beaches we visited in Kauai.  We enjoyed our time here, but it didn't live up to what we thought it was going to be.

Po'ipu Beach

• Spouting Horn - This is a blowhole near Po'ipu Beach that is really cool.  There is a hole in some volcanic rock at the shore here.  When a wave comes, the water shoots up through the hole like a geyser.

Spouting Horn

• Kapa'a Bike Path - We rented bikes in Kapa'a from Eastside Coasters ($10 for 2 bikes all day long), and rode down the oceanside bike bath in Kapa'a (also known as the Ke Ala Hele Makalae).  This was a really fun activity as the views along the path are spectacular.

Kapa'a Bike Path

• Kilauea Lighthouse - This lighthouse is right on the edge of a cliff on the North Shore.  We didn't actually go up to the lighthouse (there's a charge to do that), but we did snap some pictures from the viewpoint by the parking lot.  It was a very scenic spot along the rocky coast.

Kilauea Lighthouse

• Wailua Falls - Wailua Falls is a short ride inland from Lihue and is an awesome site.  Apparently, these falls were featured in the intro of the Fantasy Island television series.

Wailua Falls

• Yoga House - Ashley went to this place for yoga a few times and had a great experience.  They offer a great one week unlimited deal that includes mat and towel.

Dining

• Hukilau Lanai - This restaurant in the Kauai Coast Resort in Kapa'a ended up surprisingly being one of my favorite meals of the trip.  Each of our meals was excellent.  I had the mixed grill which included spear fish and walu as well as a sugar cane skewered shrimp over creamy orzo and a Thai chili coconut sauce.  Ashley had almond crusted opah with spicy sambal cream, jasmine rice and yacon slaw.  It was a very tasty meal with excellent service.
• Kauai Grill - This restaurant is in the St. Regis hotel in Princeville on the North Shore.  We went early to have a drink at the St. Regis bar at sunset.  The bar has a spectacular view of Hanalei Bay and is an awesome place for a drink.  The hotel is gorgeous as well.  At Kauai Grill for dinner, we each got the tasting menu, which was excellent.  Highlights were Japanese Hamachi (with sugarloaf pineapple, meyer lemon and wasabi), Seared Kauai Shrimp (with fried baby artichokes, lemon fennel emulsion and paprika oil), slowly cooked Hapuupuu (with tomato lemongrass broth) and soy glazed Short Ribs (with green papaya-jalapeno puree).

View from St. Regis bar

• Shrimp Station - Just a shack on the side of the road in Waimea with some picnic tables outside of it, but the food is amazing.  The menu consists of shrimp dishes with different flavors.  I had the Thai Shrimp which consisted of shrimp in the shell cooked in a Thai spiced broth.  So gooodddd!!!  Ashley had their famous Coconut Shrimp which are battered with coconut and fried.  Holy cow!!!!  It's kind of crazy that some of the best food we had on the trip was from a roadside shack.  I highly recommend this place for anyone that goes to Kauai.  We ended up getting some t-shirts because we loved the place so much.

Shrimp Station

• Duke's - This is part of a chain of restaurants throughout Hawaii with a couple of locations in LA.  With the visit to the Kauai location, I've been to all of the Duke's restaurants, one of my great accomplishments. :)  Anyway, this Duke's was conveniently located right beside the Marriott.  We went here on our first night and had a great meal.  As a starter, they have an awesome salad bar with all kinds of goodies.  For dinner, I had the seared seven spice ahi tuna and Ashley had the sauteed opaka paka with lemon buerre blanc.  Both dishes were excellent.  Ashley also enjoyed a pina colada in a hollowed out pineapple to celebrate the start of our vacation.  Duke's also had a downstairs "barefoot bar" with more of a casual menu.  We did this after our long day of going out to Waimea and then Poipu.  I got the cheddar burger, and Ashley had the fish tacos.  Both were quality dishes.

View from Duke's

• Hamura Saimin Stand - Saimin is a Hawaiian dish that is a result of the blend of cultures that have settled there.  It's a scalding hot bowl of noodles with goodies like fish ball, pork, green onion, hard-boiled egg and spam (yes, spam) in it.  Hamura Saimin Stand is a local place in Lihue that is one of the more famous Saimin spots in Hawaii.  After reading about it and checking out some reviews, we decided to go one night.  It was a great local experience.  Hamura Saimin is in a small non-descript building with a low bar that snakes through it.  You wait in line, and when it's your turn you grab the next seats at the bar that open up.  You place your order (we both got the special saimin as well as two barbecue chicken skewers) and take in the scenery while you wait for your saimin.  You can see into the kitchen where there is a lady who looks like she's been doing this for years preparing all the bowls of saimin herself.  It was interesting to see her go through the process.  The saimin was very tasty.  We also got a slice of their famous lilikoi (passionfruit) pie for dessert, which was so good that we were fighting over it.
• Kalapaki Beach Hut - This was a burger shack just a short walk from the Marriott.  We hit this up a few times.  On my first visit I had the egg, cheese & Portuguese sausage breakfast sandwich (Mmmmmm.....).  We also tried the ono fish sandwich and the burger for lunch.  Excellent!  One of the cool things they had for lunch were taro fries.  Taro is a root vegetable similar to a potato that is popular in Hawaii, and it's purple.  It was kind of neat eating the purple taro fries.  They were very tasty.
• Pono Market - This was an awesome little food market in Kapa'a that we got poke from twice for lunch.  The first time we got shoyu ahi poke, spicy ahi poke, onion ahi poke and tako (octopus) poke.  The second time we had the same except the onion ahi poke, but we also got a container of their kalua pork (slow-cooked pulled pork similar to NC bbq).  The poke and pork were excellent!  I wish we had a Pono Market in NC!
• Hanalei Dolphin Fish Market - This fish market is in the back of the Hanalei Dolphin Restauarant.  We stopped here to get some takeout lunch on our way up to the North Shore beaches.  We got the ahi tuna poke, sesame ahi tuna poke, ocean salad (seaweed salad) and spicy ahi roll.  So good!!!!  The poke here was the same high quality poke that we had from Pono Market, and the sushi roll was awesome.  If only I could bring this place back to NC with me...
• Shave Ice:
• Ono Ono Shave Ice - Our first shave ice experience was at Ono Ono Shave Ice.  The lady there was so nice and took the time to explain the whole process.  This place ended up being our favorite of the trip.  On our first visit we had coconut, pineapple, vanilla and cake batter flavorings with macadamia nut ice cream in the middle and coconut cream sprinkled on top.  Heaven!  On our second visit, we got berrylicious (combination of berry flavors), and it was just as good as the first time.
• Jo Jo's Shave Ice - We went here after lunch at the Shrimp Station in Waimea.  Apparently, the service here can be spotty, but we had a great experience.  They had smaller sizes here so we each got one.  I had the Berry Berry combo and Ashley had the Colada Special.  Each one was prepared with care, and this place was second only to Ono Ono Shave Ice.
• Shaka Shave Ice - This place was part of Kalapaki Beach Hut.  Ashley got a Hawaiian Style flavored shave ice from here one day while I was dozing on the beach.  I got to try a few bites of what was left, and I thought it was really good.
• Paradise Shave Ice - This place was in Hanalei, and we both thought it was good.  We shared a Blue Hawaiian shave ice here.
• Wishing Well Shave Ice - This place was also in Hanalei, and we had read that it was supposed to be one of the better shave ice locations on the island.  We got a rainbow flavored shave ice, but I don't think the ice was freshly shaved.  As a result, it came in last of all the shave ice places we tried.

Hours for Jo Jo's Shave Ice

• Mermaid's Cafe - This was an awesome little place in Kapa'a.  It's just a little shack with a few outdoor tables.  There are two guys inside that were turning out some awesome food.  We went for lunch one day.  Ashley had the ahi nori wrap, and I had the chicken satay plate.  Both were excellent!  For drink, I had the hibiscus lemonade (a mix of hibiscus tea and lemonade) which was a unique but tasty drink.  Ashley tried the Thai tea with coconut milk which was good but a little rich.
• Oasis on the Beach -  I had read some great eviews of this place, so I was really excited about it.  However, we didn't have a stellar experience.  This was mostly due to a mixup with us getting the wrong food brought out to us, and the waiter getting flustered as a result.  The food was good, but the overall experience wasn't great.  However, I would give this place another shot if I'm ever back in Kauai.  The Okinawan sweet potato chips they brought as a snack were really good.  For appetizers, we had the shrimp cakes (awesome!) and caprese with local tomatoes and chevre (different take on caprese but tasty).  For entrees, Ashley had uku (gray snapper) with miso glaze, and I had local grass fed beef tenderloin.  Ashley's fish was the winner of those two.  The apple banana spring roll with caramel gelato for desert was the best part of the meal.  So good!
• Monico's Taqueria - We stopped at this Mexican place on our way back from our long day on the North Shore.  It was very busy, and we took the first available table which ended up being outside.  The only issue was that for some reason you can't drink alcohol outside.  So, no cerveza with dinner.  Ashley had the seafood taco taco (ahi, scallop and shrimp tacos) and I had the ahi fish tacos.  The food was good, but it took forever to get it.  We didn't have the best experience, but maybe we just caught them on a bad night.
• Toro-tei Sushi - This is a sushi bar near the pool bar at the Marriott.  We went here on our last night.  We had the spicy ahi roll, crispy anuenue roll (salmon, ahi, hamachi and fish roll rolled in panko and fried), ahi sashimi and salmon sashimi.  The sushi was good, but the service was not very personable.

Aruba

In March, Ashley and I left the cold in North Carolina for a week in warm, sunny Aruba with her parents.  This was my third trip and Ashley's fourth trip there.  I really enjoy going to Aruba, and it is always difficult to leave when the trip is over.  The weather is very consistent with little rain, high temperatures in the low to mid 90's, and constant trade winds that make the hot temperatures comfortable.  The people there are very friendly, and it is one of the safest places I've ever been to (despite how it has been portrayed in recent years).  One of my favorite things about Aruba (aside from the sun and beaches) are the great variety of quality restaurants.  If you like fish, you will be in heaven in Aruba.

With the exception of our first night in Aruba, we stayed at the Marriott Aruba Surf Club, a timeshare resort in the Palm Beach hi-rise hotel area of Aruba.  It is adjacent to another Marriott timeshare resort and a Marriott hotel.  If you're looking for a secluded romantic getaway, the Surf Club is not your place.  It is quite large and very family friendly so there are lot's of people running around.  It's still a very enjoyable place to stay, but it helps to know what you're getting into before you get there.


We stayed our first night at the Paradera Park Apartments due to our flights arriving on Saturday and our check-in at the Marriott being on Sunday.  This is a small hotel in the middle of the island that is run by a very nice married couple.  This is a very neat place that is much quieter than the Marriott.  It's not near the water, but they will supply you with beach chairs and a cooler and give you directions to one of Aruba's great beaches.


Restaurants we went to:
Wacky Wahoo's - The fish here was excellent.  I had Wahoo and Ashley had Grouper and they were both cooked perfectly.  It's in a shopping center, so the ambience is not at the level of some of the other places, but overall, it was a great experience.
Yemanja - This restaurant is in downtown Oranjestad.  It's got a different feel than a lot of the other places since it is "in the city."  There were mixed reviews among our group on the food.
Chefs Tables - This is a really neat restaurant setup in an old house.  We ate in the back courtyard which had a really cool feel to it.  Everyone in the group enjoyed their food.  I had the Grouper Napoli, which was excellent mozzarella, pesto and tomato sauce.  The unique thing about this place is their desserts which they serve tapas style in shot glasses so that you can order several if you like.  It's a really neat concept.
The Old Man and the Sea - This place takes about 30 minutes to get to, which feels like a long time on this small island.  For us, it wasn't worth the drive.  This place has a great setup and ambiance.  It is right on the water, and you can stick your feet in the sand while you're dining if you'd like to.  The restaurant entrance is really cool as you feel like you are walking through a garden.  They also have a great staff.  However, the food just isn't up to the level you would expect in a place like this.  The menu choices are limited, and compared to the other restaurants, just not that enticing.  I had the fresh catch which was barracuda, and while it was good, it wasn't good enough to justify the long drive to get there.
Papiamento - This was one of my favorite spots in my first two trips to Aruba, and it didn't disappoint this time.  The setting and ambiance are gorgeous.  The dining area is set up around a pool in the outside courtyard of one of the oldest houses in Aruba.  The food is really good as well.  One of the cool things they have are grilled items served on a hot stone.  I opted for one of these dishes that had lobster, fish and shrimp.  They come out sizzling on the stone and finish cooking right in front of you.
Marandi - This restaurant is set up on a dock over the water and has a huge thatch roof over it.  It's a bit of a drive from the hotel zone (though not nearly as far as Old Man and the Sea), but it has great food and great ambiance.  It's definitely worth the trip.
Madame Janette - One of the more well-known restaurants in Aruba, Madame Janette doesn't disappoint.  It's another restaurant that's in a courtyard setting in the back of a house.  This place and Papiamento are at the top of my list for restaurants in Aruba.  Rather than get seafood, I opted for the Argentine filet mignon, and it was one of the best steaks that I've ever had.
Pam Pam - This place is attached to a student dormitory.  It's not that well known, and the prices are reasonable with some good seafood dishes.  It's an open-air restaurant underneath a huge thatch roof.
Bingo - Great apple pie here for dessert.
Screaming Eagle - We went here for a drink before dinner.  The decor inside is really interesting, kind of a Miami Vice style.
Pincho's - This is a great place to get a drink before or after dinner.  It's set out on a dock on the water.

Other good restaurants:
Que Pasa
Linda's Pancakes - great breakfast!

Notes on snorkeling spots (all beaches in Aruba are public):
Arashi beach – which is tiny but easily accessible from Marriott and our favorite spot

Baby beach which is the one with the natural pool very calm and inviting very large chunk of beach - this is a big spot for local families,  the snorkeling is only good here past the rocks of the cut.
Palm Beach and Antilla wreck

Other good activities:

4x4 tour of desert side of island

Watch sunset at the California Lighthouse restaurant

Paris

Ashley and I went to Paris in late January.  It was a short trip (2 days), but we've been wanting to go for a long time.  Hopefully, we'll get to go back several more times.

We used Marriott points to stay at the Renaissance Paris Vendome.  This hotel is in an excellent central location near the Tuileries.  We were able to walk to everything we wanted to see, and it was also 2 blocks from the Tuileries metro stop, which was convenient when we got tired of walking.

Day 1

Our flight landed in Paris around 10:30am.  We took the RER train from the airport into the city, transferred to the metro line and walked to our hotel from the Tuileries metro stop.  For the most part, this was a very easy trip.  There were a couple of times that we had to haul our luggage up and down steps in the metro stations, but that was manageable when taking into account the cost of taking a taxi from the airport.

After checking in, we went out for a walk to see the city.  Our first stop was the Tuileries...

Tuileries Gardens

The Tuileries are right next to the Louvre, so that was our next stop.  We'll have to go back to the Louvre on another trip when we have more time to go inside.  On this trip, there was so much of the city that we wanted to see we were content to just take pictures on the outside.  We brought our tripod along, so this was our first chance to test it out...

Outside the Louvre

From the Louvre, we walked over to see the Seine...

Ille de la Cite

We crossed over the Seine from the Right Bank (Rive Droite) to the Left Bank (Rive Gauche) and into the Latin Quarter in search of lunch.  I did some research before the trip on Paris restaurants, and the choices were overwhelming.  I also wasn't sure where we would be at what time so we didn't have a strict plan on where to eat.  In hindsight, this was a mistake.  We walked around a bit not knowing what we were looking for.  We ended up at a little restaurant called Cocotte Jolie.  We got to choose 3 courses each for our lunch.  This is very simple if you know French, not simple if you don't.  The little French-English dictionary I downloaded for my iPhone was no help in deciphering the menu items.  We placed our orders not really knowing what we were going to get.  Ashley ended up with Pork Terrine for starter and Tagliatelle with cream sauce and ham for her main.  I ended up with what I think was a Goat Cheese soup for starter and Sauteed Fish covered with a curry sauce for my main.  We ended up switching our starters as I enjoyed the Terrine more than Ashley did.  The soup was pretty good.  We each enjoyed our main dishes as well.  The high point of the meal was dessert.  Ashley had a custard with pistachio ice cream, and I had a chocolate brownie covered with chocolate sauce and a side of ice cream.  Both were excellent.

Lunch at Cocotte Jolie

 

Overall, we enjoyed the lunch, but I think we were both looking for a more traditional French bistro lunch.  Had we walked a couple of blocks further before lunch, we would have gotten our wish.  We stumbled on this street of cafes and bistros after lunch....

We would have had a nice choice of desserts from this patisserie as well...

 

Flowers for the romantics...

 

 These oysters looked good as well...maybe next time...

 

After strolling through the Latin Quarter, we headed over to Ille de la Cite to see Notre Dame.  Ille de la Cite is an island in the Seine where medieval Paris was founded.  Here's a picture of us in front of Notre Dame.

 

Inside Notre Dame

 

 Stained glass in Notre Dame

 

After a long day of traveling and walking around the city, we were pretty worn out.  We stayed at the hotel for dinner and tried out the restaurant connected to it called Pinxo.  We shared two main courses, duck with mashed potatoes and sauteed salmon over a braised mixture of leeks, cabbage, green onion and mushroom.  Both dishes were excellent!

Day 2

On our second day, we set out from our hotel in the morning with the goal of walking down the Champs Elysses to the Arc de Triomphe and also seeing the Eiffel Tower.  We first came to Place de la Concorde which is a plaza at the start of the Champs Elysses...

 Place de la Concorde

 

 Then we walked the whole of the Champs Elysses up to the Arc de Triomphe.  On the way, we went in search of a cafe for a light lunch.  Again, it would have helped to plan this out in advance, but we ended up finding a nice little place called Code Bar where we shared a croque monsieur.  The Champs Elysses is truly a sight to behold with its cafes, restaurants and shops lining each side.  It's a really wide street with wide sidewalks.  I would like to see it in the springtime when the trees aren't bare.

View of Champs Elysses looking towards Place de la Concorde

 

At the end of the Champs Elysses, we arrived at the Arc de Triomphe...

 

We then took the metro to the Trocadero from which you have a great view of the Eiffel Tower...

Eiffel Tower...

Underneath Eiffel Tower...

After a short rest back at the hotel, we ventured back out and walked over to the Musee de l'Orangerie to see Monet's Water Lilies...

Monet's Water Lilies

For dinner on night 2, we had the concierge book a reservation at a place she recommended for us called Brasserie Le Vaudeville located near the Bourse (old stock exchange) and in walking distance from our hotel.  This was the kind of experience we were looking for in our first trip to Paris.  We both opted for the 3 course prixe fixe menu.  Ashley got foie gras with toast as her starter, sauteed salmon as her main and creme brulee for dessert.  I got onion soup as my starter, grilled lamb as my main and molten chocolate cake as my dessert.  For wine, we had a carafe of Cote de Rhone.  Everything we had was excellent.  It was an all around wonderful experience.

Brasserie Le Vaudeville

After dinner, we took the metro to the Ecole Militare stop for a great view of the Eiffel Tower at night...

Eiffel Tower at night

Play the video to see the Eiffel Tower light show that happens at the top of every hour...

 

Sadly, we had to go leave the next day, but we look forward to going back again someday soon...

Sonoma & Napa Valleys

Ashley and Lee at Bouchaine Vineyard

Ashley and I and went to Wine Country in Sonoma & Napa Valleys in early November.  We went there for the first time in October of 2008, and we had such a great time that we decided to go again.  When we went in 2008, we had only 2 days in Sonoma & Napa as we also wanted to go to San Francisco.  This time we devoted our full energy to Wine Country.  We had an awesome time on this trip.

Before going, we got lots of advice on where to go and what to do from friends who have been recently.  This was really helpful in setting up a great trip.  There's a decent amount of driving involved getting around Wine Country, and we were able to come up with a plan in advance that made the best use of our time.  One great suggestion that we got was to stop for lunch in Sausalito on the way up to Sonoma/Napa.  Sausalito is a really neat little town on San Francisco Bay just on the other side of the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco.  There are great views of the Bay and downtown San Francisco from the waterfront.  We got sandwiches at the Venice Gourmet and ate them in a little park area by the water.  This was a nice break in the 2 hour drive up to Sonoma from the airport.

We stayed in Sonoma at the The Lodge at Sonoma Renaissance Resort & Spa.  This was a very nice and clean hotel.  It is about a mile from the main downtown area of Sonoma and there's not much within walking distance, but since we had a rental car, this wasn't a big deal.  The weather was really nice the first couple of days and a little cloudy the last day or so with comfortable temperatures during the day when the sun was out and chilly temperatures at night.  Overall, I would say November is a great time to visit.

Below is a list of wineries and restaurants we went to.  We've noted some of our favorites and some places we didn't like as much.  I've also posted some pictures at the bottom, so be sure to keep reading through.

Wineries we went to
Cellar Door Tasting Room (Sonoma)
Iron Horse (Russian River Valley) - Top 3 Red Wines we haven't had before
Adler Fels (Sonoma Valley, tasting room only)
Chateau St. Jean (Sonoma Valley) - Best Winery Atmosphere, awesome lawn to enjoy a picnic on
Matanzas Creek (Sonoma Valley)
Benziger (Sonoma Valley) - One of our personal favorites, did the full tour last year, love the wines
Trefethen (Napa Valley - Oak Knoll) - Top 3 Tasting Experience, Best White Wine we haven't had before (Harmony Chardonnay)
Robert Sinskey (Napa Valley)
Saddleback (Napa Valley) - Very small winery, tastings done on a picnic table outside
Silverado (Napa Valley) - Nice views from the patio off the tasting room
Cliff Lede (Napa Valley) - Top 3 Tasting Experience, Top 3 Red Wines we haven't had before
Goosecross (Napa Valley) - Small winery with a very personal tasting experience, great wines
Sterling (Napa Valley - Calistoga) - Views of the Valley on the gondola ride are worth the admission
Castelo di Amorosa (Napa Valley - Calistoga) - Worth admission just to see the castle, lots of tourists
Rombauer (Napa Valley) - Weren't thrilled with the wine and tasting experience here
Etude (Carneros) - Nice tasting room, OK wine
Bouchaine (Carneros) - Top 3 Tasting Experience, self-guided walk through the vineyard is fun
Nicholson Ranch (Carneros) - Top 3 Red Wines we haven't had before

Restaurants
Venice Gourmet (Sausalito)
Girl & the Fig (Sonoma) - Best Dinner (Braised Wild Board Shoulder)
El Dorado Kitchen (Sonoma) - Best Side Dish (Truffle Fries)
Bouchon (Yountville) - Best Lunch (Beef Tenderloin Open Face Sandwich)
Maya (Sonoma)
Black Bear Diner (Sonoma)
Basque Bakery (Sonoma)
Alexis Baking Company (Napa) - Best Breakfast (Mexican Breakfast Sandwich)
Palisades Deli Cafe (Calistoga)
Cafe La Haye (Sonoma)

Pictures

Driving into San Francisco

San Francisco Bay and Golden Gate Bridge from the car

View of Downtown San Francisco from Sausalito

Iron Horse Vineyards

Ashley and Lee in the Lavender garden at Matanzas Creek Winery

Napa Valley Vineyard

View from Sterling Vineyards gondola

Lee and Ashley riding the Sterling Vineyards gondola

Napa Valley viewed from Sterling Vineyards

Napa Valley sign near Calistoga

Castelo di Amarosa (built out of stones imported from Italy)

Lee enjoying the vineyard walk at Bouchaine