PRIDE, Bob and a wine tour

We arrived in San Francisco at about 10pm. There were loads of road works just after the Golden Gate bridge and we missed our turn off. It was a little disorientating driving in a new city at night. There were so many flashing lights from the road works and the road signs flash too. I can't imagine what Vegas is going to feel like!

It took us two hours to get to our hotel because all the main roads we had to go down were closed off. Closed off roads mixed in with one way streets and Saturday night traffic was taking a toll on our patience. The night life was bustling and James and I thought the roads were closed off for street parties. That's how bustling it was! When we got to our hotel bloodshot-eyed and wired-looking we found out that the roads were closed off due to a shooting that had happened a few hours earlier, five people got shot in a gang related incident. Crazy! The shooting happened on Market street and our hotel was on Market and 4th. Eeeek!

That's enough of the scary stuff. Just painting the picture here. :)

We hit the hay HARD! It was a long day but well worth the miles! We woke up in San Francisco ready to hit the city sight-seeing but found out 'PRIDE' 2011 was taking place that day. Again the roads downtown were closed off but this time for a great reason! We heard that 'PRIDE' in San Francisco is the best in the world, I haven't seen any other 'PRIDE' but I can safely say I have seen it all! I have also never heard anything so loud! Its as if 'PRIDE' is to San Francisco what the Royal Wedding was to London. It really was so amazing. Amazing is an understatement. It was so fantastic or should I say 'fabulous' to see so many happy people being ecstatic about who they are. James and I weren't quite prepared mentally for SUCH a party!! We were the most uncool people in San Francisco being heterosexual and married but we're cool with that. We saw a sperm donation stand, a fenced off fetish area, breasts of all shapes and sizes, partners on leashes, a few naked men, well not completely naked - they were wearing shoes… okay I'm gonna stop now, lets keep it clean. Hopefully you get the idea.

'PRIDE' ended at about 3pm and we were able to make our way to Fisherman's Wharf. We saw the famous Pier 39 and Alcatraz.

After the sun beating down on the city all day it got really cold REALLY QUICK. James and I went for clam chowder at the Boudin Bakery after a good friend of ours highly recommended the experience. Boudin Bakery serves clam chowder in their world famous sour dough bread bowl. For those who grew up in South Africa - it's just like a bunny chow only round and filled with clam chowder. Clam chowder is pretty much just a thick clam soup. We enjoyed this experience with a view of Alcatraz and seals chilling out in-between the boats at the harbour. We took a walk around North Beach and caught a cab back to our hotel.

The following day we saw the remaining best bits of San Francisco. We saw Alamo Park and the Pink Ladies. This park is shown in the sitcom 'Full House' at the beginning during the theme tune. I felt like I was in the show even though that was too many years ago. Up next was a drive to Golden Gate Bridge. When reading about the bridge I wasn't particularly intrigued about it but once you are there looking at it, it really is a beautiful bridge. There was fog over the top of the bridge and the city and when looking out to Sausalito on the other side of the bridge the sun shines! Apparently that is the norm. I choose Sausalito with a view of San Francisco.

We were a little stressed we wouldn't have enough time for the wine country. Researching tours available it looked as if you needed 8 hours to see it all. After the Golden Gate Bridge we made our way to Sonoma Valley. Sonoma is California's first wine country. We stopped at a visitors centre completely winging it with no idea what to expect. The tour we wanted to go on was $450. WHAT! I'm so glad we just went into the unknown ourselves. Bob at the Corner Stone visitors centre was so helpful we couldn't have asked for more. We told him what we were looking to do and how much time we had and he suggested three different wineries and highlighted the route we could take. We drove through Sonoma Valley stopping at Ravenswood and Imagery Estate Winery.

James and I enjoyed Imagery the most down to how creative this winery get with their blends, I'm no connoisseur it was just interesting and enjoyable. We tasted a wine that was 77% red grape wine fermented with 23% blueberry wine. I have never tasted anything like it. Of course we bought a bottle!

What is really novel or really smart about this winery is they don't sell their wines anywhere else except the winery. Also, each label is a work of art and they never use the the same label for more than the harvested batch. A wine tasting costs about $10 in Sonoma Valley and you really do get your money's worth. No, not because you get to drink loads of wine but you learn quite a fair bit about the wine you are tasting. We also weren't made to feel inexperienced about wine or obligated to buy anything. It was such a great experience and I'm so glad James was designated driver that day.

We only stopped at two wineries because after 10 tastings (five per winery) anything would have tasted great to me! We made our way from Sonoma to Jamestown via Napa Valley. We didn't feel the need to stop at any more wineries, we just enjoyed the beautiful scenery and I fantasised about my next wine tour in Stellenbosch one day.

Next stop was Jamestown so we could get an early start to Yosemite National Park the next day.

Sonoma Valley pic from http://www.luxuo.com/wines-spirits/the-best-job-in-the-world-part-2.html