Day 1 - Thursday
A delayed flight through Air Tran meant I ended up getting to San Francisco 12 hours later than scheduled, but Laura and I readjusted and met up in the morning to rent our car and then headed north over the Golden Gate Bridge.
We stopped in Sausolito for brunch, where we had amazing and decadent crab cakes eggs benedict on a deck hanging over the water. Leaving town, our GPS took us on an extensive tour of the hilly and bendy roads of Sausolito, before we ditched it and found out own way out...
We continued up on highway 1 along the coast, heading towards Point Reyes and stopping along the way to take in the vistas and visit little beaches. We unfortunately got to Point Reyes a bit too late, but the views along way were incredible. Eventually we made it up to our hotel in Calistoga and had a light dinner at a little Mexican restaurant in town.
Day 2 - Friday
Friday was winery touring day, but we got up a few hours before our tour started so we headed out to see the local sights - a walk through the Petrified Forest and then a trip to see the Old Faithful geyser spout off, where we also saw another highlight of our trip - the "fainting" goats! Apparently these little goats have a genetic flaw that causes their muscles to seize up when they're startled, and they fall over; sheep herders used to put one in their flocks as easy prey for wolves to allow the sheep to escape. Nowadays they're just petting zoo entertainment while folks wait for the geyser...
The wine tour was amazing. We went with a company that Laura has toured with before, and it was just the two of us and a guide. He brought us to four wineries (White Cottage, Heitz, Bremer, and Frank Family), some of which were private and by appointment only, and we tasted 33 wines that ran the gamut from white to red, champagne to port.
At the end of the day, we headed to Sonoma for the welcome reception at Caitlin's family's home in Sonoma - a beautiful estate that used to be a kangaroo ranch!
Day 3 - Saturday
Saturday morning we went to the beautiful hotel in Sonoma where the wedding party was staying and had poolside lunch before heading back to our hotel to change quickly and head up to the Kunde Estate winery for the wedding. The ceremony was in the beautiful stone ruins of an old winery building, with crumbling side walls and no roof, and the reception was on top of a hill surrounded on all sides by vineyards - an absolutely stunning location. We had incredible food and danced the night away.
chandeliers hanging from the trees!
the beautiful bride
Laura realizes she is now a "Tufts"!
Caitlin and Jake
Me and Emily, my college roommate
Day 4 - Sunday
Since we had a red eye flight, Laura, Brad, and I had all day Sunday to explore, and after the send-off brunch at the kangaroo ranch, we decided to head into San Francisco to walk around Fisherman's Wharf. We walked the docks, had In-and-Out Burger, toured the old World War II submarine, and watched the sun set behind Golden Gate Bridge.
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