Sonoma Wining & San Francisco Dining

For the long Memorial Day Weekend I headed up to the Bay Area to visit a college friend who just recently moved up there to work at Stanford University. For three full days we were on the go taking in all of the sights. I am a huge sightseer and that person who snaps a million pictures and has to see everything!

(my hostess and I)

I flew in on Saturday morning, dropped my bags off, and headed to Sonoma County. My friend knew just the spot to take me--Paradise Ridge Winery. Serene is not even a worthy word to describe the setting of this picturesque winery. It was gorgeous and the staff was extremely friendly. As we sipped our various wines we sat on the porch/balcony and relaxed. It was great and we had the place pretty much to ourselves because we got there early.

Next we were off to J Vineyards & Winery. While lovely, it was a bit too formal for our taste...no pun intended. Instead of being outside in the beautiful vineyards, we were in a tasting room. Of course the tasting was much more expensive, $20 per person. While that isn't necessarily bad, it's high compared to Paradise Ridge which didn't charge us because my fried bought a bottle of wine and I had a Yelp coupon.

(Me at J Vineyards)

The rest of the afternoon was spent eating lunch in a nearby quaint town square, then napping. Just the remedy before hitting San Francisco for a night out on the town!

This was only my second time being to SF so I was super excited. We got a bit lost after we got off the BART (for those that don't know, it's the Bay Area Rapid Transit and basically SF's "subway" system). I wasn't too sad we got lost because we got to walk by a bunch of amazing shops near Union Square including Betsey Johnson, Juicy, and Bulgari!

(Caitlin, Jacqueline, Ashley, Kristina, me)

Long story short, my friend I was staying with is my sorority sister. When she moved she randomly learned that another sorority sister (who graduated before me and I don't know) lives in the Bay Area. They got in touch which led to us meeting up with other Delta Zeta alums. These ladies were all from the Northern California area and we were so happy to meet them. It may sound cheesy, but truly, it's nice to have a connection with other women you have never met.

We had an amazing dinner at E' Tutto Qua and I highly recommend it to everyone! So yummy! It's located in North Beach which is an interesting neighborhood filled with pubs, upscale bars, and strip clubs haha! We went to a pub, Kells, after dinner and the girls danced the night away. I don't dance so I was the a paparazzo.

(Kristina and moi)

If you managed to stay with me this whole post I am impressed because this sucker was long! And guess what? That was just the first day! Two more vacation installments to come =)