Planning 1st Anniversary

MattBTI

My wife and I married last September and are planning a trip for our first anniversary. We enjoy traveling, and take weekend trips as frequent as possible. We're planning something a bit larger for our anniversary. We enjoy good food and good drinks. We've hit quite a few vineyards locally, but there aren't many out here in KS. I own an aerial imagery company and intend to bring a dji spark along and a gopro for some documentation. 

We Just booked our trip the other night and are looking for things to do and see along the way. We will travel by air and will depart Wichita to Portland. We plan to explore around Eugene and Bend. We have family in Bend and will stay with them for two nights, then take a quick flight from Portland to Sacramento. We plan to stay at least one night in a B&B in the Napa area, then have another night before returning home. I'd like to see Yosemite, and possibly hit up the bay in SanFran. If any one has some experience with these areas, I'd enjoy hearing about things to do and see. 

Thanks. 

SoCalTim

Hi, Happy Anniversary to you and your wife, I've spent quite a bit of time in SF, and let me say, if it were just you and the fellows, I'd say have fun, in all actuality SF is not the safest of places. If I was traveling with my gf, I'd pass that portion of the trip.

I'm only too sure that other will chime in and say crime is everywhere, but if someone asked my opinion of this part of the country, I'd ell them the same thing I'll tell you. Pass it up. Spend more time in Napa, it's awesome!

StillH2OEgger

Can't help with any suggestions, but we're in a similar boat. Next summer we are planning an extended west coast trip for our 20th, working our way up or down the coast. It's a bit overwhelming considering all the possibilities, but should be fun. Good luck with the planning and the trip, and let us know how it goes.

lkapigian

I love Frisco, there are some seedy areas but many places do, I stay at the Grand Hyatt @ Union Square, puts you right on,Powell Street, easy on off with the cable  cars and all the good night life is walking distance , through the Tunnel outside the hotel puts you right in China Town and a couple blocks more, North Beach ( Italian District)...if you like booze , Bourban and Branch is a cool Speak Easy like during prohibition, you need a reservation ...Yosemite, hit up the Wawona Inn

BizGreenEgg

For Oregon: You looking for more restaurant/vineyard recommendations or trying to see some of our outdoors/parks?  How many days down in Eugene?  You going straight there from PDX or is it more of a couple day trip with stops on the way?

Skrullb

Crater lake and the Columbia River Gorge in Oregon are a must. The coast is amazin too. The Florence area. 

SSQUAL612

If you plan on staying at Yosemite I'd recommend reservations.   Tower Cafe in Sacramento has the best French Toast I've had anywhere so if you're not in a hurry and depending on what time your flight gets in you might want to check it out.   http://towercafe.com/   I like the outdoor seating in the garden area.

Hwy 29 is the main route through Napa Valley and traffic slows down at St. Helena, but Silverado Trail parallels Hwy 29 and there are some great wineries along it as well including Duckhorn which is worth a look.  Too many wineries to say which one are my fave and that's subjective so you'll have no problem finding them while navigating up and down Napa Valley.  

If you're a foodie and want to go all out for your 1st Anniversary then I recommend The French Laundry in Yountville and strongly suggest getting reservations NOW not later.  https://www.thomaskeller.com/tfl   

Bistro Don Giovanni is nice and reasonable.  The grounds are fun to stroll around and they use to and most likely still have their own herb garden on site and vineyards are all around you.    http://bistrodongiovanni.com/

I use to fly up to bay area at least once a month for business for about 10 years and never had any issues but stay with the crowds to be safe.  Favorite steak house in the city is Bobo's...it's worth a look for the bone in filet.  http://www.boboquivaris.com/     

If you like or would like to try Dim Sum then Yank Sing is awesome...use to take clients there and they always enjoyed.  http://www.yanksing.com/  I love it cause as soon as you sit down you can grab things from the cart and start eating.  The one off Spear Street is close to The Embarcadero so not too far from the Wharf. 

Whatever you do just enjoy and stay safe...looking forward to seeing pics.

Carolina Q

Been a long time since I was in CA, but you said the magic word... Yosemite! Unfortunately. all the beautiful waterfalls are pretty much dried up in September. The best time is in the spring when the snow melt feeds the falls. I've been there then and it is breathtaking! Last time I was there was in October '89 and the falls were pretty much non-existent. Still, it is a truly awesome place and I wouldn't hesitate to go in the Fall. 

If you want to hike to the top of something, it took me 4 hours up the Yosemite Falls trail and 2 hours to get back down. Wouldn't have missed it, but I was exhausted by the time I got back to the Valley floor. I was in my early 40s then. That was in the Spring and the falls were magnificent!

I have read about climbing Half Dome and there's no way I would try that today. You have to start at daybreak just to make it back by dark. Not a good idea to get stuck up there in the dark. And if there's ANY chance of rain, do NOT start up the cable climb.

The story goes, whenever a visitor talks to a Park Ranger and says he only has one day to see the park, what should he do? The Ranger says, "Just sit down over there and cry!"

As for the Ahwahnee Hotel in the park, we didn't stay there (booked up), but we did grab breakfast one morning. Cool place. 

If you enter the park on Wawona Road, you will drive thru the Wawona Tunnel. When you come out of the tunnel, you will see this...

Sunrise is awesome!!!

Enjoy your trip and Happy Anniversary!

tenpenny_05

I'm not one for big cities, but San Francisco is a pretty amazing place. I was there for work a few years ago and probably walked 100 miles in a week just looking around. I really want to take my wife sometime, I think it would be a pretty romantic adventure to go there with no plans.

MattBTI

BizGreenEgg said:

For Oregon: You looking for more restaurant/vineyard recommendations or trying to see some of our outdoors/parks?  How many days down in Eugene?  You going straight there from PDX or is it more of a couple day trip with stops on the way?

Lookin for both. I noticed there are a lot of vineyards around Eugene. We will be in Oregon for two days and will be traveling to Eugene/Bend straight from PDX. As for stops on the way, I'm open to any suggestions. 

Thanks

Acn

You might want to check this thread out too:
http://eggheadforum.com/discussion/1212115/ot-califoregon-for-my-60th-ot/p1

logchief

With what you've said for your itinerary after flying into Sacramento Yosemite would be a real stretch.  I'd spend more time in Napa and take a drive up the Northern California coast into the redwoods.

If you're renting a car in Portland and have the time a drive down the Oregon coast is fantastic and then cut over to Eugene and on to Bend

MattBTI

logchief said:

With what you've said for your itinerary after flying into Sacramento Yosemite would be a real stretch.  I'd spend more time in Napa and take a drive up the Northern California coast into the redwoods.

If you're renting a car in Portland and have the time a drive down the Oregon coast is fantastic and then cut over to Eugene and on to Bend

We Will have a rental vehicle in Oregon and California. I hadn't though of the redwood forests. I'll check into how far from Sacramento that is.

MattBTI

And thank you everyone for your comments thus far. 

Much appreciated to be able to draw off of some of your past experiences!

Thank you

Foghorn

The Yosemite Falls hike is a good recommendation, however we slightly preferred the Mist Trail hike in Yosemite - they are similar in difficulty if you go the whole way (2000 feet change in altitude vs 1900 feet) and either way, plan to pack a lunch (you can buy them premade in the park) and eat it at the top as you enjoy the view.

Depending on your wine budget, the high-end places we hope to get to on our next visit are:

https://palmazvineyards.com/

http://www.deldottovineyards.com/
(apparently there is a bed and breakfast on the property and the winemaker likes to enjoy some of his special collection with the guests in the evening)

http://www.bcellars.com/


On the lower end

Sonoma Cutrer is a fun place to visit because they host the US croquet championship so they have two croquet fields that are like nothing I've ever seen before.
https://www.sonomacutrer.com/


https://www.benziger.com/
They have great grounds where they grow a lot of things besides grapes and have put a lot of thought into their selections.  The tour of their property is worth the time.  The photo below is from their property.

And Sausalito (across the Golden Gate from SF) is a great stop if you like shopping/browsing for contemporary art.  

Carolina Q

If anyone's planning a trip to Yosemite in the near future, you might wanna make sure the tide's out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usTTc7BWzpM

northGAcock

If I were you.....I would just make it the year of the card.

Foghorn

northGAcock said:

If I were you.....I would just make it the year of the card.

Genius.

Followed by the year of the lump of coal.

Then the year of the ecard.

I should have gone down that path instead of the one I'm on.  For our 20th we did 3 days in Napa.  This year for our 25th, 3 more days in Napa/Sonoma is apparently not sufficient.  I did negotiate down to 4 days in Napa/Sonoma from a piece of jewelry that would have cost a lot more than 4 days of wine tasting/chugging/buying.  

MattBTI

I know I'm going to regret setting the bar high early....Some how I've managed to do this very thing since the get go. I flew her out to Colorado for our proposal and spent a couple days in Hot Sulfur Springs with her. 

EggNorth

I feel bad ... Been married 25 + years and have not even taken a honeymoon yet.  I thought a nice Egg diner is enough, and it is!