I enjoy travelling. I recently returned from a wonderful trip out to California where my husband and I enjoyed about ten days between San Francisco and Sonoma. The trip was one of the best we have ever taken together. It was filled with good weather, great food, adventure, beauty, charm, and relaxation.
However, as delightful as the trip was there is no place like home. Unfortunately when I was ready to go home clicking my heels together didn’t get me far. Instead I was headed on a six-hour flight back to Boston.
During our stay in San Francisco we explored hours of walking through the hills of various neighborhoods. Imagine you are on the stair master, turn it up to the highest incline that it will go and that is what walking around San Francisco feels like. I quickly realized why my good college friend who moved to San Francisco shortly after graduation weighed thirty pounds lighter when she returned back to the east coast.
After hearing so many people talk about the character and adventure that San Francisco’s Chinatown had to offer I decided to check it out. I explored Chinatown off the beaten path and found food stores that were not something I had never been familiar with.
It felt great to learn about a culture I was so unfamiliar with. I also had a great meal that cost less than $5.00 after finding some reviews on Yelp that recommended this restaurant if you were not a tourist and looking for a Chinese meal a grandmother would cook for her family. It was the real deal and very good! I am not sure exactly what was in the seafood dish I ordered. All I know is that it was fresh and delicious. Sometimes, you just have to take a chance.
I am not a big fan of heights but somehow on a whim decided it would be a good “experience” to walk over the Golden Gate Bridge. It is 1.7 miles each way and a VERY long way if heights are not your thing. The first mile I was stiff, would not look down, and held on to the rail or my husband at all times. I was petrified! After that I loosened up and was able to enjoy the adventure and take in the beauty of the bridge and San Francisco Bay.
After a handful of days of mild weather in San Francisco we headed to the wine country of Sonoma.
I enjoy a nice glass of wine and try to avoid headaches in a bottle. However, by no means am I a wine connoisseur which is one of the reasons we chose Sonoma over Napa. We found some great wineries both large and small that we fell in love with thanks to the friendly and welcoming staff and tasty adult grape juice. Luckily thanks to strict alcohol laws in Massachusetts we didn’t buy any cases of wine to ship home. This was a good thing and gave us an easy way out of not spending a boatload of money. Let’s be honest the wines at Harborside Liquors are just as good. We met some very hospitable winery workers, learned the basics of wine, figured out what types of wine we prefer, enjoyed the scenery which by the way is beautiful, ate amazing food, and learned that five days in wine country is way too long to explore wine. At this point I couldn’t even think about wine.
As great as the wine was we hit a point where we were wined out. We decided to check out the country side and the coast to change things up and give us a little break. This turned out to be quite the adventure. Within a twenty minute drive we were driving up and down very steep and narrow roads that were as rural as rural…. I think, can get. I felt like I was in the back country of Vermont but at a much higher altitude. There was a point where there was a road block due to a herd of elks who thought the road was a great place to sunbathe.
There were no stores, restaurants, or businesses in site. This became an issue when we were down to a ¼ tank of gas. We began to worry. Luckily after driving past miles and miles of dairy farms we found a general store where some random lambs were hanging out in front and learned from the store clerk that the closest gas station was 18 miles away. To make a long story short we found the gas station in time, experienced some anxiety, and saw nature in such a natural state that made me smile. The coast of Northern California was a beautiful place to visit. The farms, the beaches, the scenery, and the experience. It was all so special.
Our trip to Northern California was a special trip for both of us. We even met several characters who were familiar with Scituate of had some sort of ties to the Irish Riviera. It certainly carries its charming reputation across the country.
It was great to explore areas of the country that are so different that what I was used to. It feels good to get out of one’s comfort zone, as there is so much to see and experience what our beautiful country has to offer. However, no matter how good the food, wine, hotels, culture, people, and weather were, I missed home. By day eight of vacation I began to get homesick. I missed our dog, our bed, our own TV, taking walks around town, a good iced coffee, and most importantly our home. There is no place like home….Scituate, MA.
