California=Wine Tasting, City Life, Friends & Family

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We love catching up with friends and family while we travel and this trip was no different. We then headed to Sonoma County where we stayed with Brad & Meghan plus their 15 month old twin boys, Justin & Logan. We had a BBQ, attended a surprise 30th birthday party and wine tasted around the Sonoma Town Square.

We then headed to San Fran where we hiked Muir Woods in Marin County while waiting for our friends John & Julie to get off of work. As many times as we have visited San Fran we had never hiked Muir Woods and it was amazing to see the California Redwood trees. Next, we met up with John & Julie and enjoyed dinner at a German restaurant, Leopold, in the Russian Hill neighborhood. Great food, beer and atmosphere.

We celebrated our 1 year wedding anniversary in SF while running errands for the upcoming wedding and picked up our visas' from the Chinese Consulate. We did get to eat in Japantown and listened to a Mandarin conversation going on at the table behind us during our lunch. It made us think just how we would be back in China in less than 4 weeks.

After leaving San Fran we drove 2 hrs to visit Matt & Tracy in Roseville. It was a relaxing night of me getting a mani/pedi then meeting the guys for dinner and drinks at Dave & Buster's. The next day ( Wednesday) we headed to Truckee, CA for our 4 night stay for Jared & Kendra's wedding weekend. (separate blog)

After Truckee, we drove 7 hours to Arroyo Grande near Pismo Beach and Morro Bay in Central California. We stopped here to visit Pete's cousin, Sarah, her husband, Jeff and their 6 month old son, Blake, who wasn't born last time we saw them in January during our CA Road Trip. It was amazing to have dinner with them, hang out and catch up plus meet and play with Blake.

Today, we woke up to bacon waffles and fresh fruit all prepared by Sarah. We then said our goodbye's and drove to Santa Barbara to have lunch with the Getty family. Doug, Michelle, Patrick (2 yrs old) and Haley (6 months) took us to the famous restaurant La Super Rica, which we had never been to and ALWAYS has a line in Santa Barbara. Julia Childs says it is the best Mexican food in the US (according to Doug).

Now, we are sitting at "The Brother's" apartment in Westwood LA awaiting dinner and drinks down at 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica. Tomorrow we are headed to Boston to see more friends and celebrate Jimmy & Cali's wedding.

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Photos

Julie, John, Pete & I
Dinner at Leopold's

Matt & Pete
enjoying the candy they won at Dave & Buster's

Pete, Sarah, Blake & I
Sarah is Pete's cousin

Comments

[Valerie]

Happy Anniversary!
And, thanks for sharing pics of Muir Woods. We will be visiting the area, and wasn't sure if I should set aside time to go there.