With our last full day of vacation, we ventured out into San Fran to see what this city had to offer. We walked over to a breakfast joint that has the best pancakes in the whole city. Usually the line is down the street, but since it was Monday we didn't wait too long. I have to say the pancakes at Sears Fine Dining was extremely good.

After a delicious dine we walked through Union Square to the Powell station for the trollies. The trolly took us through the city all the way over to Fisherman's Warf. The Boudin Factory was in full swing making sourdough in their demonstration window. The baker was making boudin shaped turtles and alligators.

The next stop was the Museum Mecanique on the pier that had antique mechanical arcade with some modern games mixed in. There were a lot of interesting things including Jolly Jack, a laughing sailor. Slighty creepy...but check out the video.

When Eric finished all the games he wanted to play, we walked over to the Marina and Ghiradelli square. Mom's... you will be not to thrilled to know that we ate a hot fudge sundae for lunch. It's vacation what do you expect. I guess it gave us the boost we needed to walk up Larkin Street where Russian Hill Park is and then up again to Lombard Street and then up again to the crooked part of the street with 8 hairpin turns. Experience the ride for yourself by clicking the video below.

Then we hopped back on the trolly to the hotel and took a quick break to figure out the second leg of our SF trek. Picked up our car and headed over to Mel's diner for DUNCH (reminiscent of Happy Days) and ate some more with a chocolate shake and a souvenir T-shirt that featured a "55 Bel-air ...how appropriate.

After some great food, we traveled on the SF 49 mile drive (Zapchenk style). The 49 mile drive goes through some of the best spots in the city for pictures and vista views. A couple places we stopped at or drove through: Golden Gate Bridge, Palace of the Arts, Haight Asbury District (hippies), Alamo Square (painted ladies shown on Full House opening credits) and much more. Eric and I had a great time on this trip and are excited to get back home and see Bud.

Time to kiss this vacation goodbye...and come home!

Today we headed into wine country to experience Napa and Sonoma Valley. We got up early and went over the Bay Bridge to find some breakfast. We ended up in Berkley at the Bread Factory. It was interesting because it was a very organic hippie-esque restaraunt. You will be glad to know that Eric's egg platter was organic and from a sustainable farm. He also got organic apple juice in this cute little glass jug. However, the picture below looks like it could be used for a urine specimen.

Apple Juice or urine...you make the call!

After a hearty breakfast we got back on the road and Eric found the visitor center for Napa and Sonoma that had free passes to the wineries...always in for a deal. We figured out the area and met the visitor center vintner David. We tried four different ports / muscats and he gave us some advice and tips on wine etiquette. Loving the orange muscat we left with a bottle and a map of endless wine adventures. Our first stop was Darioush. This winery was started by an Iranian man that came to the US with nothing and started a grocery store. After making some money he decided to start a winery. It was a beautiful building that incorporated stone from ancient Egyptian ruins. I had a small taste but we didn't stay for a full flight.

One of my favorite parts of the day was going to Taylor's Refresher. They were on The Food Networks best burgers show and Guy Fieri's Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. We got there and there was already a line formed. Eric had a regular cheeseburger and I had a blue cheeseburger, it was probably the best burger I have ever had (second to Mim's in Menasha, WI...kidding). It was a really cute place if anyone is ever out in St. Helena, CA.

After lunch we went to Robert Mondavi vineyards and got a tour and tasting. It was really interesting and had a lot of fun.

Then we drove into Sonoma to see the HGTV Dream Home. Even though we didn't win, we still needed a picture for our Christmas card. We strolled through Sonoma's town square and it was really cute. The funniest thing was these two little kids came up to us wanting to know if we would like to buy some fine porcelain pieces. It was really cute and funny at the same time because it was painted pieces from some kind of homemade kit.

Finally, we ate more food at Johnny Garlic's in Santa Rosa.
It was a fun filled day and we are looking forward to a great day in San Fran tomorrow!

As we started out this morning, we headed toward San Francisco. A highlight of each morning has been enjoying the continental breakfast at each hotel. After a couple english muffins and some people watchin'...we hit the road. After some time..it was time to eat again...LUNCH. We found another great place in the middle of nowhere...SPANKY'S! They have good food, good service...and I stole a pen from there as I was signing the receipt. FREE SOUVENIR!!!

Our stop today: BIG BASIN REDWOOD STATE PARK....

Where no tree is small. We walked the 45 minute trail to see some BIG pieces of paper.

What does one see when they look up?...

...they see the sky!

After more drivin' thru the mountains...

...we arrived in San Francisco.

Yesterday was fun...and LONG. We had to drive up the coast of California to get to Monterey for the night. We left San Luis Obisbo after a hearty breakfast at a "hole in the mountain" place called FatCats. It was great. By the way, the cat that inspired the name was close to the weight of a small child...HUGE!!!!!

Taking breakfast very seriously!!

After breakfast we got on the road to journey north. A little detail was left out of this part of the agenda...we had to drive 75 miles through the mountains on two-lane roads. Ain't no expressway available to us for this leg of the trip! I started having flashbacks of getting sick in a white Pontiac Grand Prix with red trim.(Those who know the story continue to laugh!)

As we made our way, we stopped off at a "Vista Point" to check out the coast. Danielle made the most of our little break by bathing in the ocean. Full details if you click play on the video below.

Now that Danielle was clean...we made our way north to Hearst Castle.

This guy seemed a bit nuts, spending so much $$$ on his place. I guess when you have THAT much money, it seems normal. We watched a 40 minute video, which was available for purchase at the visitor center for 50% of it's normal price, we bought two...Christmas will be here before you know it. KIDDING!
The house was beautiful, with it's multiple pools and fantastic views. The tour was worth it...and we must suggest the chicken sandwich at the visitor center as the perfect start to your tour. :) You can click each picture to make it bigger...and show even greater detail.

Once we hit the road again, we stopped to see the elephant seals that sun themselves on the coast during the day. There are two seals in this picture...see if you can find them!

Today, we will be driving another 90 minutes up to San Francisco. We will be stopping to see the REDWOODS and drive the rental through them. I got the insurance waiver on the car so we are good. See you in San Fran!

We got up this morning and had breakfast at the hotel. It is always interesting watching the people during continental breakfast. I guess some people don't understand how to work a toaster. This lady came over, cut me off in line and started shoving her bagel into the slot where another gentleman had his english muffin. Obviously after he told her three times that his was in there, she still didn't get the picture and he took her's out and then pulled out his english muffin. Continental Fiasco...possibly.

After getting ready for the day we headed over to downtown Santa Barbara and checked out their beautiful courthouse which had amazing murals, a sunken garden area and a clock tower that looked over the whole area. After some fun, we drove through the San Marco Pass to Solvang, which is the Danish Capital of the US. Super cute town and a lot of fun.

After looking at the pictures today we noticed a theme, crazy faces. Showcased below is some of the very touching pictures we took throughout our travels today. Enjoy!

...such a good soldier

...driving through the winding Mtn. pass

You can't hand the truth! - In courthouse

Madame Butterfly

Today was the day that I was REALLY looking forward to on our trip...a chance to "Come On Down" on "The Price Is Right." Danielle got our tickets months ago, and now we were able to use them. Our day started at 2:30a Wednesday with getting ready to go to get our "Order Of Arrival" passes outside the CBS lot at Television City. This line starts to build at 3:30a the day of the show. This ticket will determine your place in line. Each taping of the show is limited to 320 people. Nothing better than being at Fairfax and Beverly in downtown Los Angeles at 3:30a for a game show. Street view of line for tickets

CBS after sun-rise

We met some real cool people in line. You have to talk to people or you go nuts. We met Nick, a vet just back from Iraq. Today was day 2 for him on TPIR, so we got all the inside information from him. We also met Jerome, Michelle, Brent, and Ryan, who were all from California. They gave us even more great places to go see during the trip.

After many hours of waiting and waiting...and you guessed it...more waiting, we finally got into the "Bob Barker Studio" for the recording of the show. IT WAS INCREDIBLE. Exactly what you see on TV, just ALOT smaller. After so many years of watching the show on TV, we were really AT THE SHOW. There were no cameras or cell phones allowed in the studio, so I can't show you what I am talking about, but it was great. We had our name tags, and cheezy T-shirts, and we were ready to go. We got our seats RIGHT BEHIND contestant's row, so we got some great TV time. The show is slated to air on CBS Thursday April 16th. We didn't make it on the show, but we enjoyed ourselves.

Today's taping was no ordinary taping. Today, they welcomed back BOB BARKER. We got to see the man himself at the show with DREW. Bob has written a book about his experiences on the show and was there as part of the marketing tour of the book. Bob was written in as part of the showcases at the end of the show. He came out and the place went CRAZY!!!! During the showcase, he told the audience that we all got a copy of his new book. At least we won something at the show, and we have our name tags.

After the show, we drove to Santa Barbara, CA for dinner and to sleep. We are both drained from the show experience, and have sore throats from screaming so much. Danielle snapped some great pics as we cruised the Pacific Coast Highway this afternoon.

We have started our vacation today...as we ventured out to Los Angeles for a week of fun, fun and more fun. Arriving at our first hotel of the trip...this is the view out of our window.

Too bad we are only spending one night here, as tomorrow we go to The Price Is Right with Drew Carey. Danielle was fascinated with the "in-flight literature"...and was completely prepared for a water landing.

Once we arrived and got the convertible rental car, our first task was to find food. Our schedule is off, so we have been searching for food all day. I even resorted to purchasing airline food, since you have to pay for everything on flights now. We had to pay to check our 2 bags($30 extra), $6 for a snack on the plane...good thing water and pop are still included in the ticket price. After checking in at the hotel, we went searching down L-A for food, and found LaSalsa, and enjoyed some mexican fare.

Cool Hotel Fact: This hotel, the Westin Bonaventure, was used in the movie "True Lies"...with Arnold. There is a plaque showing the elevator we used to get to our room was in the movie when he rides a horse into the hotel. Pretty cool...they have movie posters for many of the productions that have been here.

This is me trying to do my best representation of Arnold...guess I just look tired!

More tomorrow after we go to THE PRICE IS RIGHT!!!!!!