Super-fantastic Journeys

  We were traveling in the Napa Valley and San Francisco area for a week, and Seven Hills is the best restaurant of our entire trip, and we have enjoyed some pretty amazing places to eat. If you are a local and have not been to Seven Hills, you have to go because you will fall in love with it and have a new favorite spot yourself. The next time I come to San Francisco, I will make my reservation weeks ahead to make sure I can get a table. The restaurant is located on the corner of Hyde and Green. Hyde is on the Cable Car line, so imagine being able to ride the cable car directly to this amazing Italian restaurant from Ghirardelli square; this would make the ultimate romantic experience. The cable cars were not running, so Uber dropped us off at the front door. When we arrived for an 8:00 reservation Alex, the owner, greeted us at the door. We were a few minutes early, so he set us up with a wine list and encouraged us to look it over. We asked a question about an Italian wine tha

 While visiting the Cowgirl Creamery Barn Store in Point Reyes Station, I learned bout the California Cheese Trail from a brochure.  I love the idea of any type of food or beverage trail, so I grabbed the brochures and started looking at them.  I was surprised to learn how many different creameries there were in the state of California.  I enjoy visiting cheese factories and buying cheese directly from the factory where you find many different varieties of cheese that you will not find in stores because they are done in small batches.  We were only able to visit one of the creameries while we were on our trip.  We could have done a lot more if we had known about the cheese trail ahead of time. We visited the Cowgirl Creamery .  I am looking forward to our next trip to California with this map of locations in hand to visit many more of the state's cheesemakers.     For more on the California Cheese Trail, visit https://cheesetrail.org/ .  They also have an app for your phone tha

Muir Woods National Monument is located just 16 miles Northwest of Fishermans Warf in San Francisco. Muir Woods is a stand of Coastal Redwoods protected over the years and allows visitors to walk amongst these giants.  Many of the trees in the area are 500 - 800 years old, and the tallest tree at the monument stands 258 feet tall.  The trees create their own climate below the canopy allowing many different plants and animals to live here that would not do well in the arid climate otherwise.  The Coastal Redwoods grow in Northern California, primarily between San Francisco and Oregon.  They thrive here because of the fog.  The fog will condense on the needles in the trees, then drip down into the forest below.  This process is how these giant trees get enough water to sustain the forest that they create. Being so close to San Francisco Bay area Muir Woods is a popular destination and requires you to make a paid reservation just to get parkin.  We made our reservations months in advance

 If you always look forward to Easter because you know that there will be lots of those delicious jelly beans, then you will be excited that at the Jelly Belly Factory in Fairfield, California it is always the right time to grab a handful of these delicious little candy treats.  Jelly Belly is known for making highly flavorful jelly beans in a wide variety of flavors.  Some like very cherry, you can never get enough of.  While others like buttered popcorn, you will always find me sorting these out and throwing them in the trash.  If you want to go extreme then take your chances with some of the flavors from the Harry Potter collection.  I have been done eating buggers for a while and don't need a jelly bean tasting like that or ear wax. The Jelly Belly factory tour is a self-guided walking tour through the upper-level balcony above the production floor.  The tour costs $5.00 for adults and $2.00 for children.  Kids under 2 are free.  After paying at the front desk, getting your pap

 The Point Reyes Lighthouse is located at the end of the hook of land that makes the Point Reyes National Seashore.  This 37-foot high lighthouse was first lit to guide ships in 1870 as they navigated past this point heading into or out of San Francisco Bay and along the California Coast. To get to the lighthouse today you will depart the town of Point Reyes Station on Sir Francis Drake Blvd and drive through the beautiful Point Reyes National Seashore.  Along the way, you can choose to stop and walk through the Cypress Tree Tunnel or stop at a number of the beaches that have access along the road.  You will have to make a couple of turns but the signs along the way will help you.  This area also has a number of dairy farms along the way, which you literally drive through and makes the drive interesting.  The drive is about 20 miles and will take you about 40 minutes to complete each direction.  Eventually, the road will end in the parking lot for the trail to the Point Reyes lighthous

Cow Girl Creamery 80 4th St. Point Reyes Station, CA 94956 Hours: Open 11 AM  - 4 PM Thursday to Monday  (Closed Tuesday and Wednesday)  (415) 663-9335 Web Site Cheeses: Mt Tam - Tried It Red Hawk Wagon Wheel We had a piece of truffled brie during a wine tasting in Napa Valley from Cowgirl Creamery so when we learned that we were going to be close by when we were on Point Reyes we made a point of making a visit to buy some cheese for the rest of the trip. They have a nice retail space and a little kitchen where you can order a grilled cheese sandwich made with their cheese. We purchased some Mt Tan cheese from the creamery and Point Reyes Blue, some crackers, a cheese knife, and a grilled cheese sandwich and we had lunch for three taken care of. There is really nowhere to eat outside that is very comfortable, and there is no eating inside at all. There are some planters and benches that you can sit on, on the side of the building and we made that work. The grilled cheese was cooked

There are around 1,700 registered wineries with the   Alcoholic Beverage Control of California in the Napa Balley with around 500 that have tasting rooms where you can taste and learn about the wines they make.  The Napa Valley is 30 miles and length and only 5 miles wide, so when you think about the concentration of wineries to visit, Napa is pretty amazing.  At the same time, it can be overwhelming if you are trying to make decisions about where to go on your next trip to wine country. During our recent trip to Napa we experienced seven unique wineries that provided amazing experiences.  Each and everyone one of these wineries provided exceptional customer service during their tasting experience and had amazing wines.  We experienced everything from the high commercialized Castello di Amorosa to the ultra-focused on sustainability Frogs Leap, to the specialized Promise Winery. At each of the wineries, we learned a lot from each of our hosts, and amazingly enough, they really were not

Welcome to Bouchon | Steven Yackel We had the amazing pleasure of eating at Bouchon Bistro while on a day of wine tasting in Napa Valley.  We had secured a reservation in advance which I highly recommend to ensure that you get to enjoy this unique restaurant.  It was a beautiful June day when we went and we were fortunate to get to eat outside.  While you are right along the road they have done an amazing job at designing the space so you are transported to this special place where you can focus on the food and the friends you are sharing it with. Bouchon Bistro - Helena, CA | Steven Yackel We started our meal with two items off of the appetizer menu.  The first was a daily special item, Merguez.  This was a lamb and beef sausage, served on a bed of Israeli Couscous, cucumbers, tomatoes and olives dressed with a phenomenal vinaigrette and dill.  This was the best dish by far and had such complexity of flavors, it was the perfect way to start. Merguez | Steven Yackel We also got an oder