Make up for lost time

Obviously, the California trip hasn't made it up yet, so it's probably about time for a brief summary of that trip.

We started out for a few days in San Francisco and were able to spend some time with Andrew and Corinna. I was good to see them in their element, and the Cali lifestyle definitely suits them. We also had a chance to meet Tuf, and she seems like a great new addition to the family.

Pictures of our time will be added shortly.

One of the funnier moments of the SF part of the trip actually occurred at dinner on Sunday night. Lauren and I went to dinner at Salt House, which i have been to a few times before on work trips. Our reservation was mildly late for a Sunday evening But not too bad. After we had been sitting for about 15 minutes, in walks Adrian Grenier of Entourage fame. Needless to say, Lauren thought it was pretty cool and instantly had to text Leanne. A great meal made even more memorable.

From SF we drove up to Napa to spend a few days in wine country before driving down the coast to LA. we spend a few days checking out Napa, and picked our way around the larger and smaller wineries in the valley. By no means a comprehensive trip, it was more to get a sense of everything that was offered so we can be a little more guided on future trips. A few of the best places we went were:
- Mumm Napa was a great place to see a large-scale producer of sparkling wine
- Frog's Leap was a real gem located in Rutherford
- Smith-Madrone (Ashwin suggested) was amazing! A few hippies from Berkley started a winery in the 70s and still have it going. We even got to try their next vintage Riesling while it was still in the steel vats. Very cool.

Best dinner while we were out there was at Ad Hoc in Yountville. It wasn't the fried chicken dinner (BBQ instead) but it was awesome.

Next post will cover the remainder of the trip, including driving down PCH, Central Coast wineries, and our time in/around LA.