we touched down in san francisco around noon feeling hungry and excited to have finally made it. the first stop after dropping off luggage at our air bnb rental in the mission district, was zeitgeist; an outdoor beer garden with plenty of local and national brews on tap. it was a perfect day for an afternoon drink with the weather in the mid 60s and sunny as can be. the crowd here was pretty much 'anything goes' and i was a fan of the grilled bratwurst i took in for lunch.
we snagged some last minute tickets to the san francisco giants game Tuesday evening at AT&T park. the stadium sits on the bay surrounded by gorgeous views, where exuberant fans go wild for a good game of baseball. the ball park is oozing with personality and there is no mistaking you are in san fran, with the eager paddle boarders in the water seeking fly balls, the ghirardelli stands for hot chocolate and the psychedelic graphics surrounding each player's name as they're announced on the scoreboard. this was a highlight of the trip and a definite must if you are in town during baseball season.
the next day we took our sightseeing to napa valley with the help of my dear friend and our incredible tour guide for the day. prior to leaving the city, we stopped at tartine bakery. i can't go without mentioning this little spot for breakfast - my croissant was that good. even the boys enjoyed it.
the wine country was as beautiful and dreamy as i imagined. with so many wineries available, it can be overwhelming if you do not have prior knowledge to visiting...but luckily we were in good hands. our first stop was stags leap, a beautiful winery. we tried the napa valley collection tasting flight and my favorites were the 2012 sauvignon blanc and the 2011 merlot. all were delicious but i'm certainly not even close to being an expert so i will leave it at that. our next stop was robert sinskey vineyard. this one had a more laid back feel and provided some small nibbles to go with the tasting. a fun side fact is that mr. sinskey enjoys taking photographs and will use his images as the labels on some of his wines each year.
next was lunch, which we headed to downtown napa for. the oxbow market is for those with a hefty appetite. with so many options to choose from, it was hard to narrow down but we went with the freshly made arepas from pica pica. delicious. our last stop was for some delicious sparkling wine at domaine carneros. a good way to end the day with some bubbles on an outdoor terrace.
if you cannot tell already, we love to eat. so for dinner, we had our eye on some cali-mex tacos which a couple of locals had already recommended to us. tacolicious - fondly nicknamed 't-lish' is all about the freshly prepared wide variety of tacos. it was not a disappointment and a spot i will definitely return to one day (i hope!).