xkenx

Jamie 11, if you've never taken a hot air balloon ride, they are worth it in wine country, IMO.

janisj

Jamie11: "I'd prefer that you no longer participate in this dialogue." Perhaps superc's posts may have been a bit testy, but you don't have the say so of who can and can't participate. You will get all sorts of responses - pay attention to the ones you can use and ignore the others . . . . .

Jamie11

Simply my preference given his/her attitude toward this string. That said, point taken.

HenryR

We did 8 days in April. Stayed 2 nights in San Francisco. Drove to Healdsburg the long way, through Napa. Stopped at wineries along the way. Stayed at Hotel Healdsburg, which I highly recommend. Went tasting through Dry Creek Valley the next day. The following day, drove to Half Moon Bay, and stayed one night. From there, drove to the Highlands Inn in Carmel. I recommend that as well. Spent most of our 2 days along the coast down to Big Sur. The scenery is outstanding. Make sure to stop at Point Lobos State Park and drive south to Julia Pfeiffer State Park to see the waterfall on the beach. It's a beautiful sight. We finished with 1 night back in San Francisco. It was a memorable trip.

Marinette

Try to get a reservation at Asilomar in Pacific Grove. It's a state park conference center and is right on the beach. It's also very close to one of the 17 mile drive gates. You can get a room for just over $100 which is really cheap for the Monterey/Carmel area.

jtrandolph

Another good restaurant in the town of Sonoma is The General's Daughter, which is in the house that General Vallejo built for his youngest daughter when she was married. It is on property which used to be part of his estate, just a couple of blocks down Spain Street from the Plaza. It is charming, and the food is consistently good.