San Francisco, north and wine country
 

We are traveling to San Francisco for one week, mid April. This is a return trip wtihout kids; our last one was about ten years ago through Monterey and Yosemite. we loved that trip! Now we are looking at one week, possibly wine country, maybe a little North. We enjoy small interesting hotels, inns, bed and breakfasts. We love city, country and seaside walks and great food. Any ideas for our first empty nest trip?

Mary, Do a search on Healdsburg. Great B&Bs, small charming hotels, and plenty of small wineries to tour and taste. You might want to head from there over to Bodega Bay. The Bodega Bay Lodge is one of my favorites, with a bay view, fireplaces in the rooms, and a great restaurant (and spa). Check out www.wineroad.com for lots of info about wineries, restaurants and accommodations.

It will be a beautiful time of year, with the fruit trees blooming and the mustard a blazing yellow under the vines.

Have a great second honeymoon!

I'll second the Bodega Bay Lodge & Spa. Request the Trumpeter Swan Suite. It's beautiful and very roomy. At night you will receive truffles at turndown. The Duck Club is excelent for dinner. It will be the perfect place for your first empty nest trip! (Gee, I wonder what that's going to feel like?) I've had six teens at my home so far today and more coming over tonight!! LOL Enjoy your time together...... ***kim***

I second Grasshopper's suggestion that you explore the wine country around Healdsburg. Ferrari-Carano stands out as a winery you should not miss.

While I think Bodega Bay Lodge is a nice motel-type lodge, scenically located, in my opinion the scenery gets more spectacular and the inns more interesting as you go on further north to the Mendocino County coast. Look especially for inns around the tiny towns of Gualala and Elk, which have outstanding views of surf breaking over rock, and the larger but still cozy town of Mendocino, at which, whether you stay there or not, you should stop and spend some time for its quaint New Englandish architecture, shops and restaurants as well as great ocean views.

There are many interesting inns and B&B's in these towns, with an especially good collection of old Victorian B&B's in and around Mendocino. Near Gualala, there is a very interesting inn called St.Orres. Although not an old building, it was built in an imperial Russian style (the Russians tried to colonize that area in the early nineteenth century, and their restored old fort, Fort Ross, which is in the midst of one of the most spectacular stretches of coast, is an interesting stop.) St. Orres is quite a sight when you come around a bend of the highway not especting the sudden appearance of a tall Russian onion dome. Its restaurant is very romantic, and one of the best in the area.

My top lodging recommendation, though, would be to see if you can grab one of the Sea Castle or Cliffside rooms at the Greenwood Pier Inn in Elk. These are simply the most spectacularly set and romantic accommodations I have ever seen on the Pacific Coast. The rest of the rooms in this inn are not as extraordinary, although fine. Take a look at their outstanding web site, www.greenwoodpierinn.com.

After Mendocino, you are north of the most spectacular stretches of coast. I would cut inland and go up to the Redwoods National Park. Enjoy these wonderful trees and the cathedral-like setting they create. There are many easy trails covering beautiful areas--the Lady Bird Johnson trail is one such I particularly remember. If you saw Giant Sequoias at Yosemite, be aware that the coast redwoods are a quite different type of "big tree," not as old or as big around as the Giant Sequoias, but extremely tall and very beautiful. You can see smaller groups of them much closer to San Francisco, at Muir Woods in Marin County or Armstrong Woods in Sonoma County, but not in as great numbers, nor can you drive for miles amongst the trees as you can in the National Park and the state parks surrounding it.

Don't forget to give us your impressions and experiences when you come back!

Thanks for the replies so far! I think we have a tentative trip plan...arrive Sat-Mon in SF
Mon/Tues north Muir Woods to Elk-Greenwood Pier Inn
Weds-Thurs Sonoma
Fri SF to leave early Sat am
Is this a reasonable trip time wise? How long does it take to get up to Greenwood, if we want to stop at Muir, wander along? Then into Sonoma, maybe Healdsburg? And back into SF? Thanks!

Elk is about 150 miles from SF (3 hours). Muir Woods is about 30-45 minutes from SF. It will take about 3 hours to get from Muir Woods to Elk as well (assuming you don't go the entire way on Highway 1, which would be slower). The trip from Elk to Healdsburg is about 2 hours. Healdsburg to SF is a 70 miles (a little over an hour).