My husband and I have narrowed down our vacation choice for the year to the wine country area and Northern California of San Francisco, Monterrey Bay & the Napa Valley

We have not been to this area for years and never together and neither of us have been to Napa Valley as our “wine connoisseur” status is fairly new. So… Where would YOU go again? What was your favorite restaurant, shop, hotel, inn, coffee shop, bakery??   I tweeted about suggestions on twitter, and got lots of great responses but since that is limited to 140 characters I thought this might be a better spot to ask for suggestions of hotels, beaches, must see places, wineries, restaurants etc.  I KNOW we will visit the Monterrey Bay Aquarium.  I have been there once and just loved it.  Being from Colorado aquariums, Sea World type places always enchant me. We prefer casual, local, friendly spots vs. trendy, touristy, snooty spots. So leave your suggestions here… and I’ll share our experiences when we take our vacation. We are going in the fall which according to the sites I’ve read is the best time to visit the San Francisco Bay area.

This will be kind of a honeymoon for us since we haven’t had the vacation time nor the funds to do a nice trip, so romantic is also good!

Thanks!

The photo is at Orfila Vineyards on our trip to Encinitas CA where Jim proposed on the beach, on one knee at sunset! I told you he was the worlds greatest husband! Before this Jim had never enjoyed wine! Now he’s graduated to a snooty…” I ONLY drink Pino Noir or Cabs “ type guy…