Part I - Muir Woods, Sausalito & Sonoma
A few weeks ago Sweetie and I took a long 4-day weekend trip to San Francisco. The trip came about as a result of some flight vouchers we received after our epic journey south this past summer. We left on a Thursday after work and arrived in San Francisco late that evening. After catching some sleep at our hotel we were up early Friday morning to pickup our rental car at the airport and then we headed into the city to see a few sights on our way to John Muir Woods. We drove through Golden Gate Park and the Presidio en route to Lincoln Park where we stopped to take a few photos of the Golden Gate Bridge. We then drove on Hwy 101 up to Mill Valley where we exited the freeway and traveled along some really pretty roads to Muir Woods. Muir Woods was definitely one of the highlights of our trip. Walking through the park into the forest full of giant redwood trees was pretty spectacular. The forest had a prehistoric feel to me and I felt like we had gone back in time to prehistory.
After our trip to Muir Woods we drove back to Mill Valley and stopped at Studio Velo before getting back on Hwy 101. In addition to having some really cool frames and gear, Studio Velo had a vending machine out front with inner tubes, gels and other cycling necessities that were available to cyclists even when the store was closed – pretty cool!
It was then back on the highway to Sausalito where we took in the beautiful sites and checked out a few shops before having a really nice dinner at Poggio. Sitting by the window enjoying the view of the harbor with a nice glass of wine, it was cool to watch the steady flow of cyclists riding past us on the street. We quickly realized how cycling friendly the area is in and around San Francisco. After dinner we stopped at Bicycle Odyssey another great cycling shop. This may be one of the coolest and most complete bike stores I have ever visited. Great gear and a HUGE selection of top end road frames. Sweetie picked up a neat bike bell that lit up in multiple colors when you rang it – the perfect accessory for an upcoming night ride.
By now it was getting dark as we hopped back on Hwy 101 to travel north to Santa Rosa where we would spend the next few nights at Melitta Station, a small bed and breakfast that would be our home base while we checked out Sonoma’s wine country. After arriving we met the owners, a really charming couple from Great Britain, and then settled into our room to rest up for the next day’s bike ride into wine country. The next morning we enjoyed a nice breakfast and met Melitta Station’s other guests before driving into Sonoma to pick up bicycles for our ride. We rented bikes from Sonoma Valley Bike Tours . The bikes were OK and the service was so so and I’m not sure I would recommend this company to someone else. However, we really enjoyed our ride and we stopped along the way at Acacia Winery for a testing. After returning our bikes we drove to Bartholomew Winery for a tasting and we bought a few bottles of wine to bring home. We then walked around Sonoma’s town square before having dinner at Lasalette, a Portuguese restaurant recommended by our hosts at the Bed and Breakfast. We enjoyed our meal and the weather was warm enough to dine outside. After getting back to our Bed and Breakfast that evening we enjoyed a relaxing dip in their hot tub before calling it a night.
Coming up – Hwy 1 & our walking tour of San Francisco
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