My husband and I and my cousin and his wife are looking to plan a vacation to wine country and would like to know the best area to stay in. We are looking for good wine and good food
I keep hearing that Napa Valley is the wine country.. But why is it called that?
There are so many tours to the wine country which is best? Should you see Sonoma and Napa?
Planning to visit wine country in northern California this summer. We don’t want to drive for obvious reasons and are hoping to avoid the planned shuttle tours. From the maps, it looks like there are several areas with 8-10 wineries within a mile or two of each other. They’re mostly connected by state highways that I assume aren’t exactly pedestrian friendly, but is it possible to get a ride to such an area then walk among the nearby wineries at our own pace? This seems like an obvious question but I haven’t really seen anything about it online.
(I’ve read about "wine trek" planned tours that visit a few wineries and have hikes in between, we’re not looking for that.)
My husband and I are looking to visit wine country for our anniversary but I don’t like anything but dessert wines. I don’t like grappa or most ports as they usually contain too much alcohol. I prefer the alcohol content to be around the 5-8% mark. Any ideas of good wineries to visit?
We’d like to visit CA (from NJ) and spend a few days in both San Francisco and wine country.
Can you suggest: time of year to visit, good bed & breakfasts/places to stay, places to east for dinner, wineries that are a "must-see," tours and/or other sights, etc.
Looking for places that are modest and affordable, good views, decent nightlife, etc. We are late 20’s to mid 30’s in age. Thank you.
Flower, you’ve never heard of 5 star hotels, or 6 apple hotels? We are looking for 3-4 stars, not the Ritz Carlton. Okay, negative Nancy.
We live in Temecula, Ca (in rural wine country) and our neighbor threatened to shoot our dog if she goes on his property. Is that legal in So Cal? It’s not just our dogs there are about 2 other neighbor hood dogs (pitbull & mixed dog) that play with our 3 dogs( small lab, shih tzu, and chow mix) in the morning and they all go back into the fields and chase rabbits, but he just has a problem with our dogs. They are all really friendly and this guy has a stick up his butt because none of them like him (good judges’ of character). This guy has serious mental issues’ and is completely delusional. We have several police reports on him for harassment and elderly abuse towards my Grandpa. But he just now threatened us with harming the dogs. Is shooting someone’s dogs legal??
He has a horse that he neglects….
I have found articles online
""Leash laws" generally require dogs to be on a leash and under control whenever they’re off their owners’ property, unless a specific area is designated for unleashed dogs. Some laws apply only at night (when dogs may form packs and do the most damage to livestock) or allow an owner to have a dog unleashed if it is under "reasonable control."8 Even dog owners who let their dogs off a leash only because they’re confident they have complete control over them are probably in violation of a leash law."
Im not sure if this purtains to the area I live in though.
We live on 2.5 acres, and every property around us has open land….He has built a fence, but not enclosing his entire property just a straight fence with barbed wire on it…
A bunch of friends want to take a slow trip to SF and wine country this Fall (Say 5 to 7 days). They have put me in charge of developing an itinerary. Once I get north of Oxnard I am clueless. I was going to e-mail all the regulars, but only OM and Mark have an e-mail setting. Below is a first very rough sketch of ideas. Please post below specific things to do ideas if you can. I will re-post the updates with your ideas every couple weeks until it is finalized. Thanks….PH
Start in LA:
0. Dinner at a nice BH restaurant.
1. Venice Beach/Commerce Club Casino
2. Lunch on the SM Pier or Castaways ?
3. Malibu Getty
4. Paradise Cove
5. Ventura–Boat or Helicopter to Northern Islands (Cope, this is your Baliwic)
6.SLO–What is a good clam dinner restaurant ?(OM you know this area)
7. Solvang
8.Hearst Mansion
9.Monteray Bay–What to do there ?
10.SF Cable Car and Fisherman’s Warf (Need Specific Ideas here.
11. Wine Country—Dinner at Thomas Keller’s French Laundry
One of the peeps is a Wine Country expert so they will take over from here.
There will be between 5 to 8 people on the trip. Wondering about car arrangements. We may need 2 cars. Would you recommend convertible cars ? The trip is not very price sensitive, so we would not mind SOME good higher end stuff…..with out going too crazy…
Thanks for your contribution. This is harder than it looks as I have to keep interests of EVERYONE in mind. I will report back to you…..
OK-Jim I will check it out. I didn’t know there was an aquarium there. Thanks.
Rick, thank you sooo much. I did not know you actually took the cable car to Fisherman’s Wharf. I am going to goggle map that area so I get familiar with it and get back to you with more questions later… Thanks, PH
Thanks Muppet and Cope and sbinlb. This is great stuff…Printing out for my notebook right now. Sninlb–great casino idea, I should have thought of that….since I’ m a Chumashophile…Cope if Chef Keller is not that great maybe I will try one of the other ideas here.The winery part is a little out of my hands…as I’m not a wine person. Muppet I will definitely check out the cool stuff you suggested. This whole thing is starting out great. Still need more SF suggestions and a clam restaurant in Pismo Beach…Can you rent dune buggys there ???
Good Cope definitely taking some kind of boat excursion in SF Bay area…
Thanks Peddle—-Great ideas, Thanks…
I haven’t posted in the SF section as I trust our regulars a lot and when you guys go to SF area you are tourists doing touristy things, so you know a lot……Rick, who is frequently in the LA section is from SF so he can also fill me in….
Absolutely, the more the merrier, Chie….
My girlfriends and I want to go down to Texas Wine Country for a weekend in the spring. Have any of you been there? What would be the best time to go (beat the heat) and where to stay? We want a comfy, cute, affordable and relaxing place to stay. Maybe a cabin we can rent together? Thank you!
It is a low cut green and white tunic top. She is wearing it while packing w/ Slade, when he is surprising her with a trip to wine country and a balloon ride. If anyone can help- please do! I need the brand or where to buy!