This year my wife and I have an abundance of shorter trips, mostly friends weddings that will take us places like Colorado, Key West and so on so when a opportunity came along to hit California we jumped. The inspiration for this trip came from visiting our friends Will & Sara who were getting married in Napa and spending their honeymoon in wine country. We felt it only fitting that we would crash their honeymoon as they did ours in Punta Cana in 2010.
But no trip to California is complete without a little element of adventure for us, enter our friends Nick & Kim of Placerville, CA. Nick is an old co-worker who I've been fortunate to befriend through traveling to motorcycling events all over the country. In 2009 Jenny and I visited their beautiful home overlooking the foothills to Eldorado National Forest and borrowed an old BMW motorcycle to trip around Yosemite and Lake Tahoe. We were engaged on that trip and I'd never been happier when she so famously said YES!
Nick & Kim, awesome hosts!
Nick & Kim, awesome hosts!
This time around Nick graciously offered up his new loaner bike, a Suzuki SV650 complete with aftermarket exhaust, upgraded suspension and controls, etc. While not ideal for two up touring, any motorcycle is still the only way to travel CA in my opinion. And onto the adventure...
Day 1 -
We arrived in Sacramento in the early afternoon on Wednesday June 13 where Nick greeted us at the airport and we took off for Placerville. To familiarize myself with the Suzuki he and I took off for a quick 20 mile jaunt down into the valley his deck overlooks.
Bottom of the valley:
Haris Ranch:
View:
Nick's new workshop and my loaner bike:
That night we were in bed by 9pm, exhausted and ready to readjust to the time difference and wake up fresh to head for San Francisco.
Day 2 -
Leaving early in the morning was the best bet to get into San Francisco without any issues. We took the fairly boring stretch of freeway all the way there. One thing California is known for is "lane splitting" which if you're unfamiliar with is defined as moving between lanes of vehicles that are proceeding in the same direction. More narrowly, it refers to passing stopped or slower moving traffic between lanes at a speed greater than surrounding traffic.
This is not legal to do but in California no law explicitly and clearly prohibits lane splitting, and significantly, it has become the traditional policy of law enforcement, the courts, and the public in California to tolerate it when it is done safely. However, those engaged in unsafe behavior, including unsafe lane splitting, can still be cited for violating certain sections of the vehicle code. Motorcycle safety author and consultant Pat Hahn wrote in his 50-state handbook of US motorcycling laws that, "Lane sharing with vehicles other than motorcycles is not legal anywhere, including California. However, it is tolerated in California to large degree" and that "California is the only state in the country that allows lane splitting, lane sharing, and filtering. However, contrary to legend, it is not legal. Nor is it illegal. It falls in a gray area unique to California … You can (and will) get stopped and cited if you're riding like an ass."
So imagine for a moment if you will riding a motorcycle on the hashed line between two slow moving vehicles on the freeway, with inches to spare on either side. To say it's exhilarating is to be humble.
Upon approaching the Bay Bridge and toll coming into SF traffic backed up a good ten miles outside of the city. I was hesitant at first, not having lane split since 2009 when following Nick into SF and I recall it was terrifying for a first timer. This time around I waited for a motorcycle to pass me on the center line and thought I'd then follow the rider to reacquaint myself with the process. After a couple miles it was second nature, although not to Jenny who I'm not convinced didn't keep her eyes tightly shut the whole time.
The alternative to not lane splitting is to sit in hot stop and go traffic, sweating up your riding gear and burning up your clutch hand. Unacceptable.
Later that afternoon when our friend Ken got off work he took us on a great tour of the city by car, even taking the time to head up to the Twin Peaks area which affords a fantastic view of the city. Then settled in for a walk around Mission Dolores Park before heading to dinner.
Park:
Cool street art:
Our destination for dinner was the much acclaimed Mission Chinese Food that serves an Americanized Oriental food that was mentioned in Anthony Bourdain's: The Layover and featured in Bon Appetit magazine. It's hard for me to describe the cuisine with any kind of authority so I'll leave it at "phenomenal!" The salt cod fried rice, beef cheek with smoked oyster and broccoli, szechuan pickles and thrice cooked bacon with rice cakes. A truly fantastic meal to complete our day in San Francisco.
Mission Group:
Menu:
Day 3 -
Early the following morning we were up, packed and ready to get out of the city. But first Jenny suggested we go for breakfast in Sausalito, a picturesque residential community situated near the northern end of the Golden Gate Bridge which got us out of SF. It's known as a wealthy and artistic community, popular with tourists and house boaters.
Breakfast:
View:
We enjoyed our breakfast along side a honeymooning couple from Minnesota who we were glad to share some travel destinations and tips with. How's that for midwestern niceties?
After breakfast we were off on Pacific Coast Highway 1 taking the scenic route to wine country. This is perhaps what I was most looking forward to on this trip. With incredible views on one side of the Pacific Ocean and cliffs and coastline, the smell of the sea in the air, passing through forests. This is easily a top ten motorcycling road in the world in my opinion.
Ride Pics:
Ken suggested we stop along the way to in a small town called Tomales Bay and get some fresh oysters from one of the many Oyster shacks and to try the barbecue oysters - a local specialty. Jenny and I are known to enjoy some oysters so when we rode up on Tony's Seafood Restaurant where the sign proclaimed "Bar-B-Que Oysters" we had to stop.
Oyster Shack:
Oysters:
Continuing on we had maybe another 50 miles to get to our bed and breakfast in Calistoga, a quiet town in Napa County where we were excited to meet up with our newly married friends Will & Sara. Checking in to the bed and breakfast was fun, we both learned that this was our first time ever staying at one. Fanny's Bed & Breakfast was just lovely, hammock in the yard, cool breeze, nice garden, accommodating hosts and so forth. If you're ever in Calistoga I would highly recommend it.
Fannys:
Hammock:
Our good fortune continued when we learned that Calistoga offers a free shuttle service to tourists and were happy to get a free ride to our friends high end resort, the Solage. Impeccable in design and service we met for cocktails and joined with some local friends of theirs, Derek & Victoria before heading to a few miles south in St Helena at Tra Vigne. Another fantastic dinner, California know's how to cook. Also the wine, we were lucky to have a local wine connoisseur Derek doing the ordering, so good!
Dinner Group:
Just Married!
To say we enjoyed the wine is to be bashful. Jenny and I felt like kids sneaking back into the parents house that night at our B&B, tip-toeing, giggling and shushing each other.
Day 4 -
The next day we our B&B had a gorgeous spread, good coffee and hand squeezed juice followed by a asparagus and tomato quiche our host lovingly prepared. We then hailed a shuttle back to our friends resort where they had a limo waiting and a full day of winery tours and tastings.
Amazing homemade breakfast and fresh squeezed valencia orange and strawberry juice:
We started the day at Paraduxx where after touring the grounds and learning about the processes involved we sat down to a wind blending class, complete with pipettes for blending straight from the cask zin's and merlots into our own blends. It was so much fun to learn about the different varietals.
Paraduxx Shots:
From there we had a champagne tasting at the renowned Mumm Napa. Another beautiful winery surrounded by rolling vineyards and plenty of sun. It was starting to heat up by that time and we were lucky to have both chilled champagne but misters surrounding the patio seating. Very refreshing!
Mumm Napa:
On to lunch we ate at Rutherford Grill, a Napa favorite. Between the delicious wine and champagne and Modelo I of course brought to the limo party things started to get fun! Our day completed at the Castello di Amorosa, an absolutely incredible 120k square foot castle set among the rolling hills of Napa Valley. It was so cool to witness and imagine life in a medieval castle, which shockingly was constructed over the last 20 years.
Castle Shots:
A limo dance party, some Phil Collins karaoke and ten wrapping up the day with a dip in the pool back at our friends resort made for a very full day! Jenny and I had a quiet dinner at a Mexican restaurant in Calistoga before promptly hitting the sack by 10pm. This is a day I won't soon forget. Big thanks to our friends Will, Sara, Derek and Victoria for making this all possible.
This shot is as blurry as I was feeling:
Day 5 -
For our second to last day of riding on this trip we had an easy 130 miles to reach our destination of Mendocino. We were looking forward to this day as it was our only night of the trip we were going to spend alone together. So with a hearty southwestern breakfast of chilaquiles from our gracious host at the B&B we packed up and headed West back to incredible Hwy 1.
As we got though Santa Rosa and then picked up Hwy 1 there was a fairly dense fog rolling in off the Pacific and with that fog came some pretty chilly temps. We weren't at all prepared for the cooler weather so we had to stop frequently to warm up. Jenny wanted coffee and I was all for it, however this portion of road was incredibly desolate, mostly cedar shake ranches scattered over rolling hills of sun baked grass. The first place we could find for shelter from the cool temps came in the form of a "Texas BBQ" restaurant, a strange sight but welcoming. We scuttled in and were happy not only to have a hot cup of coffee but some incredibly good BBW - with a full on smoke shack outside the restaurant proclaiming 12 hour smoked meats we tried the brisket. Spicy bbq sauce and smokey brisket was the fuel we needed to get to our destination.
Fog Rolling In:
I chose Mendocino as our destination for the night, looking at the map and online it seemed to be a quaint and historic coastal town. It offers scenic coastal hikes and only a handful of restaurants and inn's - perfect. I'd made a reservation at another B&B, the John Daugherty House. All of the buildings in Mendocino are original preserved buildings and coincidently the remodeled farm building we stayed in was one of the oldest in the town.
Mendocino Coast:
Scoping out Mendocino:
The room itself was totally charming, with Dutch doors opening to the lush gardens and private deck, sharing a bottle of wine in the garden was a must.
Garden View:
Wine and a shot at luck to pay for our trip, ha!
For dinner that evening we consulted some locals at the only pub in town and were mostly referred to the Mendocino Cafe. However don't think sandwich shop, this place was full on gourmet, with a focus on organic local ingredients with a international flair. We shared a delightful meal of spicy duck pot stickers, an Indonesian Curry (think cream in place of coconut milk) and a nice local aged NY Strip for myself.
After dinner we headed for the wine store (okay for a second bottle) and walked down to the coast to watch the sunset, and what a sunset it was. I'll let the pictures do the talking here.
Sunset:
Then another 10pm bedtime, not unusual for our long days, but dozing off to the wood burning stove in our hundred year old room was heavenly.
Day 6 -
Waking up early for our last day of riding we decided to lighten up the bike by hitting the post office and shipping the majority of our luggage contents home via flat rate boxes. This is a great way to travel, offloading gear along the way. With over 250 miles to cover that day all the way back to the Haris Ranch in Placerville looming ahead of us, although eager to leave the cool temps of the coast, we broke East over Hwy 20 through Jackson State Forest. That section of Hwy 20 was incredibly twisty, a motorcyclists dream road. As we joined 101/20 then back to 20 East past Clear Lake it opened up and I took the wide open roads to get some miles behind us.
Packing up:
Clear Lake:
Hitting a pizza and salad buffet restaurant in Williams at Interstate 5 we had the choice of taking the Interstate back to Placerville (a 90 min ride) or to continue on Hwy 20 and make it scenic with similar miles but more than double that seat time. Well we were both exhausted by then, and with sore behinds we opted to go the fast short route back.
Returned!
Nick, glad to see us return safely, took us out for sushi that evening with his wife Kim and thus completed our CA adventure. Headed back to SMH - CMH the following morning for a long, hour losing flight we made it back home just after midnight.
So there you have it, a whirlwind of an adventure in just six days. Wonderful friends, sights, sounds, riding, meals and much more I'm probably leaving out.
Thanks to all of our gracious hosts for making it possible, we can't thank you enough. And thanks to my beautiful wife for being such an amazing co-pilot, your smiles are all the inspiration I need to fulfill these journeys together.
Day 1 -
We arrived in Sacramento in the early afternoon on Wednesday June 13 where Nick greeted us at the airport and we took off for Placerville. To familiarize myself with the Suzuki he and I took off for a quick 20 mile jaunt down into the valley his deck overlooks.
Bottom of the valley:
Haris Ranch:
View:
Nick's new workshop and my loaner bike:
That night we were in bed by 9pm, exhausted and ready to readjust to the time difference and wake up fresh to head for San Francisco.
Day 2 -
Leaving early in the morning was the best bet to get into San Francisco without any issues. We took the fairly boring stretch of freeway all the way there. One thing California is known for is "lane splitting" which if you're unfamiliar with is defined as moving between lanes of vehicles that are proceeding in the same direction. More narrowly, it refers to passing stopped or slower moving traffic between lanes at a speed greater than surrounding traffic.
This is not legal to do but in California no law explicitly and clearly prohibits lane splitting, and significantly, it has become the traditional policy of law enforcement, the courts, and the public in California to tolerate it when it is done safely. However, those engaged in unsafe behavior, including unsafe lane splitting, can still be cited for violating certain sections of the vehicle code. Motorcycle safety author and consultant Pat Hahn wrote in his 50-state handbook of US motorcycling laws that, "Lane sharing with vehicles other than motorcycles is not legal anywhere, including California. However, it is tolerated in California to large degree" and that "California is the only state in the country that allows lane splitting, lane sharing, and filtering. However, contrary to legend, it is not legal. Nor is it illegal. It falls in a gray area unique to California … You can (and will) get stopped and cited if you're riding like an ass."
So imagine for a moment if you will riding a motorcycle on the hashed line between two slow moving vehicles on the freeway, with inches to spare on either side. To say it's exhilarating is to be humble.
Upon approaching the Bay Bridge and toll coming into SF traffic backed up a good ten miles outside of the city. I was hesitant at first, not having lane split since 2009 when following Nick into SF and I recall it was terrifying for a first timer. This time around I waited for a motorcycle to pass me on the center line and thought I'd then follow the rider to reacquaint myself with the process. After a couple miles it was second nature, although not to Jenny who I'm not convinced didn't keep her eyes tightly shut the whole time.
The alternative to not lane splitting is to sit in hot stop and go traffic, sweating up your riding gear and burning up your clutch hand. Unacceptable.
Lane Splitting Tunnel:
Lane Splitting Freeway:
Jenny and I arrived to our friend and host of the evenings flat about 1pm, parked the bike and began to explore. We walked around Alamo Square Park and then found a cafe for beers on the sidewalk. A short walk later found ourselves in the famous Haight-Ashbury District, grabbing fish and chips from a local pub. It was cool in the bay, highs in the mid-60's although the locals must have considered that hot because shorts was the dress. 
Later that afternoon when our friend Ken got off work he took us on a great tour of the city by car, even taking the time to head up to the Twin Peaks area which affords a fantastic view of the city. Then settled in for a walk around Mission Dolores Park before heading to dinner.
Park:
Our destination for dinner was the much acclaimed Mission Chinese Food that serves an Americanized Oriental food that was mentioned in Anthony Bourdain's: The Layover and featured in Bon Appetit magazine. It's hard for me to describe the cuisine with any kind of authority so I'll leave it at "phenomenal!" The salt cod fried rice, beef cheek with smoked oyster and broccoli, szechuan pickles and thrice cooked bacon with rice cakes. A truly fantastic meal to complete our day in San Francisco.
Mission Group:
Menu:
Day 3 -
Early the following morning we were up, packed and ready to get out of the city. But first Jenny suggested we go for breakfast in Sausalito, a picturesque residential community situated near the northern end of the Golden Gate Bridge which got us out of SF. It's known as a wealthy and artistic community, popular with tourists and house boaters.
Breakfast:
View:
We enjoyed our breakfast along side a honeymooning couple from Minnesota who we were glad to share some travel destinations and tips with. How's that for midwestern niceties?
After breakfast we were off on Pacific Coast Highway 1 taking the scenic route to wine country. This is perhaps what I was most looking forward to on this trip. With incredible views on one side of the Pacific Ocean and cliffs and coastline, the smell of the sea in the air, passing through forests. This is easily a top ten motorcycling road in the world in my opinion.
Ride Pics:
Oyster Shack:
Continuing on we had maybe another 50 miles to get to our bed and breakfast in Calistoga, a quiet town in Napa County where we were excited to meet up with our newly married friends Will & Sara. Checking in to the bed and breakfast was fun, we both learned that this was our first time ever staying at one. Fanny's Bed & Breakfast was just lovely, hammock in the yard, cool breeze, nice garden, accommodating hosts and so forth. If you're ever in Calistoga I would highly recommend it.
Fannys:
Hammock:
Our good fortune continued when we learned that Calistoga offers a free shuttle service to tourists and were happy to get a free ride to our friends high end resort, the Solage. Impeccable in design and service we met for cocktails and joined with some local friends of theirs, Derek & Victoria before heading to a few miles south in St Helena at Tra Vigne. Another fantastic dinner, California know's how to cook. Also the wine, we were lucky to have a local wine connoisseur Derek doing the ordering, so good!
Dinner Group:
Just Married!
To say we enjoyed the wine is to be bashful. Jenny and I felt like kids sneaking back into the parents house that night at our B&B, tip-toeing, giggling and shushing each other.
Day 4 -
The next day we our B&B had a gorgeous spread, good coffee and hand squeezed juice followed by a asparagus and tomato quiche our host lovingly prepared. We then hailed a shuttle back to our friends resort where they had a limo waiting and a full day of winery tours and tastings.
Amazing homemade breakfast and fresh squeezed valencia orange and strawberry juice:
We started the day at Paraduxx where after touring the grounds and learning about the processes involved we sat down to a wind blending class, complete with pipettes for blending straight from the cask zin's and merlots into our own blends. It was so much fun to learn about the different varietals.
Paraduxx Shots:
Apparently these cactus flowers only bloom ONE DAY every year and we caught them!
From there we had a champagne tasting at the renowned Mumm Napa. Another beautiful winery surrounded by rolling vineyards and plenty of sun. It was starting to heat up by that time and we were lucky to have both chilled champagne but misters surrounding the patio seating. Very refreshing!
Mumm Napa:
On to lunch we ate at Rutherford Grill, a Napa favorite. Between the delicious wine and champagne and Modelo I of course brought to the limo party things started to get fun! Our day completed at the Castello di Amorosa, an absolutely incredible 120k square foot castle set among the rolling hills of Napa Valley. It was so cool to witness and imagine life in a medieval castle, which shockingly was constructed over the last 20 years.
Castle Shots:
A limo dance party, some Phil Collins karaoke and ten wrapping up the day with a dip in the pool back at our friends resort made for a very full day! Jenny and I had a quiet dinner at a Mexican restaurant in Calistoga before promptly hitting the sack by 10pm. This is a day I won't soon forget. Big thanks to our friends Will, Sara, Derek and Victoria for making this all possible.
This shot is as blurry as I was feeling:
Day 5 -
For our second to last day of riding on this trip we had an easy 130 miles to reach our destination of Mendocino. We were looking forward to this day as it was our only night of the trip we were going to spend alone together. So with a hearty southwestern breakfast of chilaquiles from our gracious host at the B&B we packed up and headed West back to incredible Hwy 1.
As we got though Santa Rosa and then picked up Hwy 1 there was a fairly dense fog rolling in off the Pacific and with that fog came some pretty chilly temps. We weren't at all prepared for the cooler weather so we had to stop frequently to warm up. Jenny wanted coffee and I was all for it, however this portion of road was incredibly desolate, mostly cedar shake ranches scattered over rolling hills of sun baked grass. The first place we could find for shelter from the cool temps came in the form of a "Texas BBQ" restaurant, a strange sight but welcoming. We scuttled in and were happy not only to have a hot cup of coffee but some incredibly good BBW - with a full on smoke shack outside the restaurant proclaiming 12 hour smoked meats we tried the brisket. Spicy bbq sauce and smokey brisket was the fuel we needed to get to our destination.
Fog Rolling In:
BBQ Warm Up:
I chose Mendocino as our destination for the night, looking at the map and online it seemed to be a quaint and historic coastal town. It offers scenic coastal hikes and only a handful of restaurants and inn's - perfect. I'd made a reservation at another B&B, the John Daugherty House. All of the buildings in Mendocino are original preserved buildings and coincidently the remodeled farm building we stayed in was one of the oldest in the town.
Mendocino Coast:
Scoping out Mendocino:
Garden View:
Wine and a shot at luck to pay for our trip, ha!
For dinner that evening we consulted some locals at the only pub in town and were mostly referred to the Mendocino Cafe. However don't think sandwich shop, this place was full on gourmet, with a focus on organic local ingredients with a international flair. We shared a delightful meal of spicy duck pot stickers, an Indonesian Curry (think cream in place of coconut milk) and a nice local aged NY Strip for myself.
Sunset:
Then another 10pm bedtime, not unusual for our long days, but dozing off to the wood burning stove in our hundred year old room was heavenly.
Day 6 -
Waking up early for our last day of riding we decided to lighten up the bike by hitting the post office and shipping the majority of our luggage contents home via flat rate boxes. This is a great way to travel, offloading gear along the way. With over 250 miles to cover that day all the way back to the Haris Ranch in Placerville looming ahead of us, although eager to leave the cool temps of the coast, we broke East over Hwy 20 through Jackson State Forest. That section of Hwy 20 was incredibly twisty, a motorcyclists dream road. As we joined 101/20 then back to 20 East past Clear Lake it opened up and I took the wide open roads to get some miles behind us.
Packing up:
Clear Lake:
Returned!
Nick, glad to see us return safely, took us out for sushi that evening with his wife Kim and thus completed our CA adventure. Headed back to SMH - CMH the following morning for a long, hour losing flight we made it back home just after midnight.
So there you have it, a whirlwind of an adventure in just six days. Wonderful friends, sights, sounds, riding, meals and much more I'm probably leaving out.
Thanks to all of our gracious hosts for making it possible, we can't thank you enough. And thanks to my beautiful wife for being such an amazing co-pilot, your smiles are all the inspiration I need to fulfill these journeys together.
