We're about halfway through our trip, in Santa Barbara at the moment and I think it's time for another update. I'm sure all my readers (all two of them - mum & dad) are dying to hear more about our trip.

Yosemite

When we planned the trip, we hadn't really thought through the Yosemite part, or hadn't taken in count that the park could be covered in snow and you normally need snow chains for your car to enter the park during the winter months. Luckily it had been exceptionally warm and down in the Yosemite Valley there wasn't too much snow. We did a nice hike, but couldn't reach the top because of the icy trail and didn't really want to risk slipping of a cliff. Also another thing that slightly worried us was these constant warnings about the black bears. Because it was the off-season there weren't a lot of people around, so we were worried of being the prime candidates for supper. But now bear sightings this time!

The Yosemite Bug was as cozy as we remembered, with super comfy beds, so definately recommendable!

San Francisco

We arrived to sunny San Francisco on Friday afternoon and I was so happy to finally dump the coat, hat and gloves and actually soak up the sun. On our first night we went to see this play "Farragut North" (they are currently filming a movie about the play - so go see it when it comes out) and it was great! I didn't expect a political play to be so funny and all the actors were really good.

Saturday we went to this brunch/festival/spring event close to Fisherman's wharf and had a great time. Free mimosas were flowing, the sun was shining, we met lots of fun people and on the background you could admire the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz.

We spent the Sunday morning browsing (and tasting our way) through Farmers Market and for the afternoon I hired a bike and cycled over the Golden Gate Bridge. I guess it's one of the things you ought to do while in San Francisco and especially since we skipped it the last time I decided to do it. (Although to be exact, I have kind of done it before, sitting in the childs seat while Hanna - our au pair- cycled over it once..) The views were great, although a bit foggy and I think the bridge itself is pretty cool. While in San Francisco, we also enjoyed a really good yoga class at Yoga for the people (Thanks Laura for the tip!) and I got bitten by that yoga bug again.

Wine country

Headlsburg

We started our wine country excursion with a new acquaintance - Headlsburg. It's a lovely small town north of Napa. We visited several wineries and tasted some excellent wines and we had a friend of a friend working at one winery, so we got a private tour as well.

Due to the heavy rain, our Segway tour was cancelled, but luckily we had time to drive back up there at the end of the week. At first it's a bit scary and you feel like you'll lose your balance, but after a couple of minutes you get the hang of it and it's just the coolest way to move around! The scenery was beautiful and we went riding through the actual vineyards and I could have gone riding forever, if it hadn't been so cold. We were like to icicles at the end of the tour, because on Segway you just stand still and can't really move around to keep yourself warm.

Napa

After Headlsburg we headed to Napa, which is more commercial, the prices are higher and some people describe it as the Disneyland of the wine country with all its extravagant tasting rooms. We visited Castello di Amorosa winery, which is a castle. It is built exactely, down to the last detail, like an Italian medival castle. The winemaker loves castles, and decided to build one for himself (hey, why not? They said they hold amazing theme parties there) But all the artificail settings aside, the wine wasn't bad in Napa either.

Sonoma

Sonoma is a quaint small town with plenty of good restaurant around the town square. We decided to stay there the longest, since it was one of our favorite stops on our last visit. We had big plans for cycling trips and picnics, but the constant rain was a little discouraging. And it didn't make us feel any better that all the locals kept saying "if only you would've been here a week before, we've had beautiful weather for a month.." Oh well, the rain didn't keep the wineries closed and we still enjoyed some scrumpitous meals. And we also found time to do some more yoga (with the local housewives, so it was a lot less intense class compared to our previous one).

So five days, 50mm of rain pour (I actually just made that up, does it sound a lot? I don't know how much it was, but it was a lot! Many roads were closed because of the flooding..), about twenty wineries later we carried on down the Pacific Coast highway. We stopped at a few great places and ended up here in beautiful Santa Barbara. And it's sunny!

PS. Mum, don't worry, we didn't crash our car or anything, since you were worried why we had changed our rental. Our first car needed to have the oil changed, so instead of changing the oil, which at first we were going to do ourselves (not OURselves, but take it to a carshop), our rental car company decide to give us an SUV instead :)