As I write this, the snow is coming down steadily in Racine, but my memories of my visit to California are still fresh in my mind. I returned last Monday from a week in northern CA.
The previous Tuesday, I flew into San Jose and visited a customer for work in Sunnyvale. The weather was gorgeous - low 70s and sunny - but we were working hard, so we didn't get too much chance to enjoy it. On Thursday at about 11am, I started my drive north to Napa Valley. I spent the afternoon in downtown Napa at Annette's Chocolate & Ice Cream Factory and then at Artesa Winery. The views at Artesa were beautiful, so I spent about an hour and a half tasting wine and soaking in the sun on the patio.
My journey continued that evening to Sacramento, where my friend Andrea and her boyfriend Ryan picked me up and drove me to their house in Folsom. On Friday, we had breakfast at Mimi's Cafe and spent a few hours catching up. Both Andrea and Ryan had to be at work in the afternoon, so I rode Andrea's bike to Folsom prison, which is only about a mile from their house and also where Ryan works. I checked out the museum that was on the grounds, but it was quite small and had a lot of Johnny Cash memoribilia, so I left after about 30 minutes. I continued my ride to historic old town Folsom, which was a really cute part of town. The picture of me to the left is next to a cool old truss bridge, just for pedestrians, in Folsom. 
Friday evening, a few friends picked me up and we drove to South Lake Tahoe for the weekend for Sonia's bachelorette party weekend. On Saturday morning, we went snowshoeing in Emerald Bay. It was my first time snowshoeing, and it was really fun! It was a good workout, and with the high altitude (over 7000 ft), I got pretty winded! That afternoon, we went to lunch at the Blue Angel Cafe and then to a local spa for some relaxing treatments. We spent the evening back at our cabin eating dinner, watching movies, playing games, and giving Sonia fun presents. I also enjoyed looking at the stars in the outdoor hot tub.
On Sunday, we drove back to San Francisco and I got to stay the night at Sonia & Chris' house in the city. Sonia took me on a walk around their cool Noe neighborhood, once again in 70 deg weather.
It was a great getaway from Wisconsin in February! Click on the photo of me and Sonia to see more pictures from the weekend!
