Sweet Meg on a random NorCal beach

Jamie's visit day 1

Jamie came out to visit California.  We packed in a ton of fun in just a few days.  


Day 1 included a drive through Sausalito with this view of San Francisco

After Sausalito, we cruised on down to Santa Cruz.  The boardwalk is quite the tourist haven

We hit a great little brewpub in Santa Cruz for a late lunch then headed back to Sacramento.  Unfortunately.... we hit Friday traffic which extended our trip.  We did hop off the highway for the road less traveled which was really nice.

The Badlands

Simply stunning:

 some cuteness:

The second great migration

I dropped Jamie at the Sacramento Airport, went back to the campground, hooked up and headed east.  Jamie made it to Ohio several days before I did.


The Bonneville Salt Flats happened to be on my route.  No pics, but it was really cool to see miles and miles of flat.


Next up was the Black Hills of South Dakota.  Love. Love. Love.  It is as beautiful as advertised.  I saw the Crazy Horse Monument.  The monument is about 1/2 mile behind the model:

Next up was Mt Rushmore:

Then the Mammoth Site which was SUPER cool:

Then Wind Cave.  The entrance hole:

Wind cave inside:

Pacific Coast Highway

The PCR is simply stunning.  It's hard to drive when you are looking over the edge at this:

or this:

or this:

Hopland Passport wine festival

Jamie and I hopped in the convertible and swung through Napa Valley on our way to:  http://www.destinationhopland.com/hopland-passport

First stop was in a Redwood grove at the Nelson Family winery.  

Then we cruised through a couple of other wineries before ending up in downtown Hopland.  Hopland is a cool little wine focused town.  We met a bunch of winemakers.  My favorite, Greg Graziano:

Guinness McFadden produces great wine, great beef, great seasonings:

Grapevines: