Highway 1 Roadtrip

Right now, more than ever, is the perfect time to explore destinations in the US. While we don’t know what it will be like traveling abroad in the months following the Covid-19 Pandemic, we are lucky that we have incredibly beautiful destinations right here, in our backyard.

A few years ago, Jonathan and I decided to rent a convertible and drive down Highway 1 for an epic road trip. While our plans changed along the way (The 2017 fires in Big Sur forced us to go north instead of south), it ended up being even better than expected (and we made it to Big Sur eventually, you can read about that trip HERE.)

DAY ONE:

We flew into San Francisco and spent a full day exploring the City (we walked over 10 miles!). We stayed in the Union Square area and hit up ALL of the spots on our one day in the City. We started our morning with coffee & pancakes at Sears Fine Foods before hopping on a wild Trolley Ride through the steep San Francisco streets. We ate Clam Chowder next to the water and saw breathtaking views of Fisherman's Wharf, Pier 39, Ghiradelli Square, and the Golden Gate Bridge. Perfect first day in sunny California!

DAY TWO:

The next morning, we picked up our rental car at SIXT and quickly drove down Lombard Street (eight sharp turns are said to make it the most crooked street in the world) before heading out of town. Highly recommend coming to Lombard Street early in the morning before it gets busy, as it’s a major tourist attraction.

Make sure to drive over the Golden Gate Bridge as you’re heading out of town. Just after you cross the bridge, you’ll see the Battery Spencer Overlook, which will be your first pit-stop for a photo op. Battery Spencer was a fort that defended San Francisco Bay from 1897 until 1942, when the rapid improvements in technology during World War II made its guns obsolete. Today, it's a piece of history where many go for an incredible view of the Golden Gate Bridge. It was crazy cold and windy at this spot, we were freezing!

Our next stop was the adorable little town of Sausalito! We grabbed lunch at The Trident, with great views overlooking the ocean. Afterwards, we walked around town, grabbed ice cream and did some shopping.

After a sun-filled afternoon in Sausalito, we were on our way to our next spot, the Cow Track Ranch. Yes, you read that right! After our plans to Big Sur quickly changed due to the fires, my husband found this very cool airbnb in the rolling hills of rural West Marin County. The property sits on a 500-acre working cattle ranch, so we spent the early evening walking the grounds and climbing hills as the sun was setting.

That evening we went to dinner at Rancho Nicasio, located in the small town square of Rancho Nicasio, this community looks like a frontier town. Very lively and fun spot for dinner in the country.

DAY THREE:

There’s nothing quite like waking up on a cattle ranch in the middle of nowhere — birds chirping, cows moo-ing, and the sound of the breeze coming through the windows.

We woke up early and drove into town to grab picnic supplies at Cowgirl Creamery. We knew we wanted to hike Point Reyes for most of the afternoon, so we grabbed a ton of snacks for the day.

Point Reyes is the windiest place on the Pacific Coast and the second foggiest place on the North American continent. Weeks of fog, especially during the summer months, frequently reduce visibility to hundreds of feet. The Point Reyes Headlands, just 10 miles out to sea, pose a threat to each ship entering or leaving San Francisco Bay. The historic Point Reyes Lighthouse warned mariners of danger for more than a hundred years. The Lighthouse, built in 1870, was retired from service in 1975 when the U.S. Coast Guard installed an automated light.

Thankfully, we were blessed with a beautiful day in Point Reyes. We started at the Lighthouse, and then made our way to Tomales Point through the Tule Elk Reserve. After a few hours of hiking and exploring, we sat for our picnic lunch near the shore, and watched a beautiful seal swim by.

At this point, it was late afternoon, and we had a 3 hour drive along Highway 1 in front of us, as we made our way to Mendocino. We stopped at multiple points along the way to take in the views, and made it to our adorable little inn, The Blue Door Inn, around 6pm. We quickly checked in and went to the adorable Trillium Cafe for dinner.

We didn’t make it here, but heard great things about Hog Island Oyster Co., on your drive up north.

DAY FOUR:

The Blue Door Inn makes waking up extremely special as there was a little picnic basket outside of our room with every breakfast treat you can imagine — muffins, scones, eggs, fruit, yogurt, fresh orange juice, etc. We enjoyed some breakfast in bed before venturing out.

We walked around the adorable down of Mendocino. Mendocino is a coastal community in northern California. It's known for the cliffside trails and beaches of Mendocino Headlands State Park. The village is surrounded on three sides by beautiful ocean bluffs, known as the Mendocino Headlands. With beautiful walking trails, and Victorian homes that have been lovingly restored into romantic bed and breakfasts, restaurants, and specialty shops. Fans of "Murder She Wrote" will recognize this seaside village as "Cabot Cove". That's right, Murder She Wrote was filmed in the Village of Mendocino (Hollywood's version of Maine).

We didn’t have any set plans on this day, as we just wanted to go with the flow. We ended up spending the afternoon at Pacific Star Winery, the only winery in the world that sits on a fault line. Thankfully, we lived to talk about it! Here are some additional activities to do in and around the Mendocino area:

Shopping, Bike Rentals, Kayaks, Horseback Riding, Glass Beach, Bowling Ball Beach, Whale Watching, etc.

DAY FIVE:

After another amazing breakfast at the Blue Door Inn, we drove inland 3 hours to Napa. It was a gorgeous drive through the red wood trees and vineyards — the weather continued to get warmer and warmer as we drove further away from the Coast.

We stopped for lunch at Calistoga Ranch before making our way to our resort for the next few days, The Carnero’s. While we had high hopes this day of grabbing bikes from the Carnero’s and hitting up the nearby wineries (Domaine Carneros, Saintsbury, Etude Winery, & Artesa Winery), we were pretty exhausted from our drive and decided to walk around the resort and relax at the pool for the afternoon before heading into the adorable town of Yountville for dinner. We had reservations at Bottega, which was fantastic.

DAY SIX:

When staying at the Carnero’s Inn, you will be blessed with free breakfast at one of the restaurants on the property, the Boon Fly Cafe. Make sure to get the donuts! We filled up on a big breakfast before our one and only day of wine tasting. There are a MILLION vineyards you can go to, which can be a bit overwhelming. We worked with the concierge at the Carnero’s to narrow down the wineries we wanted to check out…

We decided to star our morning with a private tasting and property tour at Aonair Winery, which was set up by the concierge at our hotel. Aonair uses only the best grapes, in limited barrel quantities consisting of bold vintages, primarily sourced from the rocky volcanic hillside vineyards of Napa Valley. Next, we stopped at the famous Auberge du Soleil for lunch, this well known Napa Valley dining destination is a Michelin-starred restaurant overlooking the rolling hills of the Valley. While this came highly recommended by many (and the food was delicious), I sort of wish we would have grabbed picnic supplies from Oxbow Market and had a more laid back lunch.

That afternoon, we made a quick pit-stop at Peju winery for a quick tasting (wasn’t so impressed), before our tour and tasting a Nickel and Nickel. Our visit to Nickel & Nickel began at the Sullenger House, a restored, 1884 home, which included a walk through the historic farmstead: the restored 18th century Gleason Barn, authentic post-and-beam fermentation barns, and underground barrel aging cellar. The tour ended with a seated, guided tasting of red wines beautifully paired with artisanal cheeses. We loved this stop!

While we had plans to go to dinner at FARM once we got back to The Carnero’s, a full day of wine tasting meant that we were pretty tipsy by the time we got home. We decided to relax at the pool, order in room service, and go to bed early so we would be well-rested for our 4AM wake-up call!

DAY SEVEN:

This day was SO MUCH FUN! Even though our alarm went off at 4:30AM, we jumped out of bed as we were excited (and maybe a little anxious and nervous) about our morning ahead. We booked our Hot Air Balloon ride through Napa Valley Balloons. They have been around for a very long time and are a super reputable company. We met at Domaine Chandon at 6AM for breakfast and paperwork. After signing our life away, we were up, up and away! This was a very cool experience floating through the air. While I was nervous, it was actually one of the most calming moment. We floated through the beautiful rolling hills of Napa Valley for a little over an hour before landing in a field, and heading back to Domaine Chandon for Chandon champagne mimosas to toast our magical morning!

Afterwards, we grabbed our stuff, and drove back to San Francisco. Returned our rental car and hopped on a flight to Denver to visit one of my friends for a few days before making our way back to NYC. While I would have LOVED a few extra days in Napa, it was an amazing trip!

TRIP ITINERARY DETAILS:

Day 1: Explore San Francisco; Trolley Ride, Lombard Street, Fisherman's Wharf, & Golden Gate Park
Day 2: Pick up our convertible, drive over the Golden Gate Bridge, lunch in Sausalito overlooking the water, & check into hotel/air bnb for the night.
Day 3: Hike the lighthouse at Point Reyes National Seashore, bring a picnic lunch, and drive 3-hours up California 1 to Mendocino
Day 4: Breakfast in Bed at our Bed and Breakfast followed by a wonderful afternoon at Pacific Star Winery, with incredible ocean views
Day 5: Drove 3 hours on Highway 101 to Napa Valley, wine country! Checked into our hotel, The Carnero's Inn, and had dinner at Botegga
Day 6: Wine Tour day! Started with a private tour at Aonair winery, followed by lunch at Auberge, a quick tasting at Peju, and then a tour & tasting at Nickel and Nickel
Day 7: 4:30AM wake up call for our Hot Air Balloon Ride, and then it's back to San Francisco we go...