A few years back, my mother and I flew away on a spontaneous weekend getaway to Wine Country. It was awesome! Neither of us had ever spent time in Wine Country, so we were very excited for the trip. We knew it was the perfect place for us to have a girl’s weekend and a whole lot of fun!

We flew into San Francisco on a Friday afternoon and rented an Alamo rental car. Renting the car was super easy and fast and before we knew it we were heading north to Wine Country. We used GPS to navigate through the city, but it was VERY easy.  After about a two-hour scenic drive we checked into the Doubletree Sonoma, where we would stay for the weekend. The property is surrounded by the picturesque Sonoma Mountains and boasts two amazing golf courses. We were lucky enough to get a courtyard walk out room, which we loved. We picked up some wine and cheese for the night spent the evening relaxing, watching the movie Sideways in our room, and planning our route for the next morning.

The following morning we woke up bright and early ready to start our adventure. First on the list, and something we were both very excited about, was a quick trip over to Bodega Bay to check out some scenes from the filming of Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds. We stopped at a coffee shop on the bay and spoke with some locals about what we could see in the town from the movie.

They gave us directions to the town of Bodega, located a bit inland from Bodega Bay, and told us that was where the most recognizable scenes would be found. Once in Bodega, we stopped at a surf shop and the friendly worker pointed us up the hill to the school house from the movie, Potter School. This was AWESOME! We were the only people around so we had a lot of fun taking photos and recreating our own The Birds action scenes.

As we left Bodega and headed towards the heart of wine country we were amazed at the beauty of the landscapes. We joked about how “happy cows come from California” because they really do LOOK happy! Rolling hills, beautiful pastures and miles of grapevines! Because of our early start we needed something to do to kill a few hours before starting on our wine tour, so we followed signs directing us to a petrified forest. It was a beautiful drive followed by a peaceful walk through a forest. We learned about petrifaction and saw some very interesting sights.

After this, it was time for wine! We did tastings at six wineries throughout the day and enjoyed our time at each one. We made it to a variety of places including large well-known wineries and small, friendly, family-owned tasting rooms.

Our favorite of the day was the Francis Ford Coppola Winery, complete with a pool, tours, tastings and live music. How could you not love this place?! We had a lovely and delicious lunch on the patio of their restaurant, made even better with my mom and my favorite wine, Francis Ford Coppola’s Directors Cut Chardonnay. After our tasting, we walked through the winery and looked awards and props from the movies that Francis Ford Coppola directed.  There are costumes from Bram Stoker’s Dracula and the desk and chair from the Godfather movies, and so many other props. It was very cool.

We had so much fun at all of the wineries. It was a great day! After the wineries, we headed back to the hotel for dinner at the hotel’s restaurant and wine bar, Bacchus. We had a delicious dinner and finished our night laughing and loving life on our patio.

The next day we headed into downtown San Francisco. We stopped along the way to take pictures at the Golden Gate Bridge! It was a perfect day. We lucked out with great weather the whole weekend. After a few quick stops, we headed to the airport. Once again, we had a smooth and easy time dropping off the rental car. It was a wonderful girls weekend getaway and we will never forget it!

Have you been to wine country? What wineries should I put on my list for next time? What other fun things at there to do? Let me know!

Much Love & Happy Travels,

– Lacey