I have been a FV lurker for years & post only occasionally. I decided this is the place that I will chronicle my adventures.
We live in central Ohio. We were invited to a destination wedding in Northern California for Labor Day weekend. We had nearly a year to plan & the plan evolved into something much bigger than we ever imagined. We have travelled for weddings several times & make the trip into our vacation. Last year we travelled to Denver, Colorado for a wedding & stayed two weeks. We planned to do the same for this year's Northern California trip. As we talked about the trip & all the places we would like to see out west, we realized two weeks might not be enough, but we were both working & the car rental fees would add up, etc... So I looked into shipping our car. Then my DH was notified he had a mandatory 4 weeks off work, then I ended up retiring from my job of 17 years. So here we are in a small town north of San Francisco beginning the trip of our life. We need to be back in Ohio October 3.
Our car was picked up on August 20th & we were notified it had arrived in CA August 26. We flew out on 9/1. (We used cc points & paid $11.60 total for the two one way tickets.) We landed, took a taxi for $20.00 to the freight hub & picked up our car in less time than it usually takes to rent one. The company refunded $11.50 for the cab, not sure why they chose that amount, but didn't question. The gas station & car wash were conveniently around the corner & after gassing up & getting washed we were off. The shipping company allowed us to put 50 pounds in our car, so we chose to send a medium sized cooler & our jeans, jackets & extra shoes. We were very careful to comply with the weight restrictions, but in the end, they never looked, nor asked what we had in the car.
Before boarding the plane, we realized I had left my cell phone (our only one) at home & the maps my DH had for the trip. I was able to instant message my daughter & she agreed to send them. Not sure what got lost in translation, but she sent usps, instead of fed ex overnight, so we are still waiting due to holiday weekend. I just checked tracking, they tried to deliver Saturday, so tomorrow we will find the PO & try to retrieve.
We went together with three other couples (dh's brothers) & rented a house from Thursday to Tuesday. It is right on the river & kayaks are provided.
Thursday we got in, got some groceries & crashed very early. The three hour time difference really got to me. I was pleasantly surprised to find a Dollar Tree store. We got peanut butter, jelly, eggs, real popcorn & some oil, margarine & a few other snacks to get the family started. We stopped at another store for bread & milk. We had finished our popcorn & beer & were sound asleep before the other families got in. Friday half of our group had wedding rehearsal etc, so we went with the other couple, walked all over the town & found a place to get really good burgers. Saturday we went to Armstrong Woods, a state park featuring red woods, which was about 30 minutes away. We packed a lite lunch to take along. The ride there was amazing & the forest magical. Saturday night was the wedding & it was absolutely wonderful. These young people have such wonderful friends, plus we were with family. The ceremony, plus the reception were perfect. We all had a lovely evening. Sunday morning we all met @ 11:00 am for a wine crawl. We went to wine tasting at three different vineyards. The first one was actually a closed party just for the wedding. They explained to us about the growing & harvesting & had a "stomp off" with the bride & groom. Yes, they actually stomped grapes in a barrel in their bare feet! We went to two more wineries throughout the afternoon & visited briefly @ Lake Sonoma. Beautiful scenery every inch of the way. The weather was perfect. We returned to the rental house early evening & had pizza party & much visiting. A late night soak in the hot tub finished another perfect day. Today we are on our own. Half the family went on an excursion to San Francisco, the other couple set out for Yosemite. We are going to try our luck on the river, then go to the market & get steak to cook on the grill.
We live in central Ohio. We were invited to a destination wedding in Northern California for Labor Day weekend. We had nearly a year to plan & the plan evolved into something much bigger than we ever imagined. We have travelled for weddings several times & make the trip into our vacation. Last year we travelled to Denver, Colorado for a wedding & stayed two weeks. We planned to do the same for this year's Northern California trip. As we talked about the trip & all the places we would like to see out west, we realized two weeks might not be enough, but we were both working & the car rental fees would add up, etc... So I looked into shipping our car. Then my DH was notified he had a mandatory 4 weeks off work, then I ended up retiring from my job of 17 years. So here we are in a small town north of San Francisco beginning the trip of our life. We need to be back in Ohio October 3.
Our car was picked up on August 20th & we were notified it had arrived in CA August 26. We flew out on 9/1. (We used cc points & paid $11.60 total for the two one way tickets.) We landed, took a taxi for $20.00 to the freight hub & picked up our car in less time than it usually takes to rent one. The company refunded $11.50 for the cab, not sure why they chose that amount, but didn't question. The gas station & car wash were conveniently around the corner & after gassing up & getting washed we were off. The shipping company allowed us to put 50 pounds in our car, so we chose to send a medium sized cooler & our jeans, jackets & extra shoes. We were very careful to comply with the weight restrictions, but in the end, they never looked, nor asked what we had in the car.
Before boarding the plane, we realized I had left my cell phone (our only one) at home & the maps my DH had for the trip. I was able to instant message my daughter & she agreed to send them. Not sure what got lost in translation, but she sent usps, instead of fed ex overnight, so we are still waiting due to holiday weekend. I just checked tracking, they tried to deliver Saturday, so tomorrow we will find the PO & try to retrieve.
We went together with three other couples (dh's brothers) & rented a house from Thursday to Tuesday. It is right on the river & kayaks are provided.
Thursday we got in, got some groceries & crashed very early. The three hour time difference really got to me. I was pleasantly surprised to find a Dollar Tree store. We got peanut butter, jelly, eggs, real popcorn & some oil, margarine & a few other snacks to get the family started. We stopped at another store for bread & milk. We had finished our popcorn & beer & were sound asleep before the other families got in. Friday half of our group had wedding rehearsal etc, so we went with the other couple, walked all over the town & found a place to get really good burgers. Saturday we went to Armstrong Woods, a state park featuring red woods, which was about 30 minutes away. We packed a lite lunch to take along. The ride there was amazing & the forest magical. Saturday night was the wedding & it was absolutely wonderful. These young people have such wonderful friends, plus we were with family. The ceremony, plus the reception were perfect. We all had a lovely evening. Sunday morning we all met @ 11:00 am for a wine crawl. We went to wine tasting at three different vineyards. The first one was actually a closed party just for the wedding. They explained to us about the growing & harvesting & had a "stomp off" with the bride & groom. Yes, they actually stomped grapes in a barrel in their bare feet! We went to two more wineries throughout the afternoon & visited briefly @ Lake Sonoma. Beautiful scenery every inch of the way. The weather was perfect. We returned to the rental house early evening & had pizza party & much visiting. A late night soak in the hot tub finished another perfect day. Today we are on our own. Half the family went on an excursion to San Francisco, the other couple set out for Yosemite. We are going to try our luck on the river, then go to the market & get steak to cook on the grill.
