Leonie was given the job of driving - as Nicki had left her licence at home. This was going to be fun, as Leonie had a) never driven on the left before and b) had never driven an automatic.
But she soon(ish) got the hang of it and we set a la Thelma and Louise - North up the Pacific coast highway.
The drive was spectacular - ask Leonie how good the brakes were on the car!!! After a momentous drive over the Golden Gate Bridge, we stopped off at the posh fishing town of Salsolito where we had our best breakfast of the holiday at the famous Lighthouse Diner.
Then on into Marin County - this is where George Lucas (Star Wars) lives in Skywalker Ranch. We stopped off at a couple of beaches along the way and Nicki took the opportunity to have a dip in the Pacific. However, as the ocean was ice cold (it comes down from Alaska) it was brief and she only made it up to her ankles.
With Nicki in control of the navigating (O and A Level Geography came in handy here!) we then headed inland and crossed the bay on another spectacular bridge at San Quentin (California is noted for its number of state penitentiaries) and made our way to the Napa Valley.
The Napa Valley area is very unlike European wine regions. You can tell it is modern - it doesn't have the feeling of history you get in France etc.
Our first point of call was at Francis Ford Coppola's very own vineyard - Niebaum Coppola Winery - were we sampled a few of his lovely wines! The vineyard was bought by Coppola from the money he made from his famous film The Godfather. The main building also hosts a 'museum' to the director including the actual desk and chair from the film. There were also cabinets full of Oscars and other film memorabillia.
After a week of excessive eating, we opted for Californian style Salads at a rather stylish restaurant where we sat in the open air. Our next point of call was the Mumm Cuvee Napa winery where they had a really nice photographic gallery featuring our friend Ansell Adams. We have since discovered that you can buy their sparkling chardonnay cheaper in ASDA!
It was tea-time before we headed back for the city and joined the Friday night rush hour over the Bay Bridge from Berkley to SF. Another spectacular bridge journey.
We were unable to eat anything tonight (!!!) but ended the evening sat at the bar on the 46th floor of the hotel, continuing our working through of the cocktail list!.
What a day!