THE ALL-AMERICAN YANK: NOCAL SPRING BREAK

TINA AND I WITH LAKE ALMANOR IN THE BACKGROUND
Snowmobiling: The Sledder's Complete Handbook

TINA AND I ON THE CABLE CARS
Frommer's® San Francisco 2011

BERINGER WINERY IN NAPA VALLEY
Vinturi Essential Wine Aerator

LOMBARD STREET, SAN FRANSISCO
Lonely Planet San Francisco (City Travel Guide)

BLUE AND RED

MOUNT LASSEN
Lake/Paradise Island

ME - DOMINATING
Snow Goer

After two back-to-back fraternity Spring Breaks south of the border (documented in entirety in previous All-American Yank posts) it was time to forge a new path. This path would take Tina and I to Northern California to experience all NoCal had to offer from San Francisco, to Napa Valley, to Lake Tahoe and finally to the mountains a hundred miles north where I had spent the last eighteen of twenty summers. We made it into San Francisco a couple days before my Dad so I took Tina to all the tourist spots to give her a taste of the great city. And like usual...TASTE we did!! The highlights included the Boudin 'San Fransisco Sourdough' Bakery, The Franciscan Crab Restaurant, as well as, numerous other hidden gems throughout the city. When we weren't eating, the two days were spent hitting the "Top 10 Things To Do In San Fransisco" by experiencing China Town (I could eat there everyday..Tina on the other hand..ehhhh), Ghirardelli Square (holy chocolate!), Lombard Street (best memory was almost getting stuck on the curviest street in the world in a monster Dodge Diesel), The Fisherman's Warf & Pier 39 (a must experience if your in the city for the first time), as well as taking in the sites of Alcatraz, the Golden Gate Bridge and the hundreds of sea lions sunbathing on the docks. Don't you worry I was sure to take Tina on a cable car ride throughout the city and pose for romantic pictures as we hung off the side of the car like the movies....pic above.

A SONOMA WINE CELLAR
The Wine Bible

After taking in ALL of San Fran, we headed north to the beautiful Lake Tahoe! We had a great time site-seeing and exploring but I wish we had more time to partake in some water sports and/or snow skiing (though I prefer boarding). Lake Tahoe is one of the few places thats offers the best of both worlds and Tina and I hope to go back to experience it all one day soon. The half day trip concluded with a visit to Squaw Valley and The Olympic Village (the home of the 1960 Winter Olympic Games) The small village sits the summit of the Squaw Valley Ski Resort and fit as many nice restaurants, shops and drinking establishments into the town as possible. We had an amazing dinner at Grahams at Squaw Valley to conclude or short trip. The atmosphere felt as though it was Olympic weekend everyday and the fun just never stops.

TINA WITH A .22 RIFLE
3-9X40 Black Scope/Ruby Lens/Ring

LAKE TAHOE IN BACKGROUND

INFINEON RACEWAY
KidKraft Racecar Toddler Bed

The next stop on the journey took us about 100 miles north of Lake Tahoe to a fairly well hidden place where I had gone every summer since I could remember. The location is Lake Almanor, California, it sits at approximatively 4500 ft with Mount Lassen (an extinct volcano at apox 10000 ft) looking down on it. Most of my July's were spent water skiiing, fishing, golfing and exploring the entire area! What I did not do growing up was send a whole lot of time there in the winter do to the fact they get basically snowed in for four months of the year (only place I've ever seen, legit, 10 ft of snow). As your can see this was not going to be a typical Spring Break...over the next 4 days my Dad gave Tina and I a crash course in what he does for fun throughout most of the fall, winter, and spring months..that activity is Snowmobiling. I'm also not talking snowmobiling in the backyard or in an big open field....I'm talking taking narrow trails up to the top of mountains and creating our own path as we navigate through a dense forest. My Dad is legendary for taking people out of their comfort zone to see how they react, well believe you me, Tina 's comfort zone was somewhere inside a cabin, with a fire and a cup of hot chocolate..meanwhile she was carving her sled along cliff faces. She preformed spectacular (even as we all ate hot dogs by campfire for a quick break in sledding), however, I'm not sure if snowmobiling is at the top of her "What should we do this weekend?" list. What an unbelievable 4 days...even though we were all sore for the next 8. Our time at the lake had come to an end but not before we scheduled a pheasant hunt on a family friends property about 30 minutes away...which REALLY took Tina out of her comfort zone! It was a great hunt even though I think Tina was missing on purpose, also to note my Dad's dogs performed fantastic.

A NAPA WINERY
Decorative Winery Birdhouse

GHIRARDELLI SQUARE
Save Me, San Francisco

TINA AND I
Wine by Design

We headed headed down the mountain a day early to so we could explore Napa and Sonoma Valley and get a little taste of the legendary wine country. We made stops in as many wineries as we could, took lots of pictures and tried to remember as many great wines as we could. The winery that stood out the most was the Beringer Vineyards (pic above) for its perfect landscaping and unique architecture. As we made our way through Sonoma Valley we had to make one last pit stop at my Dad's old stopping grounds...Sears Point Raceway (now known as Infineon Raceway) where he was president in the late 80's. It had sure changed a lot since I was a little kid on Dad's shoulders before he told the drivers to "START YOUR ENGINES!!!"
We finished our trip like we started it, in San Fransisco eating another great meal. We were sad to see the trip come to an end...what an amazing week! It was a trip my Dad, Tina and I will surely never forget..Northern California has so much too offer and we hope to experience more sometime in the near future...NoCal, BOOM! That just happen....