NaMma PraYaana: 2016

Thursday, June 30, 2016

Crossing 20s to Crossed 20s

Alas I did cross the dreading late twenties and entered to confirmed 30s! Apart from physical aging, there is no part of me that feels this old :-) We celebrated this "milestone" by visiting Tahoe in summer! Here's Tahoe or more importantly how the sun looks like ;-)

Monday, May 30, 2016

M for Memorial Day and M for Mendocino :-)

After many many attempts to do a vacation together we (Us and our family friends) finally made it happen!

A quick and easy stay at the beautiful + serene + romantic Mendocino!

Day 1 - South Bay to Mendocino via North Highway 1. Not as beautiful as the South Highway 1, but Sinston Beach, Point Arena Light house might make up for the long drive! There are few more vista points, but since the cell network was spotty we did things on the fly.

Day 2 - Drive around Mendocino various vista points and Fort Bragg. Missed the Skunk train ride, but make sure you do reservations ahead for this!

Day 3 - Back home via the City of Ten Thousand Buddha, US 101, SF. The wineries in Anderson valley can be a quick stop or anything around Petaluma, Sonoma or Napa.

Unlike many, we didn't do a B&B in Menodcino, but rather stayed using AirBnB at a farm house close to the Mendocino downtown. Needless to say it was the highlight of our vacation!

Tuesday, May 17, 2016

The EY Outing - Napa & Sonoma

For a very long time a couple of EY folks have been planning for a one day outing in the bay area and we did it last weekend!!! Choose our very own fav - Napa & Sonoma! The day & the weather was perfect and hanging out with an easy going people made it even more relaxing ... here are some of the clicks from that day!

Winery 1 - Artesa (More Popular for its ahead of time winery infrastructure and modern architecture)
Lunch - Taste of Himalayas (Sonoma)
Dessert - Sweet Scoops Home made Ice Cream
Winery 2 - Domaine Carneros (Perfect for a great view, multiple options for wine tasting and cheese paring)

Tuesday, April 5, 2016

3rd Anniversary - Maui Hawaii

Ah ha! Though California is the closest US mainland state to Hawaii, it has never been on the top of the list for me! Eventually we started including this in our conversations last November and made this the destination for celebrating our 3rd Anniversary - 1 Island (Maui) for 5 days, 6 nights stay.

Itinerary
Day 0 - SFO - OGG, Lahaina (Dinner at Lahaina Pizza Company, Recommend it)
Day 1 - Haleakala Sunrise, Tropical Plantation tour (For someone who have never visited any tropical regions before), Beach sunset (from the Ocean Front, Ashton Mahana, Kanapali, good stay)
Day 2 - Road to Hana
Day 3 - Molokini snorkel / turtle town, Haleakala Sunset, Lahaina (Dinner at Phi Pizza in the Mall, Yummy-licious)
Day 4 - Napili Beach, snorkel, Lahaina ( Ulani's shave ice cream, Top rated, not a big fan)
Day 5 - Morning beach walk, couples massage, Old Lahaina Luau, Lahaina (Driving through for the last time!)
Day 0 - Morning beackwalk, OCC-SFO

I would add Iao Valley too in case someone is up for another nature activity on Day 4!

Sun, sand, beach, adventure, fun, nature and food were the key elements!

We are definitely sold by what Hawaiian Islands have to offer and can only wish to visit the other islands too!

Day 0 - Dinner at Lahaina Pizza Company