A Weekend in the Bay Area

Last month (April 2025), Dan and I drove over to California for a weekend trip with two my oldest friends! I met Jenny and Jessica in 2010 when I moved to Illinois in the middle of 7th grade. I became fast friends with both of them and we've been close ever since. Jessica has been living in California for a few years now and I was so excited to hear Jenny was coming out west for spring break! Jessica and her husband, Tarun, hosted us at their beautiful house in Campbell, California (right outside of San Jose). We had the best weekend and I can't wait to share some of those memories with you now.

Dan and I had work on Friday so we left around 6pm and got to Campbell around 10pm! I was so excited to be reunited with my friends and meet Jessica's adorable dogs, Oreo and Ginger. We stayed up for a couple hours catching up before eventually calling it a night.

The next morning, I went for a run and then was treated to a delicious breakfast and coffee by Jessica and Tarun!

I loved finding all the palm trees out on my morning run!

After breakfast, we drove over to Villa Montalvo which is a local nature park with beautiful green areas, trails through the forest, gardens, and buildings. We started with a short hike.

Villa Montalvo was built in 1912 and was Senator Phelan's favorite home. It has become a center for political, artistic, and social life in the Bay area.

Look at this beautiful view!

The three of us were so happy to be reunited again.

After exploring the villa, we drove over to Mountain Winery. We had the most beautiful view for our wine tasting on top of the mountain.

After the winery, we drove down the mountain and walked around downtown Saratoga. We stopped at a brewery for some food and more drinks. We also played some games as you can see in the picture above!

There was the cutest little bookstore and inside it had the cutest little nook! I loved this painting inspired by the Chronicles of Narnia.

For the rest of the day, we chilled and played games in Jess and Tarun's beautiful backyard. The weather this weekend was absolutely gorgeous and was much better than the snow we got in Reno only a couple days before the trip.

On Sunday morning, we walked to downtown Campbell and explored around at the farmer's market. We got a lot of yummy food and drinks!

I was excited to find beignets which I had only tried for the first time a few weeks prior when I met my sister, Kendall, in New Orleans for a trip.

Dan and I had a long drive back so we left around 1pm. We stopped at a pizza restaurant on our way out of town that was recommended to Dan by his coworker. Giorgio's had delicious pizza and just what we needed to fuel our drive home!

Dan and I decided to drive into San Francisco so we could get a view of the Golden Gate bridge! Neither of us had ever been before so we were so exited to take a pit stop there.

It was absolutely gorgeous and we can't wait to plan a trip to check out more of San Francisco.

We arrived back in Reno around 7pm and Nala was there welcoming us home! Overall, it was an amazing trip and I'm so grateful for this time with my friends. I may not be able to see them as much as we get older but the time spent together seems to be more and more special.