I'm going with the wife for a long weekend (Friday Oct. 6 - Monday Oct. 9) to San Francisco / Napa (Unfortunatly, I'll be MINI-less). I'll be staying in the city on Friday night, with dinner at Michael Mina's. I'll be in Napa from Sat. to Mon. Would anyone have any scenic driving suggestions from the city to Napa? Or how about off-the-beaten track kind of gems in the area as far as restaurants/activites/events/wineries, etc? Any suggestions would be welcome. Thanks in advance!

 

You have to hit Taylors Refresher in St.Helena for lunch. Its a pre-drivethru, Killer shakes and food. Korbel Champagne on River Rd. Mmmmm, Take the small roads .

 

I can't give you exact directions, but if you go over the Golden Gate heading toward Sausalito, there is an exit just on the other side of the bridge that takes you to the left (or west) on some roads that go out toward the ocean. There's a lighthouse out there, I believe, and if it is late afternoon, it is quite scenic. (If you type in Sausalito on Yahoo Maps it shows up as Golden Gate National Rec. Area. There are no roads marked on this map, but there is a road there).

If you don't have to get up to Napa right away, just north of there is Mt. Tamalpais State Park... there's a peak there, Mt. Tam it's called by locals. I know you can hike up there... not sure if you can drive up. Also, if you have time in this same area is Muir Woods... a redwood forest. It takes some twisty roads to get there (too bad no Mini), but it is worth it. You can walk down through some redwoods here into a glade and it is beautiful and cool.

Continuing North along #1 is Point Reyes National Seashore... very twisty roads here (don't eat beforehand!). This is a long detour, but worth it if you want to see the beach. Remember, this is a Northern California beach, so dress warmly!

If anything else pops in my head, I'll post more ideas.

 

Infineon NASA race:

http://www.nasaproracing.com/norcal/events/schedule.htm


Oh, whoops, that's probably not gonna go over well. We used to go to downtown Sonoma and get picnic supplies then go wine tasting. When we found a good picnic spot at a winery, we pulled the food out. 20 years ago Kendall-Jackson had a nice spot, as did Buena Vista. If you want to get out of the Napa Valley a drive over to the coast is nice. See some redwoods, walk on a beach. I second mini_dreams' ideas, they're all good. The road mentioned is before you get to the tunnels on the north side of the Golden Gate.

 

Larry has given you good ideas in the Russian River area of Sonoma County (Taylor's Refresher in Saint Helena (Napa County) is a must), MIni Dreams has noted ideas in Marin & Sonoma Counties, and Too Tall has given you ideas regarding the Sonoma Valley in Sonoma County. For Sonoma County, Marin County, and Napa County beautiful coastal, mountain, valley, and vineyard drives, refer to this Map Archive links.
If you want to participate in a very scenic run to Napa Saturday morning, meet us in Windsor at 9am (about 1.5 hours north of SF).