Bodega Bay!

After our hot air balloon ride was over, we hopped in the car, and headed straight out of Napa Valley! YEP! That's right! We left!

Our destination? Bodega Bay! Why? Because, I could hear the ocean calling out to me! And, I had to answer that call!

I found out about Bodega Bay while reading Centsational Girl's blog. She lives in Sonoma, and has visited many of the wineries in the area, so I was reading her recommendations when I came across this post. It was then, that I told Mr. Mister, that I wanted to follow in Kate's footsteps, and do exactly what she did on her trip to the ocean. It sounded like so much fun, and I knew Mr. Mister would LOVE the seafood!

So, off we went.

Our first stop was at Candy & Kites, so that we could pick out a kite, to take to the beach with us.



This was such a cool store! Look at all the colorful windsocks, and whirl-i-gigs!





This one almost came home with us! LOL! (We bought a peacock instead.)



OMG! The candy! I was the "proverbial" kid in a candy store! I think I drooled, and slobbered, on a few pieces of the salt water taffy, as I stood there trying to decide what I wanted to buy.



Mr. Mister wasn't impressed with all that. He was too busy, hunting for the perfect kite!



After some thought, we decided to go with something that folded up, and was light weight, because we had to pack it in our suitcase to take home.

With our new kite, and other goodies in hand, we went back to the car, and drove to Doran Beach.

After many years, we were there again! At the ocean! We sat there soaking up the view, the sound, and the sun.









AHHHH! Can you smell the salty air? Feel the breeze on your face?

Wait! What breeze? There was no breeze to fly our kite in! We tried anyway! But, it was not happening! The kite would stay up for a few seconds, and then come crashing back down, onto the beach.

So, we decided to just sit, relax, and enjoy the sand between our toes!! It was a AWESOME day! YEP! We would go back in a hot minute!!

Balloons Above The Valley!

Another early wake-up!

But, it didn't matter once we found out that we were definitely going up that morning! The crew from Balloons Above the Valley said it was perfect flying conditions! YAY!

Once we arrived at the launch site, we waited in groups for all of the balloons to be inflated.



I was so excited, I was doing happy dances! Mr. Mister? He was still wondering what he had gotten himself into! LOL!

It was amazing to see all of the balloons come to life. They were all so colorful.



First group taking off!







We were in one of the last groups. They were just starting to inflate our balloon.



The whole time we were standing there, I kept saying to myself, please let us have one of the pretty rainbow colored balloons. NOT the blue, black, & yellow one! But, guess what? No rainbow colors for us! We got "in your face" BOLD baby!



All of them were beautiful to watch.



Finally, we weren't just watching anymore! We loaded into our basket, felt the blast of heat on our faces, and headed thousands of feet into the sky. It was so peaceful. The ride was extremely smooth. It was AWESOME!

At times we would float higher than some of the others. LOVED the tops of the balloons!





The sun was still rising, and there was haze/fog in the San Fransisco direction, but the views were amazing.











The shadow of our balloon on the side of the hill.











Being up in the air, floating above Napa Valley, is an experience we will never forget. It was so worth it! Thank you babe, for being with me, and making it possible to check another item off my bucket list!