San Diego, California’s Famous Wineries
June 29, 2009 by Dee
Filed under Bed And Breakfast Honeymoon Destinations, California, Planning Your Honeymoon, Tours, Your Honeymoon Destinations
Fine wine is a staple in California and the California Wine Country is a beautiful place to spend your honeymoon destination. San Diego’s North Country area is full of vineyards. Some of them have large wineries that allow tours and there are also mom and pop places.
The majority of these places are located up to an hour away from San Diego’s downtown area from the north. If you’re into outdoor scenery, you might be able to see some of the vineyards that overlook some of San Diego’s hills. There are others that are located among winding dirt roads.
Here is a sampling of some of the more well-known wineries:
If you’re looking for an Italian dish to compliment your wine, look no further than Bernardo Winery. You can get olive oil, homemade pasta and other items that they have available. Their red and white wines are the most popular. Their shops are open Tuesday through Saturday and their tasting room is open daily. The winery also offers tours to the public and picnic facilities are available for use.
Nestled in Temecula Valley, top notch wines are made at Falkner Winery. This winery has grape vineyards that are produced on their property. Some of the well-known wines they produce are Chardonnay, Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc and other exquisite wines. The winery also offers daily wine tasting and tours of the estate.
Orfila Vineyards is set in an agricultural area in the San Pasqual Valley. It’s also not too far from the San Diego Wild Animal Park. The winery offers daily wine tasting and tours. A gift shop and a picnic facility are available for use.
If you’re not up for driving during your wine tasting experience, Destination Temecula will help visitors to plan wine tasting excursions to North County. These trips include rides to and from the wineries from certain points in Southern California. During this trip, the guides will talk about the winery history and scenic areas. You will also be able to see ranches, massive estates, fruit orchards and lots of vineyards. Of course, you would see the most important part of the trip, the top notch wineries and you’d get to do some more wine tasting.
Downtown San Diego also has a wine tasting facility. The San Diego Wine & Culinary Center has great wine tasting sessions accompanied by food. They also offer private label wines sold in cases. You can also purchase them as gifts and they can be custom wrapped to your specifications.
One of their food and wine excursions, the Behind The Scenes Winery Tour, is held at Fallbrook Winery. You will learn the way wine is made from start to finish. You will actually see how the grapes are grown to how they are processed and turned into wine. Also included in this excursion is a picnic lunch outdoors and a private wine barrel tasting.
At the Culinary Center, there are group excursions for 10 or more people. The excursion can be public or private. Participating in something like this can be fun and educational at the same time.
San Diego’s wineries are some of the best undisclosed hideouts. Before you know it, you too can be a wine connoisseur.
The Top Scenic Train Trips Through the US for Your Honeymoon
October 30, 2008 by honeymooner
Filed under California, San Francisco, Tours, Your Honeymoon Destinations
Looking for an unusual idea for your honeymoon? How about a train trip? Many trips are actually tours where you stop and spend the night in a hotel and visit areas of scenic or historical interest. You can sightsee from the comfort of the train and spend the days talking about your wedding and concentrating on each other and not the road.
Thanks to great plains, grand mountains, sweeping vistas, and a varied selection of things to see, you can take a scenic honeymoon train trip through the continental United States and have a great time by simply just taking a seat and kicking back. There are train tours that constantly operate during the year, and they will last anywhere from seven to ten days. These train tours also have featured stops at popular tourist destinations, overnight stays at hotels and resorts, visits to national parks and historic sites, and other amenities that you will enjoy. So all you need to do is book the tour, relax, and get packing!
If you’re not ready to spend over a week on the road for your honeymoon, you can still get short train rides that will allow you to comfortably board your train and sleep in it over a few days. This means that you don’t need to spend a lot on hotel fees or worry about what to eat – and all you need to do is to look for these short trips and plan your own walking tours when you reach your destination.
There are many different scenic train trips that you can take. For instance, you can take the California Zephyr, offered by railway giant Amtrak. This popular trip takes a two day, two night scenic route from Chicago, Illinois to San Francisco, California. While on board the Zephyr, you can view the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevadas, pass through scenic plains, view deep canyons, and go through waterways. Another top tour is the Southwest Chief, also by Amtrak, which goes from Chicago to the United States’ West Coast. This tour goes through eight states, and goes through a variety of scenery, from mountains to plains, fields to deserts.
Planning a Fall wedding? Love the colors of the Fall? There’s nothing like Autumn in New England and Canada, and you can take foliage tours during the fall months across several states, and across the border. You can go through historic Massachusetts, scenic Connecticut, sea-swept Maine, picturesque New Hampshire, and beautiful Vermont. If you’re more for the bluegrass and the Blue Ridge Mountains, you can take scheduled tours through the Deep South and go through Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia, and adjoining states.
If you’re after lakes and the plains and fields of the Midwest, then take scheduled train tours through Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Wisconsin, and nearby states. And if you want to view scenic, historic canyons, take Canyon railways and ride the sky tram as you go through Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. Even the Grand Canyon has its own planned out scenic routes. In the mood for some snow? Then ride the Polar Express through Alaska. And if you’re up for a brush with the fine, good life, then take a scenic route through Napa Valley, which will allows you to stop at wineries, and even sample wines with your food on the train!
These are only a few ideas for scenic train trips you could choose as your honeymoon destination through the U.S. Thanks to the hand of Mother Nature, the U.S. is gifted with a lot of scenery and landscapes that will allow you to relax and enjoy your ride without worrying if you will have time to see anything. So do your research, plan out a great scenic route, and you will soon find yourself enjoying your honeymoon time together on a train ride!
Honeymoon in Los Angeles: Spend Less and Enjoy More!
September 30, 2008 by honeymooner
Filed under California, Your Honeymoon Destinations
The Los Angeles area of Southern California is one of the most popular vacation destinations in the United States. With its white sandy beaches, museums, forests, and parks, it is certainly a wonderful romantic honeymoon destination… Within an hour drive of Los Angeles, you can visit the beach, the mountains, or the desert. It has many famous tourist attractions, as well as, some of the best nightlife to be found in the country. Enjoy unforgettable honeymoon moments with the endless variety of activities it offers.
City of Angels
Los Angeles, regarded as the City of Angels is the largest city in California and even the second largest in the entire United States. Home to many Hollywood celebrities, this city is packed with bars, restaurants and clubs. The nightlife is second to none. The city has a number of affordable entertainments to choose from.
So, if you are considering choosing LA as your romantic honeymoon destination, you might want to check out some vacation packages. Or, you can search online for travel guides that will help you find affordable hotels, restaurants, activities and more by providing you information on these topics.
What to do in LA?
Get yourself entertained by the various activities in the city and some of these are even free, how about that?!
If you love films, you might visit tapings of your favorite top television shows. And if you are in luck, you may even get to see your favorite Hollywood stars in person. There are online guides to celebrity watching, if this is your interest. Also, a walk down the world famous Hollywood Boulevard where you will get to experience the Hollywood Walk of Fame, star-studded sidewalks featuring top celebrity names like Muhammad Ali, Diana Ross and Michael Jackson.
If you are a basketball enthusiast then Staples Center is a perfect place for you. This is home for the Los Angeles Lakers, the 9 time NBA World Champions. Get to see your favorite players live and even take pictures with them. How about for baseball fanatics? L.A. still is the place to be which is home for the Los Angeles Dodgers, the former World Series Champions. Visit the Dodger Stadium and do not go home without eating their famous Dodger Dogs.
Or why not take a night off and stay in the Hollywood Park Race Track and Casino? Play for fun or money in its thoroughbred racing games, and enjoy draft beers, hot dogs and live performances every Friday nights during spring or summer racing season. If you are feeling lucky, this place will definitely fill your gambling needs.
Go on a shopping trip. Malls here are scattered almost all over the place, one of which is the famous Del Amo Mall in Torrance, considered one of the largest malls in the nation. If you are on a strict budget, you might want to shop around the garment district in LA proper where you can find discounted clothing and other items.
How about a nice stroll down Long Beach? Located in Los Angeles County, which is approximately 20 miles south of Los Angeles. Its Port is considered to be one of the world’s largest shipping ports. Concerts on the beach are popular events in the area; you get to see your favorite bands perform live.
These are just a few suggestions. Look for many more to come in the upcoming weeks. Have a fun filled affordable honeymoon in its tourist or romantic honeymoon destinations. Visit the City of Angels now. This is just the tip of the iceberg of what Los Angeles has to offer.


