The California Wine Country for Your Honeymoon

How about a visit to California’s wine country for your honeymoon destination?

When you visit California you can’t help but make a stop at the wine country. California has 58 counties and out of those 58, there are 46 counties that are producing wine. California’s climate allows for optimal soil and growing conditions. With so many counties involved in growing wine the state of California offers several different events and activities geared toward the wine. Wine tasting can be quite enjoyable and educational as well. Sampling the wine is very important in order to appreciate the difference in the wines. California wineries are a old business that have been around for generations. Winery’s take a long time to perfect and to raise the grapes just right for picking.

If you want to arrange for a tour of the winery you need to do some checking around to find out the schedule, be sure to tell them you are on your honeymoon for that extra special service (and trust me, they will do just that!). Each one offers a schedule of tours and wine tasting and some require an appointment before touring. The wineries take their tours seriously and they offer the tourists several different options. When wine tasting is in season you will be able to access an endless amount of wineries. Each winery is different and they have their own set of rules. These rules include the number of guests per party and hours available to tour some require an appointment ahead of time.

Wine tours are scheduled around harvest time when everything is ready and being processed. Other events you may get to see while at the winery include crush events, concerts and auctions of vintage wines, balloon rides over the vineyards, gardens for the perfect atmosphere, museums of the winery and the vineyards, local restaurants come to the festival to display their variety of dishes, and other recreational activities that will make your visit to the winery the most enjoyable.

Because after several wine tasting events you may find that driving is difficult, you and your newly wed spouse may decide to rent a limo which will offer you a safe ride to and from the winery.  If you drive yourself, a lot of the roads leading to the wineries include long, narrow winding roads. It is important to drive slowly and carefully if you decide to drive yourself. They are well off the beaten path and you may not realize how long it takes you to travel to each vineyard. There are also hotels, motels and fantastic resorts to stay at near the vineyards that make beautiful honeymoon stops. Stay at just one or travel up and down the area and enjoy a few.  Many of the hotels and resorts offer spa packages as well as wine tasting tours, so check with them before booking your tour to save a few bucks.

Because California is so big you may not know where to go in order to find a winery. Here is the way that it is divided out:

Northern California offers the Napa Valley and Mendocino Wine sections

Central California offers Paso Robles, San Luis Obispo, Monterey Wine and Santa Barbara wine sections.

Southern California offers Temecula and San Diego wine sections.

The Central Valley offers Livermore, Clarksburg, Amador, Calaveras, Lodi, and Sierra wine sections.

There are so many places to enjoy during your stay. Viewing each vineyard is a picture perfect memory that will last you forever.

The Top Scenic Train Trips Through the US for Your Honeymoon

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!