Last week, one of my best friends from high school and I both turned 23 so we decided to celebrate how young women should, at a spa!

We knew that we wanted to do something special for our birthdays this year not because 23 is especially significant, but because it was the first birthday that we were able to spend together since we left for college 4 years ago!

We went through so many different ideas like flying to Miami for the weekend, getting a fancy hotel room in the city for a night or even renting a sailboat to take out for an afternoon by the Golden Gate Bridge but ultimately decided that we wanted to have a relaxing day up in the wine country.

I had never been to Auberge du Soleil before, but Lauren had and she recommended that we book spa reservations and just spend the day at the resort, so that’s exactly what we did. We arrived at the hotel around 9:30 that morning for the most delicious breakfast overlooking the vineyards and slowly made our way to the spa where we had incredible massages, drank a cold bottle of Veuve Clicquot and swam in their three pools (each are set to a different temperature of course haha).  We finished our day off with a delicious homemade pizza that Lauren swears tastes just like the pizza she had when studying abroad in Italy last year.

Part of what made our day so great is that we didn’t have to spend thousands of dollars to experience all that this gorgeous resort has to offer. By planning a day trip, all we had to do was pay a resort fee to get access to the property, which was fantastic!

I think that we often take for granted how close we are to so many different destinations by living in the Bay Area. Planning a day trip, or even a weekend trip is totally doable to places like the Wine Country, Carmel, Half Moon Bay, Marin and so many others. I think that more day trips are definitely in my future…

Let me know where your favorite places are that you have taken day trips to in Northern California! I would love to check them out too.

XOXO,

Rachael Claire

PS: If you can't tell, it was well over 95 degrees the entire day! Hot Hot Hot