JUST BACK FROM: NorCal
Jetsetter’s editorial producer Jess Blumensheid spent 10 days exploring NorCal’s rocky Pacific coastline, from Big Sur to Napa Valley. Here are the highlights of her trip.

ATE myself silly with Beijing vinegar peanuts, salt cod fired rice, Westlake rice porridge with hangar steak, rock shrimp, soy-cured egg and cilantro, Ma Po Tofu with Kurobuta pro shoulder tofu and several rounds of $3 Tsingtao at the original Mission Chinese.

WATCHED a procession of naked old men riding bicycles along Haight while sipping a spicy Bloody Mary at Hobson’s punch house.

DROVE on the 170-mile-stretch of Highway 1 between San Francisco and Big Sur, where white caps crash against craggily cliffs and many a kitesurfer and fisherman find their fix.

DOVE through the well-equipped record stacks at the unrivaled Amoeba Records and walked away with half a dozen records, including My Bloody Valentine’s Feed Me With Your Kiss and The Slit’s Cut.

RAN to the covert Henry Miller Library flanked by Big Sur’s ancient Redwoods, and hung my head after realizing I had arrive two hours past closing time.

PEERED down 800-foot cliffs into the Pacific from the deck at Big Sur’s famed Nepenthe Restaurant.

RELAXED in a eucalyptus-infused steam room at the charming Stonebridge Napa Inn and Spa.

DEVOURED some of the best farm-to-table cuisine I’ve had yet at Farmstead, with warm cheddar biscuits, grilled artichoke, a stiff cabernet and a lean grass-fed hangar steak.

GLAMPED in an adorable garden cottage stocked with local art and vintage digs, only 15 minutes from the beach in Santa Cruz.

DRANK far too much after discovering Napa’s acclaimed red zinfandels in St. Helena.

CHANNELED Melanie Daniels in Hitchcock’s The Birds outside the Tides Restaurant in Bodega Bay, where the 1963 movie was filmed.

CROSSED the Golden Gate Bridge seven times in a span of 10 days.