It’s no surprise that California is one of our favorite destinations. Over the years we’ve been fortunate enough to make several trips to the Golden State. Whether we’re road tripping up the Pacific Coast Highway; experiencing wine country;  checking bucket list items off our list in San Francisco; or shooting videos for Disney, California never fails to amaze us.

Being social media junkies, we love snapping photos and sharing our adventures in real time with our followers. Here is a collection of 15 of our favorite photos from our California adventures.

Wine Country

There’s something special about sipping wine in the vineyards where the grapes are grown. Since the inception of Midlife Road Trip, we’ve made three separate wine-centric journeys to golden state. Each time we visited prominent wine regions, and each time we’ve found the scenery to be as spectacular as the wines. 

Touring Luna Vineyards in Napa was particularly a memorable adventure as we rode bicycles from Downtown Napa to the winery. 

Founded in 1876, the Beringer Estate in St. Helena, is the oldest continuously operating winery in Napa Valley.

The Heart Hill Vineyard of Niner Wine Estates in Paso Robles, is possibly one of the most photographed vineyards in the state.

Castello di Amorosa in Calistoga is a ready-made post-card, reminding me of some of the medieval wineries we toured in Spain, Portugal, and Italy.

We got to spend a couple of nights at the Michel-Schlumberger Wine Estates in Healdsburg. The wine and the scenery made it easy to find my zen.

I passed this old wine truck in Paso Robles while on the way to visit another winery and couldn’t resist turning around to snap a photo of it.

Pacific Coast Highway

The Pacific Coast Highway provided some of the most spectacular scenery we’ve encountered on any road trip. Our only regret is that mudslides prevented us from getting to Big Sur which would have surely been included in our favorites collection. Not to worry, we’re sure to go back.

Somewhere near Pebble Beach, we encountered this cypress tree on a rock cliff overlooking the ocean.

This lifeguard stand near the Santa Monica Pier reminded us of the old Bay Watch TV show. I kept hoping Pamela Anderson would emerge but no such luck.

Venice Beach is not only one of the best places in the world for people watching, it’s a pretty good place to catch a sunrise.

With over 600 miles of views like this, it’s no wonder the Pacific Coast Highway is one of our favorite road trips in the world.

Small cities along the Pacific Coast Highway provide nice detours and surprises along the journey. I loved this retro bicycle parked near the Manhattan Beach Pier.

Sunset from the Ritz Carlton in Dana Point.

San Francisco

There is no shortage of things to do in San Francisco. The Golden Gate Bridge, Chinatown, Fisherman’s Wharf, Lombard Street, cable cars, Alcatraz, and Coit Tower are all worthy of any bucket list. 

My MacBook pro probably has more pictures of the Golden Gate Bridge than anything else. The amazing structure begs to be photographed from every angle imaginable. I patiently waited about 20 minutes for tourists to get out of the way so I could snap this photo. Here’s a video we made of walking across the Golden Gate Bridge.

Lombard Street is known as the crookedest street in the world. It’s a short, fun, challenging, and beautiful drive. Here’s a video of our journey down Lombard Street. 

Disneyland

Disneyland is known as the happiest place on earth. I had a 5:30 a.m. casting call while shooting a series of videos for Expedia and Disney. As a result, I was able to snap this photo of Sleeping Beauty Castle before the crowds arrived. 

What are your favorite things to photograph in California?