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Napa ?'s
in Travel
I am in the very beginning stages of planning a trip to Napa for our anniversary in November. I have no idea what I am doing 
We have a week and I would like to spend a few days in Napa and a few days driving the Pacific Coast highway if possible. Any recommendations for places to stay, things to do/see, restaurants etc would be great. French laundry is not in the cards, H would not be amused. Blog links are welcome! If you have done anything like this do you think 3 days in napa and 3ish days on the pacific coast is do-able? Thanks ladies?
We have a week and I would like to spend a few days in Napa and a few days driving the Pacific Coast highway if possible. Any recommendations for places to stay, things to do/see, restaurants etc would be great. French laundry is not in the cards, H would not be amused. Blog links are welcome! If you have done anything like this do you think 3 days in napa and 3ish days on the pacific coast is do-able? Thanks ladies?
Re: Napa ?'s
If you don't want French Laundry, try the following:
-Bottega
-Adhoc (should be reopened by then)
-Bouchon (breakfast)
All three are in Yountville near French Laundry; they're good (the latter two are still Thomas Keller). I ate at Bottega when there in December and it's delicious.
I loved the Villagio Inn and Spa in Yountville - the rates were decent, the rooms were nice, location was very convenient. That means you're likely focused more on Napa than you are on Sonoma; if you want Sonoma, I have heard good things about the Fairmont Mission Inn (ask to stay in the newly renovated rooms, though).
Are you skipping SF entirely?
For the Pacific Coast, I really like Carmel Valley Ranch in Carmel by the Sea, and there's a restaurant there called Cassanova that is really good. Monterey is fun to explore but I wouldn't stay there and I don't think the food is very good there overall.
Hope that helps a bit.
Honestly, I'm not sure I'd do the PCH drive in November. The weather can be nice, but it can also be crappy - just something to think about (more likely to be crappy near SF than if you go down to LA).
How far are you driving down PCH? Are you going all the way down to LA? If I were you, I'd probably do 2-3 days in Napa, 1-2 days in SF, and then 2 days in Carmel / Monterey, maybe tack on a 3rd to do Big Sur (assuming you're flying in/out of SF). It won't give you everything but it'll give you enough (do 17-Mile Drive, too; I forgot about that one and it's pretty and fun and ends at Pebble Beach where you can get a cocktail or something).
You're big wine drinkers, I assume? If you're not, I'd only do 2 days in Napa. It's gorgeous and there are tons of great wineries, but you will easily be able to hit 3-4 wineries in a day (you won't find many crowds in Napa at that time, likely) and after 8-10 wineries, you'll have gotten a good enough taste for Napa that you wouldn't need a third day (not saying I don't love a third day in Napa - I'm just saying you may want to plan other activities such as spa days, a hot air balloon ride, etc.). Some good wineries to check out are:
Peju; Castel de Amaretto (spelling could be WAY off on that - just google 'Castle' and Napa); some people like Sterling for the tram/funicular thingie; V. Sattui is very popular; I really like the Carneros wineries and Domaine Chandon. Also in St. Helena there's the St. Helena Olive Oil Co. and it is worth stopping in to sample ALL the delicious olive oils, spreads, etc.
If you're ever looking for something greasy to fill you up, Gott's Roadside is pretty close to V. Sattui. It's totally a burgers / fries / onion rings place, and the food is decent (not as good as it used to be, IMO), but if you're drunk it tastes delicious. Also they have good milkshakes.
Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.
Mark Twain
My Travel Blog
I think that sounds like a great trip. To be honest, I didn't love SF and quite frankly you could see most of it in 1 day. I would do 3 days in Napa/Sonoma, and then go to SF, do the hop on hop off bus tour for a day, then go to the Muir Woods (red woods) for about a half day or so, and then drive up/down PCH. The forest is not that fas from SF, and it's off the PCH, so it is ll "on the way."
http://www.nps.gov/muwo/planyourvisit/directions.htm
In Napa, we styed at the River Terrace Inn. It was nice, casual, reasonable. Includes breakfast in the morning and they had wine and cheese out in the early evening. They also had a nice fireplace we sat at one night and drank one of our bottles we picked up.
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g32766-d288445-Reviews-River_Terrace_Inn-Napa_Napa_Valley_California.html
I highly reccomend Mustard's. It was amazingly delicious!
http://www.mustardsgrill.com/
Also, Beringer has a really nice cave tour, BR Cohn and Benziger (both in Sonoma) were great, and for sparkling I loved Domaine Carneros and Gloria Ferrer. Carneros is sort of in the middle of Napa and Sonoma, so we satayed in Napa, but one day did Sonoma, and then did Domaine Carneros as our last stop on our Sonoma day. We started the farthest away,then worked our way back (so by the end of the day, you are closer to your hotel).
Also, anything along the Silverado trail is nice too!
The other ladies will be better with suggestions than I am b/c it has been so long since we have been and I don't know the names of restaurants but I love Napa, we love SF too although the drive is beautiful.
DH's fav place on earth is the Opus One balcony. Their tasting is more expensive but if you don't want to spend a lot you can share a glass and sit up top and just hang out, the 3 times I have been have always been empty except a few other people and it's amazing. And if your DH is a movie buff he will love Coppola's winery, there is a lot of memorbillia and we saw Francis at the winery too, and it's beautiful. We did a tour of Vinecliff, it was not free but if you buy wine they refund the cost (I think you need to spend X amount of money and it has been a while.) The tour was private and very cool. We like to drive up the Forgotten Trail and then back down past the more commerical wineries. Oh, the other thing we did one day was to start up top the mountain at Bennett Lane, it was so nice to get their early and have it to ourself.
Have fun! Oh, and be careful with the drinking and driving or consider a limo tour, we did it in Sonoma and it was awesome.