There are a few family traditions I look forward to every year, and our annual road trip from Los Angeles to San Francisco is definitely one of my favorite! For starters, the drive is absolutely beautiful, and we make sure to make stops at all our favorite places along the way, like Santa Barbara and Cambria for example, but most importantly, while LA still feels very summery at the moment, Carmel, Big Sur and San Francisco offer a rare glimpse of fall in California! 

Though normally, as I have mentioned earlier, we take our time getting there making multiple stops on the way, this time around we drove straight to Carmel because we were so eager to get back to one of our favorite places in the world - Carmel Valley Ranch. We discovered it by a complete accident a few years ago, and it's become a very special place to us since. 
Pretty as a post card, we absolutely love that it offers a variety of activities from hiking and biking to tennis and horse-riding. Yet we also appreciate the fact that Carmel Valley Ranch is one of the best places to take a day to simply lounge around, enjoy a warm cup of coffee or a glass of Rosé and get away from all the hustle and bustle! Personally, I love nothing more than to spend a few hours on a daybed swing, catching up on my reading or simply admiring the beautiful views of Santa Lucia mountains!  

Lastly, and this one is of most importance, because you will never find 3 bigger foodies than Emil, Ninel and me, we l...