Sonoma, California

Sonoma, Day 5
We went to the Farmers Market in the parking lot of Oxbow Market. It was a small Farmers Market, but the fruit and vegetable selection was amazing. We couldn't believe how cheap the produce was. We had pasteries, but unfortunately, I can't remeber who we bought them from or for that matter what we ate. We then headed out to Sonoma.


I love(d) Sonoma, when we go to California next year, we will visit Sonoma again. It was much more relaxed and less crowded than Napa. The tasting were outright free, or free if you bought a bottle or less than 10 bucks. The Napa tastings were between $15 and $20 and some wineries didn't even waive the fee if you purchased a bottle.

Sonoma Vineyards:

Field Stone Winery- really small tasting room (felt like an office), great Rosé, free tasting, tasting host was sweet and pointed us towards some of Sonoma's great small producer zin's, when you enter the tasting room you walk through the oak barrels that are being aged and it smelled great, large shaded area for picnics

Sausel Winery- old vine Zins, small and family owned vineyard, named some wines after the vineyard cats, very nice tasting host

Stryker Sonoma Vineyard- amazing drive up to the tasting house, trellis that has grape vines growing around it, very modern building, great tasting host, bike tour support guy was setting lunch up for people that were riding through Sonoma stopping at wineries along the way, huge shaded picnic area overlooking the valley.

We joined the Stryker Wine Club.

Bella Vineyards- Another amazing drive to the vineyard, very isolated, tasting room was located in one of their aging caves dug into the side of the hill. Reminded me of Hobbits, great wine, very knowledgeable tasting host, they sell boxes so that you can pack all your wine for the trip home, lovely picnic area

Ridge Vineyards- stopped here because we saw cars parked outside, very nice tasting host, we can find Ridge wines in NYC (have drank them before), beautiful vineyard, tables outside right next to the vineyard

We bought sandwiched from a deli before we got to the winery and had a picnic lunch next to the vineyard. We bought a half bottle of wine and drank it with our lunch.

Mazzocco- the best vineyard of the trip, awesome tasting host, great wine, very reasonable, great outdoor space for picnics

We also joined the Mazzocco Wine Club.

Cool pics from the vineyards:

Once we were done tasting, we checked into El Pueble Inn. It was a bit of a drive from where the vineyards, but it was close to downtown Sonoma. The Inn had a pool and a jacuzzi, which we took advantage of, the bed and pillows were extremely comfortable and it was beautifully landscaped. Once we were done swimming, we walked to dinner.

We went to dinner at Cafe La Haye. I had the steak, which Rob told me to order medium rare--I will admit that I was a little grossed out as I ate it. It was cooked beautifully, but it was just too bloody and cold for me. I think I'll stick to medium. Once dinner was over we headed back to the hotel.

As we were walking, we noticed that they were showing The Princess Bride in the town square. We walked over and joined the crowd. The people around us had picnic baskets, blankets, wine and they were just having a great time. Sitting there watching the movie and enjoying the atmosphere was a great way to end our evening.

Napa Valley, California

Napa, Day 4
For breakfast we went to the Model Bakery in the Oxbow Market. I had a croissant, but I wasn't to happy with it, because the guy cut it half, put it in the toaster and only took it out because Rob told him it was burning.

Napa Vineyards:

Hess Collection - great modern art collection, weed garden, very formal tasting room

Rubicon Estate- formally the Coppola winery, impressive entryway, Godfather memorabilia, boccie ball court, beautiful tasting room and very nice tasting room host

Franciscan-Oakville Estate- served Mount Veeder wines, Cuban crackers to eat in between tastings, tasting host were all over the place and kind of sloppy

Plumpjack Winery- vineyards surround the entire tasting area, has an area outside where you can have lunch, very nice tasting room host

Silver Oak Cellars- large crowds and at this point some very drunk people, tasting hosts were older gentlemen and they were kind of grumpy---possibly because of the drunk people, wines were very expensive

Turnbull Wine Cellars- very quiet, nice and talkative tasting hosts (maybe they were bored)

Cool Pics from the vineyards:
























Once we finished our tasting we went to dinner at Bistro Jeantry with Tenzin and his mom. Surprisingly, I wasn't in the mood to order steak, so Rob ordered the short rib dish. It was amazing. I ordered a special pasta dish with mushrooms that was great. We then went to eat ice cream at Three Twins Ice Cream at Oxbow Market. The ice cream is all organic and they have cone cups for your ice cream.


Napa, Day 3
For breakfast we picked up pastries at the Alexis Baking Company, which is one of Tenzin's favorite place to eat breakfast. We ate breakfast, packed a lunch, picked up Tenzin's friends and headed to Johnson Beach on the Russian River. We rented canoes and paddled down part of the river. We stopped at a small bank on the edge of the River and had leftover fried chicken. We then decided to head back and hike through the Armstrong Redwood Forest. All I can say is WOW, the Redwood Trees are amazing.

We went to dinner at Thomas Keller's restaurant, ad hoc. They only serve a set four course menu, so you sit, they ask if you have food allergies and then they start serving food. Rob may get mad at me for this, but I wasn't impressed. The salad was made of butter lettuce with charcuterie from the Fatted Calf. I thought it was too oily. The main dish was a chicken and shrimp jambalaya that had andouille sausage. Well it only tasted of sausage and I thought the shrimp was undercooked. I wish we could have gone on a night that they were serving steak. The other 2 dishes, were a cheese plate and beignets--you can't really go wrong with cheese and doughnuts.

Napa, Day 2
On Friday night as were driving to the Villa Inn, we noticed a restaurant that had a line out the door (It was probably 1:00 at this point). We decided then, that we would stop at Sol Food for breakfast on our way out. We had the best tostada (toast with butter) and café con leche.

We then went to Tenzin's grandparents house, where we spent the day. Rob and Tenzin built a rope swing off a live oak, while the ladies lounged around by the pool. We then went raspberry picking and walked along the vineyards that surround their property. Larry, Tenzin's grandfather made a fried chicken picnic for all of us. Once dinner was over, we checked into the Napa Valley Redwood Inn.















San Rafael, Day 1
We arrived at 11:15 pm in SFO. We rented a car from Budget, which was a bit of a SS, they had 3 guys working and they probably had 50 people in line renting cars. They also rented our car to someone else, luckily we were able to solve the problem right away.

We drove to San Rafael and stayed in a motor lodge, Villa Inn . The Villa Inn was awesome, clean and had a really cool bathroom.