Except for the decision to go, your mom and I explored wine country without a single concrete plan. We knew where it was and had a few must see spots, but generally had no idea what to expect, and we ended up making a great weekend out of it. It really felt like an adventure!
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| Our first stop was Santa Rose, where this mural caught our attention. Charming small towns with an obvious interest in art are always a treat to explore. |
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| We had lunch in Santa Rosa at this cool old-fashioned deli. |
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| We tend to stop in independent book stores whenever we notice them. I'm reading a psychology book about "popular delusions." |
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| On our way to the coast, we stopped in a very charming small town, Sebastopol, and had a hefeweizen at the pub. |
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| Outside Sebastopol, we stopped at this strawberry field to buy a basket. They were delicious! |
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| This old building in Bodega was featured in Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds as the town schoolhouse. Your mom loves her classic horror films, so checking this out was a must. |
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| Admiring the state flower, the golden poppy, in Bodega. |
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| It is customary for me to skip rocks whenever I'm on the beach. We stopped briefly in the quiet Bodega Bay to see what was around. |
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| Remember what I said about independent bookstores? This one was in Sonoma, and we walked the streets looking for a spot for dinner. |
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| Dinner in Sonoma, with a glass of wine, of course! |
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| The next morning we stumbled upon the Etude winery, where we had a great tasting and bought a bottle of really crisp and tasty white zinfandel. |
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| This is Etude's vineyard. This area of California is covered in vineyards a lot like this. |
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| The countryside in this part of the country is gorgeous, populated mostly by hilly farms and ranches. |
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| Back at the coast, we went to visit the Point Reyes lighthouse, but the fog was so thick that we could barely see anything! We could only assume that this bench offered a nice view on a clearer day. |
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| We braved the foggy drizzle! |
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| We weren't about to let a locked fence keep us from seeing this lighthouse. We'd driven over an hour on a thin, windy, and fog-enshrouded road to get here! So, we jumped the fence. |
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| This kind of fog helps one appreciate just what value these lighthouses could have for ship trying to navigate the coast in this weather. |
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| On the way back up from the lighthouse, the wind really started to pick up. It was crazy! |
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| We snuck into Priscilla's for dinner just as they were closing. We were thankful because it had been a long and adventurous day, and we had a long drive ahead of us. |
