Had another great day of wine tasting today. Tony and Deborah were my hosts last night and were super fantastic. Deborah works in the wine industry, so she gave me some great recommendations for place to hit today.
I started out with Geyser Peak Winery, which I think I've seen distributed in Texas. Decent wines there. I then went to J Rickards. Jim and his dog greeted me and I ended up spending a long time there. Jim was super informative about all sorts of aspects of wine making - weather, soil, blends, all sorts of stuff. We even went out and looked at the vines up close. I had a great time there. I then made my way up to Hopland and hit up McNab Ridge Winery. I had planned on 2 more in Hopland, but since I spent so much time at J Rickards, I skipped those.
I grabbed lunch at the Hopland Ale House, whose owner was there and was really nice. She just bought the place about a year ago. I was there at 2 PM, so it was pretty empty. They apparently have live music there in the evenings. Nice place.
I went up Jeriko Winery after lunch and was totally exhausted. I actually took a nap in my car before going inside. The wines there were good. I was scheduled to go to Jaxon Keys Winery, but a couple of people at Jeriko recommended that I go to Saracina Vineyards instead. I'm glad I did that. I got to meet Alex, the winemaker at Saracina, and had some fantastic wines there. Definitely a wine club I'm interested in joining.
Tonight is my last airbnb reservation for a while. I'm staying at a ranch estate just outside of Ukiah. I'm making my way out of California wine country. Tomorrow I'm driving a bunch, and I'm actually quite looking forward to that. There's only so much wine tasting a person can do before burning out.
Saturday, June 8, 2013
Thursday, June 6, 2013
Day 29 - Dry Creek Valley
Not a ton to report today. I spent most of the day wine tasting in the Dry Creek Valley. I'm probably only about 15 minutes away from where I stayed for the past 2 days, but with so many wineries and vineyards in the area, there was not a lot of "progress" to be made.
I picked up a sandwich from the Dry Creek General Store and ate that for lunch at the picnic tables right near the Family Wineries of Dry Creek. My two favorite wineries today were Kokomo and Mietz, which was one of the wineries within the Family Wineries of Dry Creek. They had an amazing Pinot Noir. Kokomo had a great rose and malbec. So much good wine in the area. I will definitely be joining a few wine clubs when I get home. But I successfully did not buy any wine today (well, a glass from Mietz to go with my lunch, but that doesn't count)! Go me!
Totally exhausted once again. I skipped dinner in order to just stay in and relax, plus I wasn't hungry anyways.
More wine tastings tomorrow.
I picked up a sandwich from the Dry Creek General Store and ate that for lunch at the picnic tables right near the Family Wineries of Dry Creek. My two favorite wineries today were Kokomo and Mietz, which was one of the wineries within the Family Wineries of Dry Creek. They had an amazing Pinot Noir. Kokomo had a great rose and malbec. So much good wine in the area. I will definitely be joining a few wine clubs when I get home. But I successfully did not buy any wine today (well, a glass from Mietz to go with my lunch, but that doesn't count)! Go me!
Totally exhausted once again. I skipped dinner in order to just stay in and relax, plus I wasn't hungry anyways.
More wine tastings tomorrow.
Wednesday, June 5, 2013
Day 28 - Healdsburg
New plan: start writing my blog post before I'm too exhausted to keep my eyes open. Lets be honest, this new plan is only for today, since I likely won't have the opportunity to do this on most days. But I do today.
It's currently 2 PM in Healdsburg and so far today, I've hit 3 wineries and a restaurant for lunch. I really should stop buying wine. My credit card hurts. But it's so yummy! I have 3 more wineries to go to this afternoon. The town is super cute and everything is focused around the town square, so I'm walking everywhere today. That's a little dangerous, because I don't need to pace myself as much as when I'm driving between wineries.
The place I'm staying is called Camelia Inn. It's about 2 blocks away from the town square and is sup cute. They do wine and cheese out by the pool every day at 5:30 and provide a home cooked breakfast every morning. I'm in the smallest room, which is exactly what I need. I have a private bathroom, but it is across the hall. I'm totally ok with that.
I did get a bit of a later start this morning. I didn't have anything that I was rushing out to do, and I was exhausted, so after breakfast, I totally crawled back into bed for a while. I've been streaming Parenthood on Netflix. So good! Also, Healdsburg has free wireless all over town, so that's nice. Can I move here? I. Mean, I'm not sure how many software development jobs there are or how much theatre there is, but it sure is a great town. I went to Willi's seafood bar for lunch, which was super yummy and now I'm gonna go check out those remaining wineries on my list for today.
...
Fast forward 8 hours. Once again, totally exhausted. After lunch, I hit up 4 more wineries in total. By the last one, I had very little palate for actual evaluations. I'm sure my notes make no sense whatsoever. Came back to the inn for wine and cheese out by the pool (just cheese for me)
I sobered up and then went over to Bravas Tapas bar for dinner. I spent a good hour and a half there nibbling on a bunch of small dishes and talking to the chef and manager. It was fantastic. I highly recommend it.
Anyway, I'm glad that I wrote most of this post earlier today, cause once again, I'm falling asleep.
...
Fast forward 8 hours. Once again, totally exhausted. After lunch, I hit up 4 more wineries in total. By the last one, I had very little palate for actual evaluations. I'm sure my notes make no sense whatsoever. Came back to the inn for wine and cheese out by the pool (just cheese for me)
I sobered up and then went over to Bravas Tapas bar for dinner. I spent a good hour and a half there nibbling on a bunch of small dishes and talking to the chef and manager. It was fantastic. I highly recommend it.
Anyway, I'm glad that I wrote most of this post earlier today, cause once again, I'm falling asleep.
Day 27 - Santa Rosa to Healdsburg
I'm pretty tired tonight, but today was another good day. I feel like I'm not capturing the emotions of every day in my posts recently, but by the time I sit down to write them, I'm just so tired that it's all I can do to just remember the events of day.
I had breakfast at the apartment where I was staying last night (an airbnb reservation). I then bounced around Santa Rosa for a while (a lot of the places I had on my list had the wrong hours on my spreadsheet). But I juggled a bunch around and made it to a lot of great stuff. I started out with 2 wineries, then the Charles M Schultz Museum. It was an okay museum. I felt like it was more interested in explaining how great of a museum it was rather than actually being a great museum. Still had a bunch of interesting stuff there though.
After the museum, I hit a few other wineries and then finally checked into the Inn where I'm staying in Healdsburg. On Tuesday evenings in Healdsburg in the summers, there is live music down in the square, so I went down to check it out. It was pretty crowded, but it was great to see a local event.
Ok, I know that this post is pretty half assed, but like I said, super tired. Sleep now.
I had breakfast at the apartment where I was staying last night (an airbnb reservation). I then bounced around Santa Rosa for a while (a lot of the places I had on my list had the wrong hours on my spreadsheet). But I juggled a bunch around and made it to a lot of great stuff. I started out with 2 wineries, then the Charles M Schultz Museum. It was an okay museum. I felt like it was more interested in explaining how great of a museum it was rather than actually being a great museum. Still had a bunch of interesting stuff there though.
After the museum, I hit a few other wineries and then finally checked into the Inn where I'm staying in Healdsburg. On Tuesday evenings in Healdsburg in the summers, there is live music down in the square, so I went down to check it out. It was pretty crowded, but it was great to see a local event.
Ok, I know that this post is pretty half assed, but like I said, super tired. Sleep now.
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
Day 26 - San Francisco to Santa Rosa
An absolutely lovely day today. I was delayed about half an hour getting out of San Francisco this morning because I had a couple errands to run - stop at the bank to deposit my apartment move out refund check (all those hours of cleaning paid off by getting a full refund on my security and pet deposits) and replacing the ice in my cooler again. All that cheese that I bought yesterday had to stay cool somehow.
My first stop this morning was Muir Woods. It wasn't actually on my plan until last night when I had a second person recommend that I go there. It was on my route and there are only so many wineries that a person I can go to in one day. So I got to Muir Woods and it was beautiful. I'm not what you might call "outdoorsy," but the trees were incredible. I did the 2 mile loop walk. The first half mile or so was overrun by people (lots of kids), but once I got through all of them, it opened up into this beautiful, quiet, serene experience. It was amazing to see how the trees grow. I know that sounds obvious, but their desire for the sunlight is obvious. There was one tree that at some point fell, partially ripping up the roots. It somehow managed to fall right between 2 trees that trapped it from falling all the way. The roots were still partially in the ground, and, somehow, the tree still got nutrients and survived, with the tip of the trunk slowly bending up towards the light. It was pretty amazing to see.
After Muir Woods, I started up into Sonoma. I started with Homewood Winery. They were pretty busy, but I tried some good wines there. While there, a couple of other patrons recommended that I try Fremont Diner. I had planned to go to a different place, LaSallette, for lunch, but my plan is nothing if not adaptable. Fremont was fine - nothing that was worth writing home about, but it seemed quite popular.
I then went up to the town square within Sonoma and went to Charles Creek Tasting room and Adobe Hill Tasting room. Adobe Hill was a last minute addition just because I was walking by. I got some great recommendations for other people to check out on the remainder of the trip, and I also heard about a local cheese place to try, Vella Cheese, so I walked over there and picked up a Monterey Jack (because the one thing I need is more cheese). I then stopped by Premiere Wine Shipping - Oh my goodness - so easy to arrange for shipment home of the few bottles that I've picked up along the way. I was so worried about that. There will be another place to stop in Portland if I have more wine to ship.
Because I added an additional winery and the cheese shop in at the last minute, I was running a bit behind on my planned schedule, so I skipped Little Vineyards and went straight to Eric Ross Winery. I loved talking with Eric at the tasting room about wines, photography, and the directions our lives take. Finally, I headed over to Mayo Family Winery, another great winery where I had some amazing wines. I ended up ordering 6 bottles there that were all super yummy.
Spending the night in Santa Rosa tonight and moving on tomorrow.
My first stop this morning was Muir Woods. It wasn't actually on my plan until last night when I had a second person recommend that I go there. It was on my route and there are only so many wineries that a person I can go to in one day. So I got to Muir Woods and it was beautiful. I'm not what you might call "outdoorsy," but the trees were incredible. I did the 2 mile loop walk. The first half mile or so was overrun by people (lots of kids), but once I got through all of them, it opened up into this beautiful, quiet, serene experience. It was amazing to see how the trees grow. I know that sounds obvious, but their desire for the sunlight is obvious. There was one tree that at some point fell, partially ripping up the roots. It somehow managed to fall right between 2 trees that trapped it from falling all the way. The roots were still partially in the ground, and, somehow, the tree still got nutrients and survived, with the tip of the trunk slowly bending up towards the light. It was pretty amazing to see.
After Muir Woods, I started up into Sonoma. I started with Homewood Winery. They were pretty busy, but I tried some good wines there. While there, a couple of other patrons recommended that I try Fremont Diner. I had planned to go to a different place, LaSallette, for lunch, but my plan is nothing if not adaptable. Fremont was fine - nothing that was worth writing home about, but it seemed quite popular.
I then went up to the town square within Sonoma and went to Charles Creek Tasting room and Adobe Hill Tasting room. Adobe Hill was a last minute addition just because I was walking by. I got some great recommendations for other people to check out on the remainder of the trip, and I also heard about a local cheese place to try, Vella Cheese, so I walked over there and picked up a Monterey Jack (because the one thing I need is more cheese). I then stopped by Premiere Wine Shipping - Oh my goodness - so easy to arrange for shipment home of the few bottles that I've picked up along the way. I was so worried about that. There will be another place to stop in Portland if I have more wine to ship.
Because I added an additional winery and the cheese shop in at the last minute, I was running a bit behind on my planned schedule, so I skipped Little Vineyards and went straight to Eric Ross Winery. I loved talking with Eric at the tasting room about wines, photography, and the directions our lives take. Finally, I headed over to Mayo Family Winery, another great winery where I had some amazing wines. I ended up ordering 6 bottles there that were all super yummy.
Spending the night in Santa Rosa tonight and moving on tomorrow.
Monday, June 3, 2013
Day 25 - San Francisco
Another good day today. I started off the day taking MUNI over to the Presidio. I walked through a bunch of the park and arrived at the Walt Disney Family Museum. So many interesting things there! It was so interesting. I am fascinated by early Disneyland. Overall, a very well done museum, if a bit on the pricey side.
After I finished up at the museum, I called my uncle who lives here in San Francisco and he and my cousin Michelle came and picked me up. We drove back to their house and picked up more family members, my aunt and her brother and sister in law. Here's Michelle and I in front of the Golden Gate Bridge:
We all drove over to Sausalito and went to a classic restaurant, The Spinnacker, for lunch. We walked through Sausalito for a while and then drove around San Francisco for a while before they dropped me off at one of my new favorite stores, Cheese Plus! I picked up some great cheeses, plus some salami and jellies. I'll be eating these over the next few days up in Wine Country. Yummy!! Can't wait! I resisted opening any of them up so far! The shop was about a mile away from the apartment where I'm staying, and I had the opportunity to take a cable car, so I jumped on the chance. I had bought a $22 3-day visitor passport for MUNI and so far, had only taken one ride, worth $2, so the $6 cable car ride at least brought down the deficit of how much I paid vs how much I would have paid. Oh, I also took the opportunity to get a couple pictures of Lombard street (the cable car went right by it anyway).
Nice relaxing night at in today just planning out some dates in the future. I do love playing with my spreadsheet!
After I finished up at the museum, I called my uncle who lives here in San Francisco and he and my cousin Michelle came and picked me up. We drove back to their house and picked up more family members, my aunt and her brother and sister in law. Here's Michelle and I in front of the Golden Gate Bridge:
We all drove over to Sausalito and went to a classic restaurant, The Spinnacker, for lunch. We walked through Sausalito for a while and then drove around San Francisco for a while before they dropped me off at one of my new favorite stores, Cheese Plus! I picked up some great cheeses, plus some salami and jellies. I'll be eating these over the next few days up in Wine Country. Yummy!! Can't wait! I resisted opening any of them up so far! The shop was about a mile away from the apartment where I'm staying, and I had the opportunity to take a cable car, so I jumped on the chance. I had bought a $22 3-day visitor passport for MUNI and so far, had only taken one ride, worth $2, so the $6 cable car ride at least brought down the deficit of how much I paid vs how much I would have paid. Oh, I also took the opportunity to get a couple pictures of Lombard street (the cable car went right by it anyway).
Nice relaxing night at in today just planning out some dates in the future. I do love playing with my spreadsheet!
Sunday, June 2, 2013
Day 24 - San Francisco
Well, today got off to a bit of a rough start, but recovered. For some reason, and I can't figure out why, I didn't pre-purchase my ticket for Alcatrez. Maybe because I wasn't exactly sure what time I'd get there? Regardless, I never bought it. So when I showed up today, the next available tours were on Monday. Well that wasn't going to work. So then I know that I'm not going to be able to do Alcatrez. Total bummer. So then I made my way down to the start point for the Volksmarch, which wasn't open yet. So then I decided I was hungry, so I'd try one of the Fishermen's Wharf food vendors, but they weren't open yet either. So I had to just sit around and wait for a bit. Oh, and I had already walked a good mile and a half before starting the walk.
So when I finally was able to start the walk (the box seemed more disorganized than usual, which didn't help), I was in kinda a crabby mood. The walk took me all the way down Embarcadero to AT&T Park. I went through the Farmers' Market, which was great, but didn't buy anything. The walk also went up through the financial district and Chinatown. It wasn't nearly as challenging as I expected it to be. I've definitely done more difficult walks up to this point. At the end of the walk, it went right near where my car is parked (in a garage for the weekend) and where I'm staying, so I was able to pick up my laundry and bring it back to the apartment.
After I finished the walk, I ate some dungeneous crab at fishermen's wharf and then made a stop to see the sea lions. Because I wasn't able to actually go to Alcatrez, I had bought a ticket for a boat ride that would circle around it, so I'd at least get an up close view of it. So I did that at 3:30, which was fun. I had no desire to sit out on the deck because of the cold and wind, but it was still a great boat ride.
After the boat ride, I came back to the apartment, caught up on all of my laundry, and then Jen and I went out for a couple of drinks. At the first place, this good cover band was playing - mainly songs from the 90's. They were really fun. Once the bar got crowded, we bailed and went to a local dive bar for one more beer.
Overall, a good day that recovered from a pretty crappy start.
So when I finally was able to start the walk (the box seemed more disorganized than usual, which didn't help), I was in kinda a crabby mood. The walk took me all the way down Embarcadero to AT&T Park. I went through the Farmers' Market, which was great, but didn't buy anything. The walk also went up through the financial district and Chinatown. It wasn't nearly as challenging as I expected it to be. I've definitely done more difficult walks up to this point. At the end of the walk, it went right near where my car is parked (in a garage for the weekend) and where I'm staying, so I was able to pick up my laundry and bring it back to the apartment.
After I finished the walk, I ate some dungeneous crab at fishermen's wharf and then made a stop to see the sea lions. Because I wasn't able to actually go to Alcatrez, I had bought a ticket for a boat ride that would circle around it, so I'd at least get an up close view of it. So I did that at 3:30, which was fun. I had no desire to sit out on the deck because of the cold and wind, but it was still a great boat ride.
After the boat ride, I came back to the apartment, caught up on all of my laundry, and then Jen and I went out for a couple of drinks. At the first place, this good cover band was playing - mainly songs from the 90's. They were really fun. Once the bar got crowded, we bailed and went to a local dive bar for one more beer.
Overall, a good day that recovered from a pretty crappy start.
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