Road Trip; Northern California

Trip date: September 2020

I met Aaron in Sebastopol, Sonoma County, after spending some days hanging with redwoods and in the thick of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although the drive direct from Fortuna to Sebastopol is only 3+ hours, I had been in and out of the car for almost 9 hours with all my tree-hugging stops.

It was also very smoky for most of my drive as the forest fires were all around the area. Luckily the highway wasn't closed and I showed up at the Marriott Fairfield Suites in time for Aaron and I to make our wine tasting appointment. All of the places we would be visiting for the next few days had outdoor seating (inside dining was nixed at this time still), masks/gloves/sanitizer protocols, and social distancing set up.   

Pax winery had us set up outside with some tasty snacks to go along with our wine choices. They make some really unique white wines using grapes such as Trousseau Gris, Petite Mansang, as well as more typical reds with Syrah and Gamay Noir. It was a fun way to kick off our trip!

We walked across the street to Fern Bar where a couple of Aaron's friends met us, again we had a table outside and spaced away from others. I had been wanting to try the cocktails here for some time, and they did not disappoint. Well maybe the disposable glassware was disappointing but it was a pandemic after all!

Dinner at Fern Bar was excellent! Especially the hand-pulled dan dan noodles with lamb. Swoon.

Day 4. Sebastopol, CA to Elk, CA: ~2 hours

The next morning we had a quick breakfast at the hotel, made a stop at Whole Foods, and hit the road. Highway 1 to be exact. We were driving the coast road up to Elk where we'd spend the next two nights.

It was about a 3-hour drive due to the very twisty turvy road. But the misty views of the ocean, and the fact that Aaron was driving, made it worth it. I had left my car back in Sebastopol and it felt great to be a passenger!

This road had been closed just a week before due to forest fires, the damage was very evident!

We arrived in Elk at lunchtime and stopped at the Elk Store for some yummy sandwiches, which we ate across the street at Greenwood Creek State Park. A hike down to the beach after, as we had a bit a time before our Airbnb check in, was the perfect way to stretch our legs. It's really a pretty spot!

Our Airbnb was just a bit farther down the road at Saddle Point. We had a 2-bedroom house on 85 acres of cliffside property. Social distancing taken to the max! The house itself was old and in need of some TLC, but the location was perfect for us. 

We dropped our bags and went off to explore. First up we visited the cute Mist Farm farmstand in Mendocino and picked up some eggs and jam. This is what foodies do!

Next up we made our way to Cliff Glover Pottery where Aaron had made us an appointment to view his work. Cliff creates a lot of pieces for Harbor House, where we would be dining the next night. We expected just to meet him, and do a bit of shopping. But Cliff is such a gracious host, he welcomed us in his Japanese garden, brewed us cups of matcha, and sat and chatted with us for about an hour.

I bought a chawan from him, and have gotten in the habit of having an afternoon matcha now at home. The best type of souvenir!

We hung out at our acreage estate that night, playing dominos, having a simple dinner, and then the owners who also live on the property in a neighboring house lit a bonfire for us. Aaron pulled out s'more makings and a bottle of 12 year old Yamazaki. You gotta love friends who know your love of a fire and Japanese whisky!!

The next morning we hiked the Fern Canyon Loop, which is a moderate and very pretty 4 ½ mile loop on an old logging road in Van Damme State Park.

We hung out on our property enjoying the sun in the afternoon which was super relaxing. But that evening was the entire reason for our trip; we were having dinner at 1-Michelin star Harbor House Inn. We were both super excited!

The weather was absolutely perfect, which really mattered as we would be dining outside on their deck per pandemic precautions. We actually brought a bag with a few layering items as we know the California coast gets really chilly in the evenings. 

Our table had unobstructed views of the bay and some of the inn's gardens below. It was just gorgeous! And the chef's Japanese inspired tasting menu was just as beautiful and also delicious. 

Some of the standouts for me were the "yellowtail, sungold tomato, basils", "abalone, abalone mushroom, shiitake rice, sauce of abalone offal", and "pork, elk spice, leek, okra". But really, all of the dishes, including starters and desserts, were both delicious and really unique. 

Chef Matt visited with us for a bit which was fun to chat with him about the food, the pottery from Cliff Glover, and how an absolutely fantastic job his staff was doing, giving us such a great experience, even in the midst of a pandemic. 

Day 6. Elk, CA to Healdsburg, CA: ~2 hours

The next day was another stunner so before checking out of the Airbnb we took a nice stroll around the property. I even came across a rattlesnake!

We weren't quite done with the Harbor House just yet! We had reservations for their 3-course lunch on the deck. After a bit of shopping at Elk Mercantile we checked in and had another lovely meal with the stunning views.

I just loved hanging out in this area of Mendocino County for a couple of days. It is so pretty and rugged. I was super happy to have been invited by Aaron for this little adventure!

On our way out of the area we stopped and had a lovely wine tasting in the courtyard of Baxter Wines. I was really impressed with their pinot noirs and left with a couple of purchases.

Next up in Boonville we stopped and had a goat cheese tasting as well as a wine tasting at Pennyroyal Farm. This property is huge and gorgeous, the cheese was great, the wine just ok for me. 

We arrived in Healdsburg and checked into the Best Western Dry Creek. This property would get a "fair" rating from me, it was also a bit farther from town then we thought so we would be driving to dinner instead of walking.

That evening we enjoyed some wine and snacks on the rooftop at Single Thread, their dining room was still closed due to COVID-19. I had a lovely plate of oysters, while Aaron had a gorgeous tomato bread. I still haven't had a chance to dine properly here but it was great to have a little peek of their service.

We walked over to Healdsburg's pretty town square and ordered burgers and canned cocktails from Dukes. The city had picnic tables spread around for restaurant patrons to use which made for a very fun and delicious dinner. 

We grabbed a few more cocktails for back at the hotel. Not only were they super tasty, but I was so impressed that they even sent us off with proper ice for my old fashioned! 

Before leaving the next morning, we stopped at Downtown Bakery. They are known for their galettes and that is exactly what I ordered. So delicious with my iced latte, enjoyed at an outside table. 

It was so much fun getting a chance to have some lovely dining experiences in other cities again! And especially with one of my best dining buddies! 

All photos from Sonoma and Mendocino County here.

Also on this trip:

Road Trip to the Redwoods

Road Trip; Crater Lake and Beyond

Cellar Dwellers Do Napa

Trip date: January 2016

A few years ago my friend Lorraine invited me to sit in as a guest at her Cellar Dwellers wine tasting. They were a group of 12 who got together regularly to eat, drink, and discuss delicious things. I knew most of the people in the group, though not well, and also had the pleasure of meeting some new friends; John, Amanda, Benson & Kel. That was June 19th, 2013.

I got to keep my seat and over the last 4 years these friends have been there for me in so many ways. And so many times. They are full of love, laughter, amazing taste, extraordinary skills, and are just all-around-great people that I feel so lucky to know. This week Kel passed away unexpectedly and now I am reeling from the sudden void he's left. I know the others are feeling it as well.

I only knew Kel a short while but I had so many awesome times with him both as part of the group and separately. Last January Cellar Dwellers (missing Sandra & Travis who were on a round-the-world-trip) decided to take our wine tasting on the road to the Napa area; I started this post before Kel left us, it seems fitting to finish it now.  

Our flight was delayed out of SeaTac so it was later than we planned when 6 of us finally touched down in Santa Rosa, got our rental van, and drove to The Retreat where we were meeting 4 other Cellar Dwellers and Sarah's parents, who were all cooking a gorgeous dinner for us. Each of us had our own bottle of the olive oil that the Lawers produce at our table setting.

Sarah's parents, David and Betsy, own Lawer Estates winery and vacation rentals in Calistoga where the 10 of us would be staying. After dinner we split up with 6 of us going to The Lodge, and the other 4 staying at The Farmhouse in the Vineyards. All of these properties are absolutely wonderful and I couldn't recommend them more!

The next morning was cool and drizzly, but we weren't too bothered as we were heading to the Culinary Institute of America to take a wine class called "Tasting Like a Pro". The 2 1/2  hour class was super fun and our group will forever disagree over the flavor charactistics of oak.

CIA Greystone has a lot of courses and if you're into food and/or wine it's a great thing to do while in the Napa area.

All that wine drinking, I mean tasting, had us ready for an afternoon cocktail and some lunch. We chose nearby Goose & Gander. There were many orders of Fried Chicken Sandwiches and the house burger outfitted with gruyere and bacon.

Main Street was perfect for window shopping, loading up on Model Bakery English muffins for the house, and doing a little wine tasting at Orin Swift before hitting the grocery store and heading back to The Lodge.

Lorraine and I made cocktails that night, Sonja and Gavin cooked a delicious dinner, and the others tried to conquer a giant puzzle. Afterward, Kel baked chocolate chip cookies, including gluten free ones for Sarah and Sonja taught us all to play a dice game. It felt like one big happy family!

We were up and out of the houses early the next day (minus Benson who was stuck in bed with a cold) to make our tasting appointment with the winemaker at Lioco, Kai Kliegl.  Pretty much everything here was fantastic including the Pinot Noirs. I think Lioco has become a CD fave and I know a few of us get very excited when we see their rosés in our shops in the summer.

Sarah's parents kindly invited us to have lunch with them at the Mayacama Country Club in nearby Santa Rosa. And because David is super generous, he brought both a 1999 and a 2003 Silver Oak for us to enjoy with lunch. Those Cabs definitely called for a burger!

We stopped for a little shopping at the Bottle Barn, which has great prices on booze and some things you can't get in Seattle. The back of our van continued to fill as we went to our afternoon tasting at Two Shepherds Wines. Our group was very divided on the wines here, they're pretty high acid, even for this girl. But they did have this super cute dog!

Before dinner we had the chance to stop into Lawer Estates and do a little wine shopping! Back at The Lodge, Lorraine and I mixed up some more drinks while Benson and Kel made a fabulous dinner served with lots of wine. There were more tipsy games at the dinner table as well. So fun!

The next morning was absolutely gorgeous so Sonja and I walked to The Farmhouse property and through the woods and vineyards. Everything was dormant as it was January, but it was still so beautiful!

It was our last morning and back at The Lodge the final pieces were laid in the puzzle, the last of the English muffins were toasted, we packed our bags and checked out of our lovely house.

Our final wine appointment was an over-the-top private tour and tasting at Ridge Vineyards. Ridge is one of the oldest vineyards in the Sonoma Valley and is very famous for coming in 5th at the Judgement of Paris.

The tour took place both in the vineyard and in the cellars and was quite interesting. We were then led to a private room and tasted through 5 wines. It was absolutely excellent. And then we all pulled out our wallets and did some more shopping!

We had a bit of time to kill before our flight so we drove to Healdsburg and walked around the quaint town. Pre-flight meals at In-n-Out Burger were obtained before unloading our van at Santa Rosa airport. Alaska Airlines allows each passenger flying out of STS to check a case of wine for free and boy did we take advantage of that!

Kel I love you and will miss you so damn much. I'm so lucky to know this group of wonderful people and I look forward to recounting many memories of you, continuing to learn about you, and hopefully coming to terms with the loss of you. But I'll never forget you. xoxo

All trip photos here.

Sonoma Wine Weekend

We celebrated our wedding anniversary last weekend in Sonoma County, our first visit to this wine region but hopefully not the last!

Vineyards were originally planted here in the early 1800's making it the birthplace of the California wine industry. Napa didn't start planting until the 1860's by comparison. Additionally there are 12 appellations each one known for a particular style of wine.

Many of the 250 wineries in the region are small mom and pop setups, exactly what I like, so deciding which one's to visit was really hard. Luckily we have friend's who have similar tastes in wine as we do  and were nice enough to share some ideas (thanks Dino & Paul!). I was looking for wines that are hard to come by outside of the area and that is exactly what we found!

There is no way we were going to be able to explore each of the distinctly unique areas so we focused on just part of Russian River and the Dry Creek Valley near Healdsburg and the Sonoma Valley.

Stationing ourselves in Santa Rosa, about halfway between our 2 chosen areas, we set out on our first day to Arista Winery. Driving around the area outside of Healdsburg was awesome. It is hilly and green, the landscape spotted with huge oak trees, horse farms and vineyards. Beautiful, really really beautiful. I love being in wine countries and this is now one of my favorites for sure.

Many of you know that I have a bit of a passion for North Willamette Pinot Noir so I wasn't really expecting to be blown away by any Sonoma Pinot's. WRONG. Arista makes really gorgeous wines and their gardens are amazing! The buying started early...

Rochioli was next and just down the street. This winery only produces 3 wines- Chardonnay, Sauvingnon Blanc and Pinot Noir. They were pouring the Sauv Blanc and Pinot when we were there, both were delicious.

Right in Healdsburg is Seghesio, beautifully made Zinfandel at really good prices. We were so impressed with all the tastes we had that we joined their wine club. JOINERS!

As we left Seghesio to find some lunch we realized that the temperature had continued to climb and was now around 102F. Our car had stayed cool but it wouldn't be able to for much longer so we stopped in a drugstore and picked up a few coolers and ice so the wine would be safe and sound. I didn't want to come home with bottles of wine reduction!

After a delicious lunch at Dry Creek Kitchen, which was a recommendation from a few locals, we went to our only appointment of the day at A. Rafanelli Winery.

A. Rafanelli produces big, hearty Zin, Cab & Merlot and you can only buy their wines in local restaurants or at the winery. It's by appointment only and really a family affair. One of the daughters, who was a practicing attorney until last year when she came to work in the family business, poured for us and filled us in on the wines available. Once she realized that we were primarily looking for hard to find wines she called George at Unti Winery and got us a tasting at his small production winery also.

George Unti is from Italy and makes very European style wines- Sangiovese, Grenache, Mourvedre, etc. He is passionate about his vineyards and the wines they produce and we had a really good time talking to him about the difference in wine regions terroir around the world.

Day 2 we headed south past the town of Sonoma and out to Gloria Ferrer. The scenery out here is a bit different as the rolling hills are browner than the lush area up north. This particular winery doesn't do traditionally tasting, instead they just sell glasses of their sparkling. Since they so some vintage sparkling it was nice to have a glass and relax out on their patio enjoying the views.

In the same area is Gundlach Bundschu Winery (or GunBun as their website is named!) They are also one of the oldest in the area and offer some really fantastic wines. We chose to try just the reds and split the tastings so we were able to try all of them. The woman who poured for us gave us a few extra tastes of some of their reserve wines and also recommended another old winery up the road. She even wrote us a free pass to taste there since she knew the staff.

So after lunch in the gorgeous square in Sonoma at Maya, a few tastes of really good tequila, a bit of antique browsing and shopping for Rancho Gordo beans at Bram we were off to our last taste of the day at Bartholomew Park. Small, old winery staffed with wonderful people who celebrate all the winemakers of the area with an amazing photo wall. Oh and they make some amazing Merlot!

We used Wine Country Shipping to send all our bottles home, they repacked all the wine in secure shipping cases and had it in Seattle 2 days later. I'm looking forward to enjoying these!

Wine soaked photos here!