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!

Summer Camp

We don't camp like most other people, I know that. I come up with menus, Dayne makes cocktails and we go on easy hikes and nice drives. This year we added the comfort of a queen size Aero mattress. Damn I could live in the "wild" for a few weeks with our plush bed now!

A couple of weeks ago we headed out towards the Sunrise side of Mt. Rainier. It was an easy drive, through the cute town of Enumclaw and out towards Crystal Mountain Resort. We found a great spot at Silver Springs Campground, right on the mostly dry riverbed and not too close to other campers. Since it only took us about 1.5 hours from the time we left the house to get to the campground we had an entire day to explore so we headed out to Sunrise Visitor's Center with a picnic lunch.

The drive up to the center is breathtaking! Neither of us had been on this side of the mountain so it was all new to us. Amazing views of the glacier and the summit as well as surrounding peaks & valleys.

After checking out the very nice visitor's center we sat down and had lunch facing Mt. Rainier in the warm sunshine. We've been around the world and seen amazing sites but the site of that mountain up close and personal is always stunning!

After lunch we went on a easy hike on the Silver Forest Trail so we could see the wildflowers. I've never seen all the meadows full of wildflowers before and Dayne's aunt and uncle talk about how pretty it is so we were really happy to have such a gorgeous day to see them!

 

Purple, red and funny "Dr Suess" flowers studded the hills around the trails. And we only saw 2 other couples on the trail!

Our second day our weather wasn't as good so we decided to drive across the Chinook Pass towards Naches. Again the scenery up to the pass was amazing, until we entered into a cloud and Dayne had to drive 20 MPH! It was the thickest thing I'd ever seen and it got thicker and thicker as we went! When we got up to the pass the cloud was moving in and out. It was beautiful!

 

We stopped at a funny motel/restaurant called Whistlin Jack's Lodge for lunch and then headed back across Chinook Pass and then south across Cayuse Pass and up Rainier to the Paradise Visitor's Center- which is brand new and really cool. Unfortunately the clouds were so low on the mountain that even standing right at the lodge you wouldn't have known there was a mountain there at all!

On our way home the last day, we stopped at the Dalles Campground to look at the giant Douglas Fir that is over 700 years old and almost 300 feet tall. It's big, it's really big. And things like that amaze me because I always wonder how it didn't get logged, burned down or died of a disease. Think of the things that tree has seen over 700 years!


More photos from our camping trip are here!

Hello neighbor!

Does your neighborhood participate in the National Night Out? We moved to Ballard 4 years ago and it was the first time I had ever heard of it. I love the yearly block party, it reminds me of when I was little and lived in LA with my parents, everyone knew everyone else in the neighborhood. They would get together from time to time and do potlucks, pool parties or (my favorite) fondue parties!

Our block always has a good turn out and this year there was the addition of some live music. Everyone brings a dish, I made fresh spring rolls and Dayne brought Fish House Punch in our self serve beverage dispenser. It was a big hit and we didn't really have much left at the end of the night!

It was nice to catch up with people we don't see regularly and meet some newer additions to the 'hood. And who doesn't like to eat, drink and listen to music in someone's yard on a warm summer night?

Three Cheers for Tales of the Cocktail

I guess it's an annual trip now- this year was our 3rd time attending Tales of the Cocktail in New Orleans. Each year the event gets larger and more people that we know show up. There are so many new people to meet and see others we've met in years past. Oh, and there are cocktails! Eye openers at breakfast, Pimm's Cups at lunch, multiple tastes during seminars, happy hour, pre-dinner libations and night caps. There are many, many cocktails.


One of my favorite things is the Spirited Dinner where cocktails are paired with a multi course meal. This year we picked the Tiki drink dinner at GWFins. It was absolutely the best dinner of the 3 years! The food was amazing, the drinks were amazing and most of our friends chose to attend too so the company was amazing! Oh and I won the coolest limited edition Smuggler's Cove grog mug!!


We attended some great seminars such as Sugarcane Spirits and Drinks from the 1600's and attended many complimentary tasting rooms like Martin Miller's Gin and Absinthe. I also attended The Wormwood Society's blind absinthe judging which was held in the Absinthe Museum, very fun!

There were delicious meals at Coop's Place, Cafe Adelaide, Luke & The Napoleon House as well as some yawners at Galatoire's and The Bourbon House.

On the last day we rented a car with our friend's Lauren & Paul and headed out to the old River Road to tour a few of the plantations that still survive. The drive out was so interesting as we crossed over large swamp lands and drove through intense mining areas. It was a landscape that I hadn't seen before and was happy to experience.

Our first stop was at the Laura Plantation which dates from 1805 and is being restored bit by bit.
This was a full on working plantation with large gardens, sugar cane fields, slave quarters, etc. It wasn't for showing off but for conducting business and the family history was very interesting. Laura Plantation is also where the original "Tales of Uncle Remus" were written based on stories told by the plantation's slaves.

these are some of the slave quarters at Laura Plantation

The other stop we made was to Oak Ally which is famous for their 600+ year old oak trees which welcome visitors- it's a magnificent sight! This plantation was the opposite of Laura as that it was always a private home and although they did grow sugar the main house was not used for business.


I highly recommend to anyone heading to New Orleans to make the short trek out to River Road and visit a few of these awesome plantations!

More pictures of booze, food, crazies and various southern things can be found here!

Tacoma Daycation

A friend of ours, Tim Cross, has some of his work showing at the Tacoma Art Museum as part of the Neddy Fellowship Award Exhibition. I think that is pretty cool to get your stuff in a museum, congratulations Tim! Not wanting to miss it my friends Jeff and Geno and I decided play tourist for an afternoon in Tacoma.

The Tacoma Art Museum is small and has some interesting works in it and like everything in Tacoma they love their Chihuly glass. This outdoor installment was really pretty, as the light changed in the afternoon the colors and shadows did too.


After finishing up at the museum we walked over to Central Station, the old railroad station now a Federal building housing a big Chihuly exhibit.

From there we walked over the Bridge of Glass and wandered around outside the Museum of Glass. There is a really fun fountain called the Water Forest, water collects on the top of each cylinder and when the breeze comes up it blows the water off. On this hot and sunny day we felt like kids playing in it!


Our Chihuly walking tour came to an end at The Swiss where we stopped for beers and sandwiches before heading back to Seattle. We were told that he spent a lot of time eating at The Swiss and gave them these pieces as a "thank you".

Tacoma is actually quite pretty with all it's brick buildings and interesting museums. It was really clean and really quiet and we all commented on the bad rap it gets. And then the breeze blew... aroma... and we headed home! Thanks Jeff & Geno for a fun day trip!

All the photos (taken only with my iPhone this time) are here

Viva Las Vegas!

Every year a group of my girlfriends get together and invade Las Vegas. It started out A LONG time ago and we use to go in December for my birthday. A couple of days in Vegas right before Christmas was actually really relaxing- you were whisked away from the last minute shopping and holiday stress and plopped in a chair at a less busy than normal blackjack table with Christmas carols playing on the sound system. I can remember our financial status' by the hotels we stayed in- Harrahs, Flamingo, TI, Mirage...

photo courtesy of brookenbria

For my bachelorette party (hen's night to you Aussie's!) 6 years ago (next month!) we of course went to Vegas. And the yearly party switched from a winter to a summer thing. Some go every year and some we haven't seen for a while. There have been pregnant attendees and those who have left newborns at home with dads. But I'm happy to say I have attended every year and will continue to do so (since I look upon it as my little party!).

No Vegas trip is complete without a trip to In-n-Out Burger, this year we had a kick ass limo driver who took us to the drive thru! Yeah, double double animal style in style!

This year I put the girls in charge of the hotel decisions and kept the limo & restaurant reservations as my job. Ally did a great job of getting us beautiful and connecting rooms at the Wynn Encore. I can't say enough about the staff at the Encore. The service here was really top notch! Our bell hop even took time to show us around our room, including a lesson in using the bedside remote for lights, tv, drapes, etc. There are two pools, one family style and one European pool where you have to be 21 to be in. This was awesome as we never heard or ran into any kids! They have a rule that you aren't allowed to take pictures at this pool either...

photo courtesy of Ally Cox

Some of us went to the spa at the Encore for massages and all declared it the best of the Vegas spas and our massages in our top 3, really it is fantastic and I highly recommend!

Our girl Ally is turning 40 this month so as a treat we had a little surprise party for her before going out to an awesome dinner at Bouchon on Saturday night.

photo courtesy of brookenbria

Brooke and Michelle did a great job of decorating the room and setting up a nice table of snacks. Ally's husband Dino surprised her by sending 2 beautiful bottles of Schramsburg Champagne up to our room. And we all brought fun little presents for the girl of the hour.

Four years ago during one of the annual trips we also had dinner at Bouchon. The Bouchon Bakery was opening the same weekend we were in town so I asked our waiter if Chef Keller happened to be in the restaurant that night. When he said "yes" I asked if he could come to our table for a minute. Chef Keller came out and actually sat with us for a bit, signing all our menus and being very gracious. At the end of the evening he sent out every dessert on the menu for us to enjoy. When we were seated this time we realized we were at the same table and had the same waiter, he remembered our experience also and at the end of our dinner the kitchen sent out every dessert on the menu again. Very nice and an easy way to make us all feel very special!

A few nights of late night gambling, drinking cocktails non stop, laughing our asses off, hanging out at the spa, playing "Wheel of Fortune", singing the Party Pit song and catching up on all the celebrity gossip makes for a very fun weekend with the girls. I'm already thinking about next year...

The real weekend in Orange County

Visiting my aunt and uncle in Orange County is always fun and this trip was no exception. We started the weekend with a casual dinner & drinks at a near by restaurant in Newport Bay. Live entertainment provided by my family's friend Bobby made for a very fun evening. In Southern California they publish where police are doing road blocks to check for drunk drivers in the local paper so everyone takes detours. This weekend's block was on Dover. After affixing our sticky note to the dash with the reminder "Don't drive on Dover" we were off. Funny at the end of our evening as we were leaving the parking lot the security attendant gave us his advice to "don't drive on Dover" also. This became the mantra of the weekend (you had to be there, it was funny!)



The next morning we were off to Temecula for an afternoon of wine tasting. We started out at Callaway where some of my uncle's friends, Brian and Sue, joined us. We had never been to this wine area before but found that every winery charged $8 and up for tasting, generally gave you 6 tastes and even if you purchased wine there were no refunds on the tasting fee.



We decided to pick up sandwiches from a great little deli and find a picnic spot at one of the wineries to enjoy our lunch. We ended up in a nice grassy spot with a pretty little view at one of the sparkling wine producers, we would realize later that this was the only winery without a dedicated picnic area, oh well!



The rest of the afternoon was spent tasting at Stuart, Falkner and South Coast Winery. All had something nice but I think I can speak for the group that none of them completely blew us away with their wines. My highlight was riding with Sue in her pretty silver Porsche- varoom!

My aunt's sister, who has a house in the area, was out of town and had generously invited us all to stay there so we made our way home and got down to the business of cocktails and hot tubbing.


The house sits out near an airfield and planes were dropping skydivers almost directly overhead. The wind helped them over to their landing spots miles from where we were but for a few minutes you could look up and watch the free fallers pop up as their parachutes opened. Also out here in the "country" were burrowing owls and lots of horses. The wild west!

We had a wonderful dinner of grilled steak and lobsters, steamed artichokes with butter and caprese salad. Dayne made up Sazeracs and of course there was wine from the day's outing.
We headed back to Costa Mesa the next day detouring through Dana Point and Laguna Beach areas. The weather was gorgeous so the beaches and towns were packed leaving us no options to park and wander around. We ended up in a little shopping mall with a Tommy Bahama store. This particular store also had a restaurant/lounge and was serving up happy hour. Really nice drinks and excellent small plate food served with live music at a very good price. And Dayne got to go shopping- so all in all a win!

The evening was spent at my family's house enjoying the hot tub, patio & bbq- ultimate vacation relaxation.

Our weekend wrapped up with a short drive to Huntington Beach for brunch at Duke's. The restaurant has a great loction right on the beach and valet parking is only $3! All the food and mai tai's were tasty, unfortunately a busser dropped a dish of salad dressing on my aunt's lap while clearing our table and the manager really didn't go out of her way to make things better which was disappointing. I think my uncle contacted the manager after the fact and got a better resolution.

Thanks to Uncle John & Aunt Karen for a great weekend! The rest of the pictures are here