Napa & Sonoma Valley - Wine Country

This morning we awoke early and drove to Oakville in Napa. Before our
winery tour, we stopped at the Oakville Grocery Company to get a
small bite to eat for breakfast. I had an apricot brioche that was
simply wonderful. The drive through Napa was breathtaking. After the
grocery, we went to Robert Mondavi Winery. It was a fantastic tour
beginning in the vineyard and taking us through the process of making
wine. Our guide, Jamie, did a great job and we all came away with a
better understanding of the winemaking process. No worries about us
opening our own vineyard especially since an acre of land starts at
$350,000. However, Julie is definitely up for marrying the grandson
of Robert Mondavi if he is not already married. By the way, we tasted
a Chardonnay, Merlot and a Cabernet Sauvignon at the end our tour.

Next, we headed down the Silverado trail to Yountville at the
suggestion of Margaret from Robert Mondavi. We arrived in the quaint
town of Yountville and had lunch at the Pacific Blues Cafe.
Afterwards, we went to a few shops.

We returned to the Silverado Trail and headed to Healdsburg. Before
going to Healdsburg, we stopped just north of there at the Dry Creek
Olive Oil Company and did an olive oil tasting. We tried several olive
oils some of which had lemon, tangerine or oranges flavoring them. We
also tried a balsamic vinagrette, and a pomegranate vinagrette that
were delicious.

Next, we drove to downtown Healdsburg which has a park for it's city
square and walked around and looked into the local shops. We went to
Powell's candy shop which was very nostaligic and Julie and I both had
key lime ice cream that tasted just like key lime pie. Meredith
sampled the Creme Brulee ice cream. I definitely recommend checking
out Powell's if you are in Healdsburg.

Our final stop before going to the hotel was dinner in Santa Rosa. We
went to the historic district where the Santa Rosa Depot Park is
located with a bronze statue of Charlie Brown and Snoopy. We then had
dinner at the Sushi To Die For restaurant. We all enjoyed our sushi.
I will spare the squeamish people the details about our sushi. Julie
says, "raw oysters look like
lougies."

Impressions for the day:

Meredith - another successful day: wine country will be my retirement
home.

Julie - I will marry the grandson of Robert Mondavi just so I can look
at this beautiful scenery everyday.

Kate - so beautiful, I could have spent the whole day sitting in one
spot staring at the vineyards on the hillside.

The blogger and driver is a bit tired so the blog may seem a little
dry tonight but I have to give a shout out to Meredith's Mom, Connie,
and Kate's Aunt, A.J.

Tomorrow we will spend the day back in San Francisco.