Mike and I safely arrived back from wine country on Tuesday afternoon. It was an extremely long flight that left late and couldn't land the first time, so we had to go back out and try it again. We did come back to rain, which turned into sleet/snow flurries on the way home. Oh how I miss the sun and cool weather that was in California, if only we could go back.
So the flight in was HORRIBLE on United. I can normally sleep on the long flights for a few hours, but I got not sleep on this flight. Coach/Economy already lacks space, but United makes it lack even more space by having 4 seats in the middle section, which is where we were. The only time I complain about flying is when larger people sit next to me and think it is ok to extend over the arm rail and what not just because I am smaller and fit nicely into the seat. This is what happened on our flight and it didn't help that I couldn't sleep. Mike was kind enough to switch seats with me, but it would not have made a difference. We arrived on time to beautiful in San Fran and by the time we got through everything and picked up the car, Rob and Allison were taxiing, so it worked out. We had lunch at Buena Vista, which is suppose to have the best Irish Coffees, so we tried them. By the end of lunch, I was sitting there physically, but totally zoned out due to jet lag. Mike and I took a nap as Rob drove all of us to Gloria Ferrar champagne winery. This was a great place and I'm glad we added in something different since we definitely got our fill of wine. We sampled their champagnes and then bought a bottle. We finally made it to Healdsburg about 4:30pm to check in and go to our wine and cheese hour. We had dinner at Willie's, which is a cute tapas place and then we were all ready for bed. It was about 9pm and we were all dying, so to bed we went.
Friday started out with breakfast and a trip to Safeway to pick up some lunch for the day. We started out at Silver Oak, who was not participating in barrel tasting, but does allow you to taste for a reasonable price of $10 which also comes with a complimentry glass! We all liked this place, but how could anyone not like it. Next we headed to Rued winery, where we checked in, got our wrist bands, and glasses and started barrel tasting. The day flew by quickly, but we made it to some great places, including Fritz winery where we bought some futures that tasted amzaing. We ended Friday with our dinner at Cyrus restaurant, which was fantastic!!! Our reservation was at 9pm, so that was late and if we could do it again, I would make it earlier since we didn't get out of there until 12:30, when we were all in a food coma! Amazing service and food.
Saturday we were up again and out the door to get some wine! We started out at Bella, a favorite of all of ours, because we knew it would be crazy. Sure enough, even at 11:15am, there were tons of people there. We proceeded to various wineries throughout the day including Francis Ford Coppola and the beautiful Trentadue, which was recommended by the champagne guy from Gloria Ferrar. We also had to make a stop at Jordan because it's a fav and is special for Rob and Allison. We stopped by Twomey, the sister winery for Silver Oak, and encountered all the young yuppies from San Fran wearing their argyle sweaters around their necks. All of us could not stop laughing and wondered why this was the only winery that had sooooo many young, pretentious looking people. One of them even dropped 2 of her own barrel wine glasses and then her group was asked to leave. It was funny though. We ended the night by having dinner in, since it was a long day.
Sunday came way to fast and we started out with breakfast at Costeaux french bakery, which was soooo good. We walked around the town square and stopped at La Crema, before heading over to the Camilla Inn tasting room, since we were staying at their place. From there, it was sad to leave and head back to San Fran. We dropped Rob and Allie off with her aunt and spent some time with them before their flight. Mike and I then drove down the windiest street in San Fran, Lombard street, before heading over to Coit Tower. Then we drove to our hotel, ordered room service, and watched the Oscars.
Monday came to soon and we had to catch our flight back here, boo. It was an even longer flight, where I got about 45 minutes of sleep right before we landed. Oh well
The trip was great and it was good to see Rob and Allison. The bottles we managed to check even arrived safely! There are tons of pictures, so not going to put all of them up here. I have added the link on the next post, Sonoma '10, but if you click to see them larger, the quality of the picture looks better because you are directly on shutterfly. FYI, there are a number of pictures of Mike and I because the scenery is beautiful and why not. I promise we only look tipsy in a few!
