Wine tasting weekend in Sonoma

Last weekend marked a momentous occasion in my life.  It was the first time my husband and I have had a weekend alone since our son was born more than seven years ago.  We flew to San Francisco and made the short drive to California wine country in Sonoma.  The weather was glorious–sunny and warm with just the slightest hint of crisp in the air.  I documented the whole trip so that I could take you along with me.  You ready?  Let’s go.

This being a food and wine trip, our first stop in San Francisco was lunch.  We ate at La Boulange.  If you recognize the name, it’s because that is the line of baked goods that Starbucks carries in their stores.  We both had soup and a mango passion fruit macaron for dessert.  The soup was nothing to write home about, but the macaron made it a worthwhile stop.  I can’t say I’d return though.

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After lunch, we drove to Sonoma and made our first stop at a Rite-Aid to pick up some bottled water.  Years ago, Rite-Aid bought out a local drug store called Thrifty’s.  When I was growing up in California, we used to live a couple of blocks from a Thrifty’s with an ice cream counter.  My friends and I used to walk there to buy ice cream by the scoop.  My favorite flavor was called Chocolate Malted Krunch.  To my delight, the Rite-Aid we stopped at sold Thrifty’s brand ice cream.  You know I had to pick up a pint of this stuff.  It’s far from gourmet, but it most definitely brought back memories for me.

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After checking in and settling in our little rental house, Jeff and I decided to walk to Sonoma Plaza for our first sips of Sonoma wine.  Sonoma Plaza is actually a park and it is eerily reminiscent of the park in my hometown of Paso Robles.  Local friends would definitely agree.

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I spent my first hour or so in Sonoma marveling at the similarities between it and Paso.  Also, I spent maybe too much time admiring the trees.  Live things like grass and trees might be mundane to many of you, but to this desert dweller, the colors were a sight for sore eyes.

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We just don’t have such beauties here in Tucson.  Sigh…

Jeff and I quickly found a tasting room in the plaza where we enjoyed a complimentary tasting.  From there, we headed to a second location to–you guessed it–taste more wine.  At the second spot we met another couple visiting from Atlanta.  As we talked with them, we discovered that they, too, are Disneyphiles.  We spent the next hour or so chatting about all aspects of Disney vacations.  Clearly our trip was off to a fabulous start.

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Later that evening, our friends Geoff and Kelly finally arrived.  The shooting at LAX earlier in the day had caused them some travel delays and they were exhausted after a full day of flying.  We ordered a couple of pizzas and spent some time catching up before we called it a night and headed to bed.

The next morning we picked up some pastries at the most adorable bakery in Sonoma Plaza: Basque Boulangerie.  Jeff and I had a pumpkin croissant that neither of us will soon forget.   After breakfast, we got dressed and waited for our driver for the day to pick us up.  We were fortunate to be visiting during a local wine festival weekend.  Being the responsible wine tasters we are, we arranged to be driven around from winery to winery on both Saturday and Sunday.  Next week, I will be posting a full itinerary of the wineries we visited along with notes on my personal favorites.  For now, though, I’m going to leave you with a few of my favorite photos from the weekend.

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We were lucky enough to briefly meet up with my cousin, Justin, and his wife, Denise, and their adorable baby girl.

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12 comments

  1. I love that you went to Sonoma! I love it up there myself. Went with Jen from The Mom Reviews back in January, and then got engaged in Napa on Sept 1. You and your hubby would fit right in with us. Congrats on getting away — good for you! :)

    1. Oh my gosh, Merrie…Congratulations! That is such wonderful news. So happy that you found your prince charming :)

    1. Thank you. I did not get my haircut, although it does look rather short in one of those pictures. It’s hard to tell, but it was curled. So, yes, shorter, but not because of a cut :)

  2. Oh California. You are spot on with the resemblance to Paso. Glad you got time away! Justin and Denise look great, AND a baby! Yay!
    PS When I think of Thrifys ice cream I always think of walking there from your house, the cylinder shaped scoops AND the Chocolate Malted Crunch. Yum!

    1. Speaking of those cylinder-shaped scoops, I can’t help but kind of shudder now at how they “rinsed” that scooper thing off between scoops. That little bucket of water was so nasty. I wonder how often they cleaned it? Ew. Let’s just focus on the good parts, like the 15 cent scoops!

  3. Nice pics — impressive how fast you posted. I’m looking forward to part 2…
    Thanks again for all your planning efforts :)

  4. That picture at the Disney museum? You look 12. I feel very old right now.

    I’m so glad you finally got to go, and had a good time!

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