Winter Wineland Weekend - Saturday Part 1

We started out our morning on the way to our first wine stop. We left Rio Nido around 10:30 AM so that we could be at our first winery by 11:00 AM. The weekend was planned by a good friend who also was in for the event of what the 9 wineries were for each day. We stopped in first at Merriam Vineyards and met up with the group. We did our check ins and everyone started with their tasting. Since I wasn't drinking, I was only able to try the food that had been prepared for the visitors. Chef Mike Watson had prepared a delicious braised pork with red eye gravy and grits cake to be paired with the wines. For the first thing to taste food wise for the weekend, I was just loving it. It really was quite delicious. I even made sure to let the chef know I loved it. After about 20 minutes or so, it was time to head out to the next stop. I would have posted a shot of the winery, but I didn't take my camera out. Not sure why either.

We took off and went through the main part of town of Healdsburg. It was a very cool old town too. I'll have to make sure to go back and spend more time checking it out. We got to our next stop at Simi Winery. This place was very nice. The pasta that was prepared was phenomenal. This place was Sonoma County History. It sits across the street from the old train depot. This is another place I will definitely have to come back to spend more time checking out. Once again, I left the camera in the car. What the heck was I thinking? Oh Well! I just spent my time checking the place out anyways and getting to know some in the group that I had not met yet. Once again after about 20 minutes or so, it was off to the next winery.

We hit the Alexander Valley region and pulled into Soda Rock Winery. Immediately my wife tells me to pull out the camera and get some photos. The main building was the original Alexander Valley General Store and Post Office. We walked in the door and I was just loving this old place that had been restored to a beautiful tasting room. It was simple, but very extravagant. I tried to get some interior shots, but since I don't have a wide-angle lens, I wasn't able to capture the beauty I wanted to. But I also needed to figure out some of the features again on the camera since I haven't been able to use it for some time. But I did manage to get a cool shot by mistake. So Here it is. 

Soda Rock Winery - Mistake Shot

As usual, it was a rush and we had to leave to get to the next stop, Hanna Winery. Once again I was enjoying another great place. This tasting room sits on a nice area overlooking the valley. It was beautiful! So I took a few more shots and had some good fun.

Here are a few more of my shots.

Looking up the hill - Hanna Winery

Vine Wires - Hanna Winery

If you would like to see more of my photos from the weekend, please click  - Winter Wineland Photos

Winter Wineland Weekend - Friday

I haven't had any opportunity to get some blogging in lately due to having to spend so much time working on the S15. But since I spent the weekend up in the wine country I figured I would just catch up with the world on what I did for the weekend in Northern Sonoma County. I actually did this last year with my wife and a few friends and had a good time. I was the "designated driver" then, and was again this year. Well at least I thought I was going to be anyways. As it turned out, I ended up not driving at all. And, since I'm not much of a wine drinker, I really didn't care anyways. It was an opportunity to get away with my wife and a good group of friends from the Bay Area and just have a fun weekend in a very beautiful part of Northern California.

Rio Nido Rental

I started out my weekend on Friday having to go to school. Well, as that turned out, I didn't have any class that day, so I just got more stuff done around my house for a good part of the morning. Then I finally decided around noon time that I'd better get my butt ready and head out. I had planned to make a few stops on the way  for some things I needed to get. I I made a few of the usual stops looking for items at places that I could sell in my store on eBay, then I stopped in at a cool comic book shop in Livermore, Ca (Fantasy Books and Games) to get some magazine protectors and cardboard inserts for some other stuff I needed to sell on eBay. Then I headed over to Charlotte's Web around the corner to see what I could find that I just had to have. As it turned out, I picked up the latest copy of "Rod & Kulture Magazine", as well as a real nice hat with embroidered red and white pinstriping. By this time is was getting a little late and I really needed to hit the road to get to the house that we rented for the weekend. My wife was already up in the area with our friends, and I just needed to get there myself.

I hit the highway and headed west for the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge. Everything was going well until I hit the usual Friday night commuter traffic of everyone coming East off of the Bay Bridge. It wasn't to long and traffic got better. I hit the R-SR Bridge and enjoyed the view of the sunset as I went across. Then once again I was in more commuter traffic for everyone going home to the North. By this time it was around 7:00 PM and I was getting a little bored and tired, so I got off the highway and grabbed some food and beverage to help keep me awake for the rest of the trip. Then I got back on the road and before long I needed to get off the highway again for another brake. After a 30 minute breather, I got back on the highway and was near my exit again. I got off the highway and headed west through Santa Rosa. I hit my destination in Rio Nido and made it to the rental house. I got there after 8:30 PM. Only I could take a 2.5 hours drive and turn into a long trip! It was a good ride though. I was able to have a good drive and just take my time and relax. I made sure to keep my commute traffic experience to a calm time and just deal with it. I got the car unpacked and went to bed.