Wine Country Vacation 2012

April 5th-April 8th

So, I decided to surprise Chuck with a little getaway for the two of us.  He has been traveling for work so much, we rarely have any time together.  In February I emailed his boss and asked for those days off.  Once that was cleared, I booked the flights, B& B and then I just waited.  I held off until about 2 weeks before and I finally told him.  I'm pretty sure he was in shock when I told him.  As it sunk in more and the days went on, we both started getting really excited.

Finally, the day was here for us to go.  Before my alarm went off, I was awoken by my baby girl telling me she is about to throw up.  I get up with her and rush to the bathroom.  Apparently she had been throwing up before she came to get me and didn't want to wake me up.  Poor baby girl. 

I called my Mom and told her what was going on.  She asked what time we needed to leave for the airport and I said 9am.  She came right over to get Emma.  I felt horrible putting her in the car with a trash can in her lap.  My wonderful mom kept reassuring me it was ok and to have a great trip.  Easier said than done, but I tried my best and knew she was in good hands.

Off we go to the airport.  We get there, board the plane and are about ready to go, when I find out Luke is now sick too.  I looked at Chuck and said, Now they are both sick.  His response was, it's not too late to get off the plane.  We can get off if you want too.  I debated in my head and went back to what my Mom said and we proceeded on. 

We finally land in San Fransisco, get our rental car and begin our journey.  First stop...Fisherman's Wharf for some Dungenous King Crab Legs.  Then I wanted to go to Lombard street.  We were driving around these crazy streets trying to find it (I'm pretty sure Chuck thought I was crazy.)  We finally find it and get out to take pictures.  This is where he informs me that he didn't even know Lombard Street existed. ( No wonder he thought I was nuts....haha)
After taking numerous pictures and hiking up that insanely steep street, we make our way back to the car and head towards Sonoma.    Unfortunately, we got stuckin rush hour traffic and it took us double the time to get there.    We finally made it and checked in and were given some suggestions for dinner.  The first night we went to The Red Grape.  The pizza was to die for.  After that we strolled in the town square of  Sonoma. 
The next morning we started out with our Winery plan in hand.  Our first stop was a Winery called Kunde.  the guy  that did our tasting was from Dallas and knew all of the places we mentioned.  Such a small world.  Not only did we get that tasting (for both of us) for free, we also got a free cave tour as well.  It was awesome and a great way to start out the day.
Next we moved on to Ledson Winery which was gorgeous.  We got some lunch and ate outside on the picnic tables and enjoyed the beautiful weather.  Then we went in and had our tastings.  Once again excellent mix of wines.  We hit a one , maybe two more on the way back and decided to take a nap.  that night for dinner we ate at The Girl and the Fig (Country food with a French Passion).  Thank goodness we made reservations or all of the recommendations to eat there wouldn't have happened.  We both got a three course meal that they paired wines with.  The food was very different, but at the same time very good.
The next day we went to the wineries that were further away.  Our first stop of the day was Chateau Montelena Winery,  gorgeous property and very well kept.  We took lots of pictures there and had some more tasty wine.   After that we headed to Castillo Di Amorosa.  Amazing amazing castle.  this place was awesome.  They had crazy roosters outside that looked like they were on steroids, sheep and peacocks.  The property was breath taking.  We probably took more pictures here than anywhere else.

After that we went to eat lunch in the town of Castiloga.  Enjoyed a nice lunch on the patio.  by the way, the weather was in the mid 60's every say we were there.  We felt so blessed to have such great weather.  After lunch we made our way back to Sonoma to check out Gunlach Bundschu Winery.  They are supposed to have really cool Cave tours.  By the time we got there, they cave tours we over.   We still had a wine tasting and we ended up finding one of the best wines there.  so good in fact, we bought a bottle, went back to The Red Grape again, and ate dinner and drank the wine.

It was a quick little weekend getaway, but we packed so much into that short amount of time that we felt like we didn't miss a thing.  Already looking forward to going back again sometime for the Harvest Season.   See ya next time!!