Vacation Road Trip

When it was time to leave our

lovely Sonoma Valley hideaway, 

we made our way over to Napa.

We stopped by 

the Oxbow Public Market

where we picked up some

cherries from the farmer's market, 

some of Kara's Cupcakes,

a fresh loaf from 

the Model Bakery, 

& Z's favorite, 

some charcuterie delicacies from

the Fatted Calf.

We took our yummy treats

& headed for San Francisco.

It was raining as we drove over 

the Bay Bridge...

But by the time we arrived at

Golden Gate Park, 

the precipitation had paused.

We had a cozy picnic in our car

before taking a stroll around the park.

We hit the road again, 

driving along the coast on the 

gorgeous 101

until we reached Santa Cruz.

Finally, we stopped for 

a bite to eat before heading home

& came across this fellow.

We could have used a few more days of vacation,

but what a fabulous way to end the trip!

Life Breathing feature!

My friend Emily over at 

Life Breathing

asked me to write a

guest post for her

Fashionista feature this week.

Be sure to check it out here!

Sonoma Valley: What to do...

...or at least what we did!

There are so many vineyards & activities

in wine country, that it can be overwhelming

to decide what to do.

Since we didn't have a lot of time, 

and we really just wanted to relax, 

I made sure we didn't schedule too many things.

First off, we were really glad that we 

stayed in Glen Ellen instead of Sonoma.

Glen Ellen is a gem,

just 10 minutes from Sonoma,

but it's quiet, picturesque.

It truly feels like you are in a story book.

One vineyard that I knew we had to visit

was Valley of the Moon.

I had some of their wine on our honeymoon

and loved it.

They were so incredibly nice to us,

explaining the finer points of wine tasting, 

talking to us about what wines we normally

liked & making suggestions.

Our favorites here were the Cuvee

and the Port...oh my goodness, the Port.

It was overcast & rainy for nearly our whole trip, 

but the sun would peak out every now & then, 

allowing us to snap a few photos of the gorgeous area.

Grapes everywhere.

If it had been sunnier, I would definitely have been

tempted to rent bicycles.

We also visited B.R. Cohn, 

where we tasted some fabulous

Cabs & olive oils made on the property,

& took a short tour where we learned

the winery's connection with 

the Doobie Brothers,

as well as how the wine is actually made. 

But the rain started to pick back up, 

so no photos from there.

Both of these winerys were just a few miles 

from our Secret Cottage.

Glen Ellen also has some

gorgeous parks that are wonderful

to run or stroll through, 

as well as tree-lined streets

& quaint bridges.

We drove through the Sonoma Developmental Center

which is a campus for folks with

developmental disabilities 

that boasts some gorgeous historic buildings.

It was there that we came upon Tuggy, 

& I just had to get a picture.

Other Glen Ellen musts

are lunch at The Glen Ellen Village Market

 & dinner at The Fig Cafe, 

both just steps from where we stayed.

Of course we wanted to visit Sonoma, too, 

so one evening we headed down to the

town plaza for some scrumptious

thin crust pizza at The Red Grape

& browsed through the many

shops selling vintage wares, kitchen goods, 

and our favorite: books.

Glen Ellen Inn Secret Cottages

Z & I just returned from 

our 5 year anniversary trip

up to Northern California.

The goal of the trip was

RELAXATION,

and the Secret Cottage

that we stayed in definitely

helped us with that!

Secret Cottage #3

was tucked away,

hidden away from the entrance

to the other cottages.

We had an awesome view

of a one-lane bridge over

a bubbling creek.

And a big basket of fresh fruit,

cookies & scones that

was replenished daily.

One more racing post

Ok guys, 

I really hope you aren't too tired

of posts about Z's running.

It's just that I blog about

what we are doing, 

and that's been a big part of life lately.

The next post, though, 

will be pictures of our road trip

to Northern California,

 so stay tuned for that.

Anyway, last Saturday

we drove up to Kernville

for Z to race a 10K on a very

crazy & difficult trail.

I wanted to get some shots along the trail, 

so I went ahead of the runners

to this awesome spot...

it definitely made the runners slow down

as many of the planks were loose

and the whole thing was uneven!

The setting was really gorgeous, 

which made waiting for the

finish easier for me.

Z headed to the finish line.

(Z wins again!)

Winning the race

Z ran another race this morning...

It was a 5k on a fairly difficult course.

The first half or so is up some pretty

steep hills, and the finish

is in a narrow canyon gully.

And he won!

His prize? A race medal

& a free pair of running shoes.

The race was a fundraiser for scholarships

for local high school students.

The school's mascot are 

The Blades.

I'm still not sure what

a Blade is, but Blade Man

was there, so we had to get the

race winner in a photo with him!

Z is part of a running group in town,

many of whom raced this morning, too.

They are obviously the group to beat, 

as most of the overall, gender, 

& age group winners 

were Donut Shop racers!

Finally, there's a local photographer

who covers lots of races.

If you want to see more fun pics from the race, 

check them out here!

On finding clues.

Last Saturday Z & I arose before the sun

to drive up to Visalia for Z to run

with his running group.

While he was getting in about 12 miles, 

I meandered around the park.

The park was lovely, but I wouldn't 

say it was peaceful.

You see, it is evidently home

to large, large numbers of geese &

other water fowl, 

so the noise level was rather high.

Even so, the park was interesting, 

with several waterways, ponds, 

picnic pavilions, playgrounds, 

open green spaces,

and historic buildings.

I think my favorite thing was near the picnic pavilions.

I was really just cutting across one of them to 

get to a bridge, when something in the grass caught my eye.

It was part of a coloured eggshell.

At first I just chalked it up to the recent Easter holiday, 

assuming that this park would be a likely spot

for a large egg hunt.

But then I saw some other eggshell remnants, 

and beyond them a vast rainbow

of forgotten confetti

scattered all around the pavilion's 

concrete edges.

I love images & stories,

 and I especially love little clues that allow

me to piece together a small history.

It became obvious to me that this was way

more than just your ordinary Easter egg hunt.

This was an epic Easter egg celebration.

Someone had taken the time to hollow

the eggs, dye the fragile shells,

fill them with paper confetti,

and seal them off with tissue paper.

Can't you just imagine all the participants

running through the grass, armed with

eggs of all hues, 

and then chucking them at each other!

The rain of color that floated down

in a cloud after each egg burst!

It made me laugh aloud, 

standing all by myself, to think of 

what a joyous scene that must have been.