Saturday, May 21, 2011

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
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
 & 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.



2 comments:

Kathy Walker said...

I am jealous. How long have I been here and never have I had a chance to go to the wine country. It sounds as though you had a great trip. I am going to do some planning!!

Hannah Q. Parris said...

You should definitely plan a trip! We had such good food & wine. Everything was so green and beautiful, we didn't even mind the rain!