Thursday = plane + greetings + happy hour + Bodega Bay house rental
Our house rental was in Bodega Bay. Although much cooler than Napa and Sanoma, our views of the ocean were beautiful...and the landscape outside our rental was gorgeous.
Friday = Napa + wine tasting + Ben F + Italian supper.
We began the day with breakfast at a cute cafe for bagels and coffee and then met our chauffeur at a nearby hotel. We were so excited to begin the day.
Winery number one = Andretti Winery.
We met Tom, The Wine Guy (his name on Facebook). He went to the University of Iowa and is a huge Hawkeye fan! Yes!!
I also met Anie who assisted me with my wine purchase.
No, I did not purchase the bottles shown above. I just thought they were cool and wanted my picture with them. I did purchase several bottles of wine here though. :)
All of us with Ernie Wier, owner, grape grower and winemaker.
Winery number three = V. Sattui Winery. We ate lunch here as well.
Winery number four = Folie a Deux Winery = makers of Menage a Trois. Leah, Matt and I drink this frequently because it is one of the cheapest wines we can get at Fred Meyer. I thought it was funny we ended up at this winery.
Heading to our last winery...
Next time I go to Napa, I am taking a bike tour.
Winery number five = Domaine Chandon Winery.
We were dropped back off at the hotel mid-evening and decided to head to downtown Sanoma for dinner.
A few of us had researched a few restaurants and we decided on Della Santina's. It so happened that Ben F. (Flagnik), owner of Evolve Winery and runner-up on The Bachelorette, was hosting a wine tasting that same night.
We ended up being too late for the wine tasting; however...
after Sarah and I went back to the car to grab my wallet, which I had left in the car, we actually ran into Ben F. himself.
We were quite ecstatic.
Sarah and I went back to tell the rest of the girls and while we were jumping up and down with excitement, he looked back and waved us all down for a group photo.
Quite classy of a fellow.
The rest of the night pretty much consisted of how cool we thought we were because we saw and had our pictures taken with Ben F.
The restaurant had one bottle of white wine left from the Evolve Winery/Ben F. wine tasting that had taken place earlier in the evening. We purchased the bottle in addition to a red table wine.
The evening was a great way to end our day in Sonoma/Napa.
The sunflowers made me think of Matt (he's from Kansas...he likes sunflowers.)
Adios, Della Santina's.
Thank you for the memories.
That concludes day two of my trip to California. More to come early next week...
Cheers,
Karen