Ah, The California Wine Country!

Old Sep 6th, 2016, 05:41 AM
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Ah, The California Wine Country!

We had a pleasant flight August 6th from Chicago to San Francisco for our annual week in wine country, with only a slight delay in departure on UA. There's been some retro training of the staff on that airline, surprisingly friendly FA's after years of rather cold, indifferent treatment. Sardine seating in economy remains the same, sad to say.

San Francisco International is really a pleasure to fly in and out of. It's clean and very accommodating in spite of its size, with comfortable seating, good restaurants, well laid out, with good access to the car rental facilities as long as one plans ahead for express privileges to avoid the horrendous lines at the rental counters which allow going directly to the garage to collect the car(s).

We reserved two cars, a convertible and a mini van, as DD and SIL enjoy the opportunity weather-wise for this indulgence. The boys love taking turns riding in the open car. Yours truly drove the mini van. DD and SIL especially enjoyed the convertible on their couple of evening date nights.

Another wonderful August summer week in Sonoma County, this time in Sebastapol in a lovely contemporary house on 3/4 of an acre with a pool and trampoline, both much enjoyed by my three grand sons, ages 10, 8 and 5 as well as my daughter, son-in-law and me. There was plenty of room for the boys to run around, play baseball and get up to their usual hijinks. We were able to keep a close eye on them through the French doors which opened up to the entire back of the property.

My daughter and her husband have been vacationing in wine country once a year for the last fifteen and the tradition continues, with children's activities added in along with a few wine tastings at kid friendly locations with picnic facilities.

As usual, traversing California involves driving here and there and everywhere. We covered the Sebastapol area, Guerneville, Sonoma, Geyserville, Yountville, St. Helena, Healdsburg and Bodega Bay. The breathtaking scenery of mountains, coastline, rolling hills and vineyards is a feast for the eyes after the flat Illinois landscape and we never tire of it.

Wineries visited:
Frog's Leap - no picnic but outdoor bar for the tasting, lovely grounds to stroll and drink boxes provided for the boys, our second time to visit there.
Coppola - rented a cabana and chairs for a day by the pool
Foppiano - wonderful friendly family owned property, charming picnic area overlooking the vineyards.

Restaurants:
El Molino - dinner first and last nights - a traditional favorite funky Sonoma location with delicious food. Walk through the kitchen to get to the outdoor eating area. On offer are baskets full of ripe, juicy tomatoes. We buy enough to get us through a week of breakfasts.
Bouchon - most enjoyable lunch here - the Keller driven menu and food were marvelous, pleased to say the boys were perfect gentlemen. The bartender prepared a special kiddie cocktail for each of them.
Bouchon Bakery - line wasn't too long and we came away with two shopping bags full, froze enough of it to last through the week for yummy breakfast treats each morning.
Davialo - dinner - a schlepp to Geyserville but well worth it for good food and a lovely patio setting in a town that could be a setting for a Western film.
RUSTIC - lunch break from the pool at the Coppola Winery - fabulous view of the vineyards from our patio table. Good food, even though the confused server got our order wrong as well as the table across from us.
Scopa - dinner - excellent Italian food and service in a tiny restaurant in downtown Guerneville. We had the one outside patio table facing the sidewalk for good people watching and privacy.
Screamin' Mimi's Ice Cream Parlour, Sebastapol - Wow! choices of fig, pear and other unusual flavors in a whimsical setting.
Rivers End Inn - lunch after a beautiful, foggy drive along the coast to town of Jenner, just north of Bodega Bay. A magnificent view of the Russian River joining the Pacific - stellar food, if you can deal with the eccentric maitre d' - salmon chowder was amazing. We ordered nearly every dessert on the menu - all lip smackin'
HGB Restaurant, Guerneville was a tasty casual last night's dinner spot on the outdoor patio with a small lawn area where our boys and other children could run around.

While I stayed back at the house for some R&R two of the days, DD and SIL took the boys out for trout fishing one morning and brought back four good sized ones which we enjoyed on the one day we had lunch at the house. Another day their outing was to the Petrified forest for a hike, where they happened upon a Chinese restaurant they found on Yelp in the middle of no where.

After renting a house in Kenwood for the last several years, we found Sebastapol to be a refreshing change. It proved very convenient for grocery shopping, highway access and it was nice to discover the different flavor of this area of Sonoma County.

Sunday traffic on the way back to San Francisco caused us to be very late arriving at the airport but we were in luck with our flight being delayed 45 minutes. After returning the cars we were just able to grab a bite of lunch before our flight was called. Whew! Dodged a bullet there.

Many thanks to those Fodorites who offered good info to my query on the Sebastapol area.
travelchat is offline  
Old Sep 6th, 2016, 08:08 AM
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Thanks for the fun report!
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Old Sep 19th, 2016, 08:17 AM
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What a lovely trip report. We also vacation in California wine country at least every couple of years and agree with your assessments.
We find that flights into and out of Oakland are more convenient and less traffic.
Again thanks for the report..
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Old Sep 19th, 2016, 07:44 PM
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HBG (Healdsburg Bar and Grill) and Scopa are actually in Healdsburg not Guerneville
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Old Oct 25th, 2016, 05:15 PM
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Kleroux
You're absolutely right! Just reread this TR and stand corrected my notes were jumbled apparently.
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Old Nov 23rd, 2016, 09:31 AM
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Not too nitpick too much, but the restaurant in Geyersville is called "Diavola." I prefer it to Scopa in Healdsburg hands down.
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