Sonoma

We tried to get into baseball while we were in San Francisco as we thought we might see a game as the local team was playing at home while we were there. First, we thought we would watch a game on TV to see if we liked it. The commentating is amazing, two guys pumping out a monotone endless stream of drivel: “Badowski on the plate Long Arm Lewis to pitch he’s got nine strikes versus southpaws this season Badowski on 0.28 near the all time top 10 for Badowskis batting on Wednesdays he’s going to need a 2 over 1 ball foreskin play minimum to beat that tonight” What’s it all about?

We had a few wine fuelled days in Sonoma, the slightly less famous wine district next to Napa, north of the bay. From what I can remember, we had a great time. We stayed in Sonoma town itself with has a large, pretty square in the centre surrounded by restaurants, shops and hotels. We had the best meal of our trip to date in a restaurant next door to our hotel called the Girl and Fig. Getting in was quite an adventure. We rocked up on Saturday night and the place was packed. There was no chance of a seat in the dining room but there was the option of eating in the fairly large bar area, if you could get a seat. They had no system for queuing so you had to pounce just as someone was leaving their seats. It was really quite funny to watch as everyone was trying to jockey into position close to the diners that looked ready to finish. One chap boldly moved in front of Mags eyeing up the spot Mags had been coveting for 10 mins. She had steam coming out of her ears as you can imagine. I though the guy would turn to stone with the look Mags had on her face, but fortunately for him he avoided her glare. Mags said, “I’m not having this” and proceeded to ask the diners if we could have their seats when they were finished. One was an Aussie and with a little banter the seats were ours – outstanding. Anyway, all worth waiting for. I had the pork and seafood stew and Mags went for duck breast, which were both superb.

To travel here, we picked up our convertible and, after 6 weeks of non-stop sunshine, the rain started at the very moment I was handed the keys. It hasn’t stopped yet but we didn’t let that get in the way of a good wine tour. We found a service where you get a driver to drive your car, which saves quite a bit, compared to hiring a limo and driver. We had a very knowledgeable chap called Rob who recommended some very good places and had complimentary tasting cards for most of them, so we saved there as well as most wineries charge for tastings. They do tend to give you a good glug so I think its fair enough. Most are boutique wine makers with a very small production and sell out through the cellar door so, if you want some, you have to visit and take it away as it doesn’t appear in supermarkets or wine shops. I think we did 5 wineries and bought loads of wine, which is now squeezed, into our very small boot (trunk).

Were now on the mystery part of our trip as we haven’t booked anything until we land in Canada, so were going to set off this morning heading roughly north and see what we find. Hopefully Oregon and then Washington unless things have changed recently.