Sonoma Wineries

Ruth was the lucky driver to Sonoma on the windiest road in the world. Fun making all those turns! We stopped first at the Ferrari Carano Winery. The building was so beautiful and the grounds were even better. They had a lovely garden that we strolled through. Our friends, Barb and Bill, had told us to stop at this winery. We loved the pig sculpture which was dedicated to a wild pig that routed the family garden years ago.

Bella was next on the list given to us by Vicky at the Toulouse Winery. The Bella tasting room is in a cave. Very cool!

Our last stop was Armida Winery. My friend, Diane, suggested we try to locate it, as her sister and brother in law are part owners. Really pretty grounds.

Mendocino

Driving north to Mendocino we saw fields of mustard plants and some neat shaped plants. We wondered how they trimmed them.

 Mendocino is a charming little town with many quaint shops. 

We had lunch and then hit the beach, where we came upon a seal sunning in the sand.

Look at his "flipper prints" from the ocean to his spot.

Driving near Gualala

One day we took a drive in our "backyard". Went to the beach where the Gualala River enters the ocean. There was lots of driftwood on the beach that had been arranged in interesting ways.

There was lots to see on the coast. Beautiful views everywhere, cute little towns and of course, driving with Bob in the car is never boring!

We came upon the Sea Ranch Chapel. Wow! Amazing architecture! It was designed by James T. Hubble as a seaside spot to meditate and reflect. There was lots of stained glass, shells in the stucco and pretty tile work. Loved it!

Anderson Valley Wine Tasting

Took a bit of doing to get out of town. We locked the keys in the house and it took awhile to get back in. After several attempts, we finally headed north of town and followed the Navarro River east to the Anderson Valley, where there are many wineries. The drive was amazing. We passed through some very old redwood forests.

We made it to four: Handley, Lazy Creek, Esterlina and Toulouse. We all loved the view from Esterlina. What a beautiful place. Toulouse was our favorite winery.

Port Arena, CA

We took a drive up the coast to see the sights and look for whales. We saw a few puffs and a bit of a whale, however some people we spoke with saw 50 whales later in the day. Guess we missed the pod. There are so many cute little towns along Highway 1. We spent a wonderful couple of hours at Pier One in Point Arena. We watched boats being winched up from the ocean to the pier, some scuba divers returning from diving the kelp beds and a huge haul of sea urchins. After asking, we learned that the sea urchins were going to be shipped to Japan for sushi. We then had a couple of beers on the deck overlooking the ocean and listened to a group of locals having a jam session with guitars and harmonicas. What a great way to spend an afternoon!

Gualala, California

We left a snowstorm in Denver for a week trip to the California redwood country north of San Francisco on Highway 1. We are traveling with Rick's sister, Nikki and her husband, Bob. Nikki's friend let us use her home in Gualala, a quaint little coastal town. The house is perfect. There is a beautiful deck, redwoods all around the yard and very comfortable furnishings. Only one problem: no heat. We have been using one space heater, which we move from area to area. Today the repairman is going to fix it for us.