El Dorado Hotel & Kitchen Sonoma

Arrived home around 7:30pm Fairfield, CA Street ...

... did her first US driving and she did really well.

On the way to the Plaza we stopped off to absorb some local history at the Vallejo Home, including the small museum. We were entertained by the small turtles that resided in the small pond on the site. Max, Lucy and Rosie were keen for us to continue on our history lesson, so after grabbing refreshment at a local store we perused the Sonoma Barracks and the Mission SF Solano. Jeff borrowed Rob's ...

... so well it felt that we had just finished a semester of studying viticulture.  And Robert Mondavi himself was quite the pioneer in the American Wine Industry.  He developed many technologies and methods that revolutionized the wine making process not only in Napa, but the world.  He came up with ideas like using stainless steel instead of oak for the fermentation process and using a jacket like mechanism to regulate and manipulate the temperature in the tanks to achieve the desired ...

... in the caves sampling wines which are not available outside of the Estate. Overall it took just under 2 hours and I feel was well worth it to see how the Estate maintains its vines and the process of how the wines are produced is done. The tour also gives you two free tastings at their sister winery Imagery. You also get a 5% discount on anything you purchase on completion of the tour. After the tour, we were ...

... tours cost 3 times what we paid so as a positive we were getting a private tour as a cut down price - but on a negative we were doing it on our own and I had rather looked forward to doing it with a small group as we do like to meet other people while we are on holiday. Nevertheless off we went. Debbie asked us if there were any particular wineries we wanted to visit but we said no ...

... exposure of California is enough that it sits at the very forefront of our (or at least my) imagination. i realised all this as i came across the border. it was a rather dreary bus ride, crowded and behind-schedule, weaving through the northern Utah hills, nondescript through my bleary morning eyes. the sign for the Californian border was as understated as the Californian license plates zipping past. but across the border the state was burgeoning with life. it is a vibrant and ...

... into SF over the Golden Gate Bridge. Was an awesome end to a 300 mile ride, over the bridge at sunset in a group of 5 harleys, straight onto Lombard street and more motels than you can shake a stick at .. A nice Bar next door did it for dinner and watched the Dallas Cowboys getting thrashed. End of a long day, off the bike and foot slogging it around as a tourist tomorrow.

... we had done. Riding across the Golden Gate Bridge was a special kind of experience, especially when windy and you are blinded by the fog. Also in SF, got locked up in Alcatraz, partied for Chinese New Year in China Town and saw a few night spots where the people I met thought I was putting on an English accent to get more attention. Took a day trip to Yosemite, saw the legendary views that you see in all the pics. Saw some big, fat, old and tall trees and walked through one of them.

... is held by Paradise Bungalows on Koh Phangan. The world is never the same (what a busy year). There you have it folks. The timeline offers some pretty obvious takeaways that I don't need to repeat although steven spielberg would undoubtedly wrap it all up in a monologue by the narrator. So those are the facts, though admittedly tweaked *just a little* for entertainment value. As for what I got out of the trip: well it was a total blast. I daresay ...

Had lunch in Sebastopol at a cool little local diner. We went to the following wineries and had a great time: *Iron Horse Vineyards (Sebastopol)--lovely sparkling wines. *Hop Kiln Winery (Healdsburg)--large variety of wines to taste, and it really used to be a hop kiln. *Gary Farrell (Healdsburg)--known for their Pinot Noirs. *Davis Bynum (Healdsburg)--also known for their Pinot Noirs ...