Sonoma County Weekend

Rich finished his finals last Thursday. This means that I have hardly seen him all semester and more so I have barely seen him since Thanksgiving! We decided to forgofriend holiday parties this weekend and spend it just the two of us, no phones, email or social media. And let me tell you, our love tanks are full!

We started the weekend off at brunch with some new friends. Around noon we headed to Healdsburg for wine tasting, coffee drinking and a late seafood lunch. We wine tasted at the Topel tasting room. Neither of us were overly impressed with the wine, but the service was awesome! We really enjoyed ourselves here.

After wine tasting we headed to grab a bite to eat at Willi's Seafood & Raw Bar for oysters on the half shell and other tapas style bites. We then suffered self induced food comas and decided to treat ourselves to macchiatos at Flying Goat Coffee! 

Healdsburg is a really small, quaint town. The downtown area had minimal holiday decoration, sweet boutique shops and tons of wine and olive oil tasting rooms. We were able to see most of the downtown in less than a 20 minute walk. I recommend the city if you are looking for a fun day trip on a gorgeous Northern California Day!

After exploring Healdsburg, we headed to our Bed & Breakfast in Cloverdale, the Old Crocker Inn. What a beautiful place! The room was very comfortable, the lodge was warm and inviting and the views were breathtaking! All of the rooms have fireplaces and TVs so we borrowed a movie from their library and drank wine in bed. It was perfect, relaxing and just what we needed!

They only offer breakfast (at some other B&Bs they have full restaurants and offer other meals as well). So, we went into town for some dinner. It was very hard to find. I recommend if you visit Cloverdale, bring a big picnic! The breakfast was delicious and it was such a treat to chat with the Innkeepers (a husband and wife who have owned the place for 8 years!)

Tony, the Innkeeper, recommended that we take a wine tour at Michel-Schlumberger in Sonoma's Dry Creek Valley. They offer estate / vineyard tours on the weekends and have beautiful indoor and outdoor grounds for tasting. The wine was good, again, nothing that really captivated us, but the experience was amazing! We actually crashed a private tour...oops! The guide was extremely knowledgeable and the others on the tour were friendly and we all enjoyed each others company! The tours were $30/person which did not include the tasting. Tastings were $10 or $20 depending on the flight.

After Michel-Schlumberger we decided to head home. We ran a few errands, ate dinner, watched The Wire and address holiday cards. It was, seriously, a perfect weekend! I hope you all enjoyed the weekend before the holiday craziness! 

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And I will leave you, on this Tuesday, with this youtube gem!