vacation: wine time! Day 2 and 3

Day Two: Before having a little breakfast and heading out winery hunting again we took a little walk around the town of Santa Rosa where we were staying. Santa Rosa is a great location to stay. It provides easy access to both Sonoma (15 minutes to the East) and the Russian River Valley area (15 minutes to the North) and it is about $80 cheaper per night than staying right in either of those areas. So if you're planning on visiting wine country and want to maximize winery options, Santa Rosa is a nice place to rest your head.

We started the day heading to the town of Healdsburg which is a neat little town (Cedarburg-esque for those Milwaukee area people reading). We began at Lake Sonoma Winery which is the winery whose club I (currently) belong to. I'll be canceling after my next shipment because of the new club I had joined this trip. We tried a few, purchased a few and then headed across the street to Toad Hollow which is home to one of my favorite wines out there, their Private Reserve Pinot Noir. Delicious, but at $46 per bottle, I had to just taste, and move on. I could maximize my money elsewhere, which I did throughout the weekend. I think we brought back a little over a case which has become the standard for our trips out there. Of course, my lovely wife will have to wait before enjoying any until the little one is done marinating in her belly. :)

Another place I'd like to mention is Ferrari-Cerano winery. I think it is by far the most extravagant one we visited (doesn't mean it has the best wine though!). You can see from the front page of their website that it's gorgeous. Although you can see from the picture on the right that it depends on the weather. :) Inside, the place is just ridiculous. Marble and wood (I'm sure from only the finest trees that rain forests have to offer) everywhere. It really is beautiful. Their wine was pretty good. Apparently it's been served at Presidential dinners which means either A) it's really good or B) the made a large donation to that particular President. I'm going with B.

Day Three: We spent the third day in San Francisco which was a lot of fun also. We did a lot of the touristy things like staying down by Fisherman's Warf, going to Ghirardelli Square and riding the cable cars. Not to intentionally skip out on writing about it, but it was just a nice friends day. Sightseeing and talking. I'll let the pics below do the talking.