Time Away

Earlier this week, Brad and I spent a couple of nights in San Diego. I thought this one photo captured so much - it's everything we're not and never will be - but in a strange way I find it aspirational!


Then we trekked north for a couple of nights in Sonoma County. Our first stop was the original reason for making this leg of trip - the taproom of Russian River Brewery in Santa Rosa. Their beer is fantastic and it's practically impossible to find. (And the food was really good too.) We enjoyed getting to sample so many.


We came for the beer but we stayed for the ..... (you know the answer already) ..... wine. During our only full day we explored the Healdsburg area on a beautiful overcast fall day. There are many areas in Sonoma County for wine, and we just scratched the surface. And as it turned out, we found more than just wine.


Preston Winery in the Dry Creek area had a wonderful vegetable and flower garden.


And also fruit trees. This is a persimmon tree, and it was loaded with fruit.


We also saw lots of lemon trees.


And pomegranates too!


The late fall garden was inspiring. We didn't expect to find so much beauty at this time of year.


The grapes have already been harvested but what remains is still colorful.


Another winery we visited was called Truett-Hurst and they also had a garden.


Artichokes gone to seed are quite striking.


And yarrow always looks good.


And in case you're wondering, yes of course we had some wine. (We tasted some great stuff, actually.) Topped off with a delicious dinner in Healdsburg, we leave here happy and hoping to come back another time and explore more of Sonoma County! But first ..... it's time to drive down for a few days at Stanford!