We talked about taking a trip with my mom off and on for two years and decided on Sonoma County.
It was not yet day when we departed for the airport. Our cab driver was in good spirits. The driver pulled onto I-55, heading westward to the airport, and in the windshield, low and close, hung a plump supermoon, looking so much like a cardboard cutout. I gasped, and the driver commented that he had never seen the moon so close. Making companionable chatter, the driver told us about a documentary he recently saw on rats and how if they all died, humans would soon die too. “I have a newfound respect for rats,” I said. The driver shrieked in laughter. “You two were delightful customers,” he said, helping me with my luggage.
We had a layover in Kansas City and both serious and amused, I asked, which Kansas City are we in? I couldn’t say which with confidence and I felt a little like Shröedinger’s cat, only, the states were location and not being, they were either Kansas or Missouri. Ambiguity is sometimes a mystery fun zone.
On the plane, I always skim the safety guide. I think about the illustrator, and the conditions that have to line up that you have time to perform safety tasks. Did you know that if you have to release the floating slide for a water exit, you should clip the slide to the airplane wing? Look out the window next time and you’ll see the little ring.
Upon landing, we hopped in a rental vehicle, grabbed tacos in Oakland and drove to Sonoma County. After picking up some odds and ends for a few days, we arrived at the cottage and immediately turned into amazed cheeseballs. The owners put a lot of detail and thought into the space itself, and it was surrounded by trees. It was still light out, so after settling in, we got back in the car and drove along Occidental Road and Bohemian Highway to Bodega Bay.
Water, large birds, and an errant seal greeted us. Thinking ahead to dinner, we stopped at the Boat House for fish and chips. I wasn’t sure the rental car would ever not smell like fish and chips. It was fine in 16 hours or so. In short bursts, I listened to Better than Happiness, an engrossing story about a life after homelessness. We noticed bunches of pretty pink flowers on the side of the road, so you know we searched online to figure out what they were. A type of belladonna, dangerous if ingested. I did not nibble. We ate our fish and chips and relaxed to home improvement shows and knocked out early.
After some much-needed rest, we started the next day with breakfast at Howard Station. At first, we thought there was a line outside. Apparently, there was a Square payment outage with a few would-be customers idling outside, and a mom doing her best to tire out two kiddos as they raced each other back and forth over the restaurant porch. We skimmed the menu, ordered, and everything was delicious. The coffee was so good I had to get an extra cup on the way out. Driving through Occidental I found a place to stop on the side of the road. When we drove through earlier, some architecture caught our eye. An old church on a hill, a cute sign, a casino. After some cursory exploring we found the church was a movie star and Casino was actually a bar.
We got back on the road and drove toward Goat Rock Beach in search of more seals to ooh and aah over from a safe distance. We drove carefully along winding roads, dared beach foam to soak our shoes, and snapped a photo of a crab leg without its crab. The seals we hoped to see at Goat Rock Beach must have found some other place to play that morning.
Now it was time for redwoods. We drove to the Armstrong Redwoods. Mom found both a nature-made throne, and a hobbit hole without a hobbit. Deer snacked on leaves, and dust motes floated from on very high down to our level of the forest floor. Hefty ravens watched us near the trash bins wondering if we’d leave them goodies. I felt both the weight of time and the lightness of being much more ephemeral than our ancient friends around us. We headed into the nearest town to poke around. I had a delicious lavender honey ice cream from Nimble & Finn’s in Guerneville. On our way back to the cottage we drove past the Korbel Winery and dropped by to see if we could sneak in a tour, but we were too late, which was fine because Friday was winery day anyway.
I knew little about wine to begin with so I didn’t have particular wineries I wanted to visit besides the Coppola Winery for its museum-like collection. I did a quick search of local wineries and found Kendall-Jackson had a garden tour. What!? Yes, please.
Arriving at the Coppola Winery, we enjoyed the elegant and showy architecture. We noticed bocce ball courts at both wineries, and I love how the ancient game is coupled with the ancient art of wine-making. The score keeping devices were also a nice touch. My favorite part of the Coppola collection is all of the method and process pieces. It doesn’t ruin anything for me. It demonstrates relentless attention to detail, obsession, planning…at least from the eye of the director.
We wandered out back and took our own tour of the farm-to-table garden. Benito, the rooster, wandered around his pen. We saw bright orange zucchini blossoms, smelled mint and rosemary, and admired well-constructed garden containers.
We skipped any tastings at the Coppola Winery to keep our heads about us at Kendall-Jackson. Remember how I said I know nothing about wines? That includes things like, “Is Kendall-Jackson good wine?” I can’t say I remember having it before our visit. The culinary tour guide, Matthew, worked at Kendall-Jackson for over 20 years and knew all parts of the operation. I started to get a sense of the sequence of harvesting varieties throughout the season, that the grapes need to be tasted periodically to catch them at the right moment.
Kendall-Jackson has an educational garden with fruits and herbs that help consumers understand the flavor synonyms of flavor profiles, like hints of pear or apple. We rubbed lemon verbena between our fingertips and plucked grapes off the vine, careful with the seeds. This is where I crushed a grape and used a refractometer to see its sugar level. “You’re the first person to take me up on the offer,” Matthew said. Achievement unlocked. Afterward, we had dinner at Sweet T’s Restaurant + Bar.
Saturday was history day. We drove down to the Solano Mission, the 21st/last mission erected. It was fascinating to see the old structures. The informational displays could use updating. We made it to the Vallejo House, Lachryma Montis, which was a mile walk from the Mission. The house could be a model for a movie on hauntings. When built, the house raised eyebrows for its newfangled style. Vallejo reinvented himself a few times.
Wistful that our last full day on vacation was drawing to a close, we said goodbye to cottage-vacation-life and decided to drive into San Francisco on the way back to the airport to squeeze out a few more vacation moments. It was before noon, so as we approached the Golden Gate Bridge, we saw the road, and some of the structure. We attempted to find a lot to get a better view of the bridge, and let the fog deter us since we were pressed for time. We were on the move again to Haight and Ashbury (just to say we did!) to walk under the sun and get some food.
We had a quick bite at Flippin Burger where Mom left her mark on the chalkboard. I found a window display I plan to try out eventually from SF Workshop. Our flight back was delayed, but we had Labor Day to sleep in and recharge now that our break was over. In between the driving and eating and sightseeing we enjoyed plenty of small moments in each other’s company, something priceless and just as unforgettable as the views.