Waking up in our campground just south of San Francisco was a bit tough knowing that we were leaving one of the coolest cities on the west coast. However we knew that the next day we would be tasting some of the best wine in the world which made it a little easier to hit the road. After stopping at a nearby grocery store to stock up on supplies we were off. Even though we had been in and around San Francisco for the past week and a half we had not yet crossed the famous Golden Gate Bridge. That was going to change today though. Off we went, north on Route 1. The road quickly changed from highway to city streets, as we made our way north through the city. After going through Golden Gate Park and the Presidio we finally made our way onto the bridge.
It’s a pretty neat experience driving over the bridge. It’s a world famous landmark but also a very vital piece of San Francisco infrastructure as it connects San Francisco to points north. The ride over the bridge only takes a minute or so but the views for that minute are stunning. We had the Pacific Ocean to our left and San Francisco Bay to our right. It was a very cool minute! From the bridge we continued north on 101 until we were back in Petaluma, which is where we had stayed prior to going to Monterey & San Jose. The rest of the day was spent exploring Petaluma. It was a pretty big town for wine country. We walked street-to-street and shop-to-shop finding out exactly what the town had to offer. From there we drove the short distance back to the campground to make dinner and relax for the rest of the night.
The next morning we woke up excited and ready to explore wine country. First though we had to take care of a Bubbles issue. During the night the fan on our inverter box, which is located directly under our bed, kept on going off. This is strange as it usually only goes off for the first few minutes after plugging in the van at a campground. It does this as it fully charges itself so going off after it had been plugged in for hours is very strange. We found a RV handyman from the KOA we were staying at but he couldn’t come for a few days. The only thing that we could think of was that it was strange that there was a street lamp connected to our power source, which might be throwing things off. We requested to move spots and plugged in hoping for the best. The first stop for the day was to walk over to the local Hertz rent-a-car. We had heard from people who had been in the area previously that many of the roads were pretty small and tight so we thought that we might have trouble driving Bubbles around. After a few minutes of paperwork we were off in “Bubbles Jr”, a white Hyundai Sonata. First stop for the day was one of Julie’s all time favorite champagne makers, Iron Horse. It was a good thing that we rented the car as we were not sure Bubbles would make it up the steep driveway and incline to Iron Horse. Once we made it to the top though it was beautiful. The end of the drive to the winery was through a long row of palm trees and olive trees, which were being harvested as we drove in. It made for quite the entrance. The tasting itself was outdoors in a small covered shed with views of the valley behind us. It was really pretty stunning and the champagne was very good!
From Iron Horse we drove to Fog Crest Winery. We didn’t go there for any particular reason other than Julie liked the name, which was good enough for me. This tasting was pretty neat as we were seated on their patio overlooking a small valley and we were served while sitting down enjoying the view. I’m not sure if this was a common way to wine taste in this area but it was pretty nice being served instead of standing at a bar. From Fog Crest we drove down to the town of Napa for the evening. We walked around for a bit but we were honestly not too impressed. There were some pretty big name restaurants there but other than that we didn’t feel much was going on. We did have dinner at a restaurant called Napkins, which we thought was the funniest or most terrible name a restaurant, could have. The décor on the inside looked like a cross between a wine bar and sushi restaurant and there was a small band playing for the elderly folks on the inside. It was quite the scene and surprisingly the food was excellent. From Napa we drove back to Petaluma and to the campground for the night.
The next day we woke up ready for more wine tasting. The one winery that we had set up for the day was B Wise Winery. This was a private winery that we had been able to get an appointment to through our friends Dave & Jen who we had stayed with while we were in Milwaukee. Getting to B Wise was a bit of an adventure in itself as after setting up the appointment we received an email with directions on how to get to the winery. We had to drive through multiple gates with codes so there was no way that the general public could just stumble upon it. So up we went through one gate then the next and at the very top of mountain found the vineyard. Once we parked Josh who was our guide for our time there greeted us. This winery was amazing! The wine tasting took place in the owner’s old apartment, which was inside the wine cave that he built himself. The entire wine tasting experience was 100% incredible. B Wise had exceptionally great wines and to be having a tasting not only in a wine cave but also in an apartment inside the wine cave was just mind blowing. From B Wise we drove down to the town of Sonoma, which we loved. The downtown is centered around a large square park with shops and restaurants around it. Sonoma also has the northernmost Mexican Mission, which is where the Mexican Army was stationed from 1823-1834. This was the 21st mission as well as the most northern mission, which stretched from Sonoma down to San Diego. From Sonoma we drove back to Petaluma and caught a movie (Bad Moms Christmas – Julie loved it, I thought that the reclining chairs in the theater were nice). We then drove to Lagunitas Brewery where we had dinner and split a flight of their beer. We called it a night from there.
We woke up the next day ready to go. We had slept well as our electrical issues had fixed themselves (it was the faulty power box in our previous spot in the campground that gave us troubles). From Petaluma we drove back through Napa to Yountville, which was a pretty wine town. We got out of Bubbles and explored a retail area stopping in a chocolate shop and checking out some artwork in a few galleries. From Yountville we drove west on route 128 taking us through the mountains. On this road we were finally able to see some of the devastation from the Napa/Sonoma fires. We had not seen any damage up to this point but now we were face to face with it. We passed by burned out structures and earth that was black as charcoal. It was pretty surreal seeing a house that was still standing and being lived in while a few feet away the earth was scorched. It must have taken a lot of effort not to mention a little luck to save this family home. There were also signs everywhere thanking the firemen for saving their community. It was inspiring seeing the signs and at the same time sad to see the destruction that the fire had caused. Being from the northeast it’s truly heartbreaking to see fire damage. In Rochester we are used to seeing and being in blizzards and normal winters that drop 100 inches of snow. Seeing fire damage up close though is something completely different and foreign to us and something that we will soon not forget.
Leaving the mountains we emerged in to California’s Central Valley. This valley stretches from just north of Sacramento to just north of Los Angeles. It’s just huge. No wonder a good amount of the produce that feeds the USA comes from this valley. We eventually made our way to I-80 and in no time we were pulling into our campground just outside of Sacramento.
The next morning we woke up ready to explore California’s Capitol. We called an Uber and we were off. First stop for the day was the Capitol Building. This was a pretty nice building located almost in the center of the city. We joined a tour learning about the history of the building, the city and of California in general. It was a pretty neat tour, which ended in the hallway of governors. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s portrait was there and of course from what we were told, he requested it to be bigger than all the others. From the capitol building we wandered around downtown Sacramento stopping at a few shops and in Old Sacramento. Old Sacramento was pretty neat as it looked like an old west style town right on the Sacramento River. This area it looked like was trying to be brought back with shops, restaurants and nightlife. It looked like it still had a while to go but was well on its way to drawing crowds once again. We then walked over to the Golden 1 Center and bought NBA tickets for that night’s game between the Sacramento Kings & Portland Trailblazers. We were pretty pumped as neither one of us had ever been to an NBA game before.
We caught an Uber back to the campground for a bit of rest before heading back into the city for the game. The arena was beautiful. It was built in 2016 and was one of the neatest sports arena’s that either one of us had been to. They had regular stadium foods but also Indian, Chinese, Thai and a plethora of other foods for purchase. There were also as many cocktail bars as beer vendors. It was pretty nuts. The neat thing about seeing the game in Sacramento is that the team originated back in our hometown of Rochester, NY and even still had a Rochester World Champions banner from when the Rochester Royals won the NBA championship back in 1951. The game was a lot of fun with the Kings beating the Trailblazers by a score of 86-82. Go Kings!!! From the arena and with high spirits we headed back to the campground for the night.
Next up…..We visit friends outside of Oakland, Camp on top of Dunes outside Pismo Beach and have a great Thanksgiving in Monterey.
