A & E's Adventures: Sonoma

After relaxing in our room for a few hours, we left the inn to take the two minute walk downtown to buy a champagne stopper so that we could enjoy our new body of bubbly without having to drink the whole thing (not that we couldn't have drunk a whole bottle, but after wine tasting, and with plans to have wine with dinner, we figured we should be conservative).

We bought a very nice stopper and then hurried back to have appetizers, which were laid out under a gazebo. With our delicious sparkling rose, we ate some fresh fruit and a very fabulous cheesy artichoke dip that we loved.

We rested a bit more after snacks and then got ready for dinner. Before we left, Ed gave me my present, two perfect diamond studs that I have not taken off since I got them that night.

We then headed the 200 or so feet to our dinner place (have I mentioned I loved the location of our inn?) "The Girl and the Fig."

We got there a few minutes late, but were seated right away at a nice table outside. The evening was perfect for outdoor dining, not too cold, and just lovely. We didn't even know there was outdoor seating, but it was quite expansive.

Upon sitting, Ed ordered a "fig kiss" - a very yummy fig cocktail. I tried to order us a bottle of white with dinner (since I love white wine). Unfortunately (fortunately?) the waitress stopped us, as both our dishes were decidedly "red wine" meals. So, I had a glass of white as my pre-dinner drink, and it was lovely.

Ed wore his brand new grey suit, which looked spectacular.

We started by sharing a fig and arugular salad, with goat cheese, that was delicious.

For dinner, I had roasted game hen and a ratatouille of vegetables. This was fabulous! I was especially impressed with the very yummy veggies.

Ed was equally thrilled with his duck legs, on a bed of quinoa (I think). Also quite lovely.

With it, we shared a delicious bottle of red.

Our table neighbors offered to take our picture, so we took them up on it. Always fun to have a couple picture when we are not wearing running clothes :).

After dinner, we went with the cheese plate, as a planned precurser to dinner. It was delicious, and very filling. So much so, that we couldn't even have dessert! (Ed argues that the cheese was the dessert, but I think real dessert needs to have a bit more sugar :) ).

With very fully stomaches, we decided to walk around Sonoma Square after dinner, in the beautiful early fall air, enjoying reflecting on our lovely day.

The next morning, we woke up earlier than expected, so Ed walked down tot he coffee shop at the end of the block and picked up some coffee and tea for us to enjoy.

About an hour later, it was officially time for breakfast, so we headed to the main house and got to meet the other inn guests. There was a large group from Detroit, and another couple as well. We started with a tropical fruit parfait (very tasty, though I'm not a tropical fruit person as much).

Then, we had the very spectacular banana's foster french toast, which was pretty darn spectacular.

After breakfast, we headed out to get some exercise at the Jack London Park. We went out for a 3ish mile run/hike (very humid + very full = a very low key run).

It was just beautiful.

We headed up to the "pond" (dried up lake) where Jack London and co. used to come to swim.

Then we kept going to get to this very nice view.

Luckily, this was my favorite kind of hike - all uphill going out, all downhill coming back.

Before we knew it, we were back on level ground.

Part two of our morning included exploring Jack London's actual house.

I thought that this was hilarious.

It was very fun to see all the rooms, and imagine people living in them.

The back garden was also very nice.

Ed is always excited to see backyard ponds, especially one that had such massive koi.

After a few more minutes here, we headed back to the car, off to make use of the complimentary wine tasting card we got with our inn stay that promised us free wine tastings at 30 or so wineries.

Our first (and probably favorite) stop was the Benzinger winery, a "biodynamic" winery that was very tasty. The woman pouring us tastes also took the complimentary tasting quite literally, and kept pouring and pouring - we must have each had 8 or so tastes! With such great service and wines, we did end up walking away with 2 bottles, a chardonney and a muscat that were delicious.

Arms heavy with wine bottles, we headed off.

However, the grounds were beautiful, so we ended up spending just a bit more time taking in our surroundings.

They had a very cool "learning center" here, that taught us all about making biodynamic wine.

Soon, however, our stomachs started overruling us, demanding we go get lunch. We had seen a farmer's market on the way into town, which seemed a perfect idea, so we headed there. However, we're apparently spoiled by our own farmer's market, as this one was very small and lacking any kind of take away to eat right now food. So we headed to an actual market. This ended up being a less than optimal decision, as it took about 30 minutes to get a sandwich from the sandwich counter - it was pretty ridiculous. But, we did eventually get out food and had a mini picnic at "Imagery" winery.

Much satiated, we were ready for tasting number two, at the apparent sister winery of our first choice.

This was also good, though nothing ended up beating that first tasting of the day.

Our third winery stop won hands down in view from the tasting bar.

(what we saw out the big windows as we drank wines)

This winery (can't remember its name) was also good, but was a bit more formal (you could only pick specific tasting lists from their menu, which meant I couldn't stick with mostly whites, as I had been up until that point). Still, it was fun, and it marked our last full tasting of our afternoon.

With one last view of the sonoma hills,