When it comes to Northern California, I'm kind of an expert. I mean, I did spend a whole five hours in the hills of Santa Rosa one afternoon and visited one whole winery that same day. This girl knows her NoCA stuff (is that a cool slang term or what?! wink).
But in order for you to fully appreciate my one winery experience, I need to start at the beginning.
The very, very beginning starts when we road tripped up the coast of California from Anaheim to San Francisco.
Uh-mazingly b-e-a-utiful. There was a perfectly blue ocean, cliffs and rocks, mountains and forests. Downright dreamy. The West Coast was definitely representing that day, Katy Perry style.
Road trip stops included but were not limited to: In n' Out (in muh belly), stopping for gas and feeling like we were legitimately in a Zombie Apocalypse ghost town, overlooks for picture taking time, and one more gas station for a candylicious pick-me-up.
This is the part where the story gets exciting.
!!
We Pricelined a hotel because a) cheap b) it said it was 4-star and c) we were getting into SF super late.
Let me make a really long story short by saying it was not 4-star, it had fully mirrored walls, they only gave us 2 rooms with one bed each for 6 people, and this was in the closet...
this meaning the robe and flashlight, not Ann. She wasn't in the closet. Her modeling pose does not include the yoga mat and umbrella that were also in the closet, though.
So...there's that.
Russ Moore announced that we would be leaving ASAP/first thing in the morning. Leaving and checking out of a hotel quickly means you need a plan of where you are going next. We wanted to do a winery, but my family isn't huge on drinking wine. As in my dad sips on one alcoholic beverage for about 5-6 hours, my mother can't comprehend why any wine other than Rose Regale exists (what else does anyone need?!), and my brother is beery much into beer. There's also the small fact that Ann is underage. Details, details. Then there's the fact that most wineries require a reservation and money for tours. This all takes us back to the fact that my family isn't huge on drinking wine.
Here is the part of the story where mine and Freddie's new best friend, Mr. Whipple, walks in. We had only met the most eclectic and impolite employees at the hotel, so far. My father was pacing the lobby waiting for valet to bring our cars so we could escape this mirrored wall prison. Some man walks up to me and Freddie and strikes up a conversation. A very friendly conversation. We learn he has friends down in Charleston, he has his own wine company, and he has loads of recommendations when it comes to what we should do winery-wise.
So even though we stayed in a nut house, and even though we told Ann she is probably forever unclean after putting on that cheetah robe, and even though the walls (and ceilings) were mirrored we took Mr. Whipple's advice and headed up to one of his favorite wineries, Sunce.
...and it was perfect.
(Sorry, I know you were looking for a more exciting end to that story given the mirrored walls and cheetah robes and all).
Joseph's very important notes on the tasting. MMMMM.
I spy an underaged Ann eyeing the wine bottles.
Papa-Paparazzi.
We stopped in the cutesies town of Santa Rosa so Freddie and Joseph could check out Russian River brewery and Russ Moore could check out the icees at Burger King. Hey, the NoCA BKs could have been different than the GA BKs, okay? ;)
and that, my friends, is the story of how Ann contracted an unknown virus my family spent the day in the beautiful Russian River Valley.
Other California adventures:
2 comments:
I'm dying to go to Northern California someday! And it seems like the winery's there are sooo gorgeous! What a great day with your family!
Wine wine wine!!!!!!!!!! Bahaha I bet Ann wanted to sneak a bottle or two ;) that's awesome. So jealous. I want to join next time ;) you guys know how to do it!!!!
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