California or Bust…
Day 13 - Lodi, CA to Sonoma Wine Country
Thursday, November 3rd, 2011
Before getting on the road to Sonoma, we went to the Michael David Winery. Another Winery with award winning wines and also known for it’s great bakery and café. We enjoyed a wonderful breakfast… we shared a feta and heirloom tomato omelet… so fresh… pumpkin pancakes with a side of bacon… and a slice of apple pie and boysenberry pie to go… Yum! Okay, on to more wine tasting… well at least for me… Drew had to drive. Michael David Wines are famous for many varietals but especially the “Earthquake Zinfandel”. We also met Pops or Don, who stoked the fire that we were sitting by and is also the Father of Michael and David the Winemakers.
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| Feta & Heirloom Tomato Omelet |
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| Pumpkin pancakes |
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| Cheeeese... Don or Pops, the winemakers father |
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| Don's Lodi Red |
We drove West on Hwy. 12 across the California Delta. This Delta is an example of an inverted river delta, one of only a few worldwide. This is a very interesting low lying wetland… it reminded us of Southwest Louisiana with intra-coastal waterways, levees, bridges, farms and pastures. The day before in Lodi, we had learned how the weather of the Delta effects the wine production in the outlying appellations. Much like Florida, when the air heats over the land and rises, it draws in the cool ocean air through the San Francisco Bay, across the Delta and up into the Mountains where the grapes are grown. This heating of the grapes during the day and cooling in the evening is one of the things that gives the wines in these regions their character. The difference is that the air coming inland off the ocean is 30 degrees cooler then in Florida. This is why Mark Twain said "The coldest winter I ever saw, was the summer I spent in San Francisco".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacramento_River_DeltaEarlier in the blog, we talked about the windmills near Palm Springs. Both Palm Springs and this Delta have similar geographical features in which there is a gap in the coastal mountain range that funnels cool ocean air inland that is predictable and constant… this makes it perfect for generating electricity with wind.
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| One of many lift bridges |
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| Wind generators on the delta |
Now North of San Pablo Bay, we went South on I-80 past Travis Air Force Base which is the largest wing of the United States Air Force Air Mobility Command with a huge fleet of C-5 Galaxies, KC-10 re-fueling aircraft and C-17s. We watched a C-5 land… it was so big it looked like it was floating and not flying. On to Hwy. 101 and we drove another 40 miles to the Sonoma County Airport in Windsor to pick up our rental car. In total, we drove 122 bumpy and curvy miles and will be staying four nights at the River Bend RV Park. It is considered to be in the town of Forestville but is located in a canyon on the Russian River. We had limited wi-fi and basically no cell phone service but a very scenic locale.
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| KeyZRV site on the Russian River |
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| Our view from the RV window |
Our plans are to go to the Wine Road 13th Annual Food and Wine Fest with my Brother James and his wife Colleen and by oldest Brother Ritchie and his wife Liz. But tonight we are going to probably our favorite gourmet restaurant… The Farmhouse in Forestville. http://www.farmhouseinn.com/ We stayed at The Farmhouse Inn just over five years ago and loved the restaurant so much that we promised ourselves we would go back.
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| Amuse Bouche - corn & crab bisque with lemongrass foam |
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| froi gras 2 ways / grilled mediterranean octopus |
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| rabbit, rabbit, rabbit - check out the tiny rack of rabbit |
It was everything we remembered and more… we had a beautiful 5 course meal with perfect wines chosen by the sommelier for each course. If you enjoy gourmet food and wine like we do, you would enjoy this experience. What a wonderful, romantic evening! Good Night….
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