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Vacation in San Francisco, October 2010: Point Reyes Station and Sonoma Winery Tour

Lori prepared a breakfast of eggs and bacon which we had purchased at the Palace Market in town the night before. Our vacation rental home was perfectly situated just outside the main street area, so we were able to walk to the market.

Day Six View From The Rental Home
The morning view from the back deck of our rental home in Point Reyes Station, CA

After breakfast we got ready for our trip through Sonoma County, intending to stop at several wineries for tastings and to pick up some bottles of wine to have each night during the rest of our stay.

Our trip started with about an hour drive over scenic country roads, through Novato and towards Viansa Winery, the first stop on our trip. At Viansa, Lori ordered a $5 flight of their standard vintages, and I went for the $10 flight of their reserve wines. I was a big fan of their special reserve Merlot which was only for sale right there at the winery. We ended up purchasing one bottle to have that night with dinner.

Day Six Viansa Winery Garden Statue

Statue in the garden at the Viansa Winery Day Six Viansa Winery Surrounding LandscapeSurrounding landscape at the Viansa Winery

Next, we drove up the road to Gundlach Bundschu winery. Here, we both had the same flight of wines for about $5 each. Lori really liked their Gewurztraminer which was a drier than usual rendition. We ended up purchasing a bottle of that for the next night.

Day Six Gundlach Bundschu Pinzgauer 712Sadly, we didn’t get to ride in the Pinzgauer at Gundlach Bundschu
Day Six Gundlach Bundschu CaveOne of the caves at Gundlach Bundschu
Day Six Classic Gundlach Bundschu BottlesClassic Gundlach Bundschu bottles prove this is one of the oldest wineries in the region.

We then headed up the road a bit further into Kenwood to visit the Kenwood Vinyards Winery. Since there were over 26 wines to choose from, we decided to each get a $10 flight, but share the tastings so we could taste as many as possible. Again, I really liked a couple of the Merlots and Lori liked their Gewurztraminer. We landed in between with a bubbly rose which we decided would make a good celebratory bottle for our last night here.

Day Six Kenwood Vineyard Tasting Room
The Tasting Room at Kenwood Vineyards

After Kenwood, we decided to take a break from tasting and have some lunch so we headed over to the Chateau St. Jean winery which was just a mile or two up the road. Lori had picked this vineyard because it was described as “just like being in France.” Neither of us have been to France (yet) so we couldn’t really tell if they pulled it off, but we did feel as if we had been transported to a different land. We passed through a beautiful garden area and took many photos before heading to the cafe for some lunch. I ordered a turkey sandwich, some cheese and crackers and a bottle of Chardonnay to share. We just relaxed and enjoyed the food and scenery for the next hour or two. We walked around the garden area again before hitting the road back to Point Reyes Station, about an hour and twenty minute drive which wound through Santa Rosa and Petaluma.

Day Six Chateau St Jean Late Afternoon Lunch

Day Six Chateau St Jean Buildings
Lunch and the administration buildings at Chateau St Jean

Back at home base, we took another short walk to the market to get steaks and a big yam to share for dinner. Lori also got some ingredients to make apple muffins using the apples in the yard of the house. We weren’t really hungry yet, so we lounged around the house for a few hours before starting supper. This turned out to be a bad idea, though, because the yam was so big it took way too long to cook. We ended up having our wine and steaks around 8:30 PM. That translated to 10:30 PM Iowa time, so Lori was very tired by then.

After Lori retired for the night, I stayed up a little longer to research the route for our next day’s trip to Muir Woods National Monument before heading to bed myself. The exact location of Muir Woods seemed to be an Internet mystery, as both Google Maps and the official park Web sites gave two different sets of directions. This spelled out bad news for the next day. . .

Vacation in San Francisco, October 2010: Powell and Market Streets, Union Square and Driving to Point Reyes Station

I got a later start this day because I packed everything up at the hotel, checked all our bags with the bellman, then checked us out before hitting the streets around 9:00 AM. I walked around the Powell St. station for a bit before heading away from that area. I tried to wander fairly randomly, weaving through the streets joining Powell, Stockton and Grant Streets. I ended up taking my first photos at the China Town gate at Bush and Grant. I wandered a couple of blocks into China Town before heading back down toward Market Street.

Day Five Chinatown GateChinatown gate at Bush and Grant Streets

I wandered up and down Market Street several times, plus I ventured off on a few streets adjoining Market. I experimented with some street photography techniques I had studied the day before to see if I could capture some SF life. I think I did a better job this time around.

Day Five Market Street Smoke Break

Day Five Union Square Sleeping and StudyingSmoke Break on Market Street; Sleeping and Studying in Union Square

After walking a bit, I realized I had not yet had breakfast. Using my Droid’s Places look-up, I quickly researched a nearby cafe called Honey Honey Cafe & Crepery. I stopped there for a latte and their Breakfast Crepe with a side of potatoes. While it wasn’t quite as good as the Butler and Chef from a few days before, it was a very close second and a very lucky find.

Day Five Honey Honey Breakfast CrepeHoney Honey Cafe Breakfast Crepe

After breakfast, I walked up and down Market Street a few more times, trying to capture some more street photos. After I tired of that, I headed over to Yerba Buena Gardens to grab a drink and rest in the shade until Lori’s conference was over.

Day Five Sleeping on the CornerBeggar and his puppy, both sound asleep on the street corner

After catching the shuttle back to the airport, we had our choice of either a bright yellow VW Beetle or a tan Dodge Charger to rent for the rest of the week. Although the bug was tempting, a quick assessment of how much luggage we had led us to choose the Charger with its larger trunk instead. On our way to Point Reyes Station, there was no toll at the Golden Gate Bridge because we were going north bound. We would, however, have to pay that toll on our way back. After the Golden Gate Bridge, our route wound through some very scenic and windy roads until we arrived at our vacation cottage in Point Reyes Station, a town of 350 people.

Day Five Golden Gate Bridge CrossingLori captured this dashboard shot with my camera
while I was busy driving across the Golden Gate Bridge

We were both very hungry and had spied a restaurant on the way in called The Farm House Restaurant & Bar At Point Reyes Seashore Lodge. We hopped in the car and drove back down to the town of Olema (only about 10 minutes away) to have dinner. I had a 23 ounce draft Lagunitas IPA and Lori had a glass of their house Pinot Grigiot. We both had the Pulled Pork BBQ sandwich with delicious yam fries.

We then headed back to the house and relaxed on the back porch the rest of the afternoon while doing some laundry to get us by the rest of the week. The sky was very clear that night, and there was very little light pollution. I could just make out the Milky Way. I also spotted a few satellite flares overhead and saw a few shooting stars.

Day Five Rental Home DeckThe back deck at our rental home in Point Reyes Station