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| Racing a train westward across Utah |
Greetings fellow oenophiles. Its Saturday afternoon (Oct. 16th) and we've just returned from a day of winetasting around Sonoma so this is being written through a bit of a red wine haze. Many miles have been crossed since we last talked in Salt Lake City. Connie and I hit the road fairly early (8am) last Wed. and drove approximately 560 miles west across Utah, Nevada and into California. The longest segment yet for me but having company and another driver made it pass quickly. So did driving 80mph. Our favorite road song was "God is good, beer is great, people are crazy." Really, on the local station.
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We circled our wagons in Truckee, California which is a rustic sort of resort town just north of Lake Tahoe in the Sierra Nevada Mtns. We had driven across hundreds of miles of "alkaline" flats, occasional low mountain ranges, and as soon as we crossed into California the terrain was pine covered and beautiful. Truckee is a funny little place where the train literally goes smack thru town ( or maybe smack thru our hotel by the number of very loud toots during the night.) We decided to go native and chose the "historic" Truckee Hotel. The town is located just before the infamous Donner Pass where the the pioneer group known as the Donner Party were trapped one winter, many died, and well, you know the rest of the story. I was a little nervous at dinner when Connie eyed me with a knife and fork in hand. If you don't know what I'm talking about, skip ahead!
It was just a quick 3 hour drive to the wine country on Thursday morning. We've spent the last three days eating, shopping and drinking wine throughout Napa and Sonoma. This is not the hardest part of my trip. I do all these things well. Let me play Fodors Guide for a minute. For you gourmands, we had lovely lunches at Bouchon and Tra Vigne in Napa. We're staying in a little apt. over the best bakery in town,
Costeaux (voted best bakery in country in 2009, really). connected with the Camellia Inn in Healdsburg in Sonoma. Great town with shops, restaurants, etc. Dinner Thurs. at the very hip "Cyrus" next door.
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| lunch at Tra Vigne |
Top wineries we visited: Hess Vineyards in Napa with fabulous art collection of Mr. Donald Hess upstairs. Francis Ford Coppola's place is a little theatrical not surprisingly but we had another great terrace lunch. My favorite was the "J" vineyard nearby, mostly because I like the initial, my kids and I discovered it a few years ago while on a girls trip out here, and they were nice people ! That said, they had me wrapped around there little finger with generous "tastings" and I joined their wine club! Hmm. Maybe they'll adopt me.
So, upon leaving there, Connie to my surprise suggested we needed a few more stops. I acquiesced willingly and then we came back for a little "toes up" time as my friend Lucy likes to describe rest period. Now we're ready for our last evening in town and off to San Francisco tomorrow.
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