Last weekend we escaped to Sonoma County and celebrated Joe’s birthday. Would you like to see a few photos?
We stayed at the Old Crocker Inn, which was up a long windy road and tucked away in the hills near Cloverdale. It was quiet, peaceful, beautiful, and home to at least a few friendly deer(s?). Each morning we had a breakfast time slot where we would plan out our day and gaze out the windows at the luscious greenery.
We fell in love with Healdsburg all over again, stopping on our way up and on our way down. Have you heard of the new(ish) restaurant/shop Shed? It was beautiful—a real hipster’s delight—and they give a 10% discount to farmers, which we loved! We definitely want to come back for brunch.
We made sure to include a stop at Unti Vineyards, a winery we visited a few years ago and loved. The sky was blue, the wines were delicious, and we were pretty much in heaven as we snacked on our picnic.
In Healdsburg we shopped at a few antique and consignment shops. Fun and quirky!
Saturday was Joe’s actual birthday, so we splurged on a boat rental at Lake Sonoma!
That was great fun, until about 3/4 of the way through the rental, the motor gave out. After a brief anxiety-ridden realization that we had no cell phone reception and couldn’t see anyone, suddenly a knight in shining armor (or, in this case, in a yellow kayak) paddled over to save us. He called the rental place for us, and they sent out a rescue boat. We got some extra time on the water and a free ride back! On top of that, they felt so bad about the problem that they didn’t charge us anything. Joe’s verdict: totally worth it.
Isn’t that a spectacular view!
On Sunday we worked our way back to Berkeley. We stopped at Porter Creek Vineyards, the oldest biodynamic winery in Sonoma County. More blue skies and more delicious wines!
Overall, it was a low-key and lovely weekend. We ate and drank and watched movies in our cozy room and sang “Happy Birthday” and blew out candles and laughed and laughed and laughed.
Here’s a few links to help you whittle away this weekend:
Be a better baker.
Touching empathy cards (love all her stuff).
Why can’t we read anymore? Besides the fact that it’s finals period for Megan…
Taste the rainbow.
Happy Friday, friends. What are you cooking this weekend?
The Leftovers Project 