What a great day we had. We ate a delicious breakfast of Eggs Benny for me and eggs and biscuit for my mum at Hank’s Creekside, we headed out of Santa Rosa. Our first stop was Calistoga, and we found ourselves travelling on an ‘interesting’ road that was quite curvy and hilly, but quiet at least. We arrived in Calistoga, looked around a bit, and then headed south down the Napa Valley towards St. Helena.
St. Helena is a cute little town with a great bakery. When we went to St. Helena two years ago, Model Bakery was sold out of their English Muffins, but this year we were able to get one as it was much earlier in the day. I can’t tell you if they live up to Michael Chiarello’s claim (on The Best Thing I Ever Ate) that “they are unlike any other”, as we were still full from breakfast, but we grabbed one to go and plan on sharing it tomorrow morning. We also stopped into the St. Helena Olive Oil Co. where I grabbed a bottle of lemon olive oil for my mum as a belated Mother’s Day gift. After a short walk around the downtown area we were again back in the car and heading south. We bypassed the city of Napa, as we find it just too ritzy and over-priced for us, and headed to Sonoma via Schellville.
Once in Sonoma we grabbed the first parking spot we could find, set my countdown timer on my watch for 2 hours (the length of time you can park for free), and headed to Basque Boulangerie for coffee and a small bite to eat. There I had my first Snickerdoodle, which I quite enjoyed, and my mum had a healthier snack of a poppy seed bun with brie. We then wandered around downtown, stopping in this shop and that shop – basically just being tourists. We visited Wine Country Chocolates in one of the quaint courtyards that are scattered amongst the mid-nineteenth century Spanish mission-style buildings, but decided not to buy anything. I also went looking for a bottle of wine for a friend of mine, but couldn’t find a white zinfandel with a cool enough name.
After Sonoma, we headed back towards Santa Rosa and detoured through Agua Caliente and Boyes Hot Springs. Both are tiny little hamlets, which I’m sure have hot springs, though we saw no signs of any. We also stopped in Glen Ellen and visited the Wine Country Chocolates tasting room in Jack London Village. This time, we gave into the chocolate and each bought a box of 7 truffles. I also saw a sign for Laurel Glen Vineyards, but unfortunately their tasting room is no longer open at this location. It would have been a perfect place to buy a bottle of Zin.
On the drive from Glen Ellen back to the hotel, I happened to notice that we were around Kenwood, and mentioned to my mum that we were near Figone’s of California Olive Oil Company, where we both bought some olive oil last year. Since my mum hadn’t been too enamoured with the plain olive oil in St. Helena, we stopped and she picked up a bottle of EVOO (extra virgin olive oil for you non-foodies out there), and I grabbed a couple of small flavoured olive oil bottles to give as gifts.
Back at the hotel, we went over our Google/Wiki list and researched a few of the easier topics before we left for dinner at the Russian River Pub in Forestville. I had called and made reservations before I left Canada, just in case it was busy being a Friday night – I needn’t have as it was quite quiet. My mum and I both had chicken sandwiches, hers with pesto and Swiss (and salad) and mine with hot sauce and blue cheese (and fries). The food was unbelievable and the service was top-notch as well. One thing about the restaurant that I really liked was that the walls were all wood and people have signed their names and left messages and such in black marker. I also decided to leave my mark and used a Sharpie pen to sign my initials – if we go back next year, I will come prepared with a bigger Sharpie.
After dinner we headed back to the hotel and finished up the original wiki list and also what we had added to it over dinner. My mum decided to turn in fairly early, and I also need to get some shut-eye before the long drive we have tomorrow to Yreka. I have included a few pictures below from our adventures today…I hope you enjoy and I will talk to you tomorrow.
L
Baby Bacchus Statue, Sonoma, CA
Wine Statue in Sonoma
Flowering Hen and Chicks in Sonoma
Duck in Sonoma Park
Unknown Fruit Tree in Sonoma
Do let me know about those English muffins. I saw that episode and was wondering because they baked them in an oven. Traditionally, they are made by rising them like any yeast bread, then cooking them on low heat on a griddle.
Might those be mangoes in that last photo?
I’m really enjoying following along with your trip but I do have a favour to ask. Can you enlarge the font a bit? My squinty old eyes are having trouble reading it. 🙂
Is that a bit better? Still learning how to do some of the formatting ;).
Oops. Didn’t see this. It does seem a little better. Thank you.