California Day 6/Wine Country Day 1

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Rented a convertible last night and drove out to Santa Rosa, in Sonoma County. I’ve decided I could easily live in Santa Rosa. It’s an adorable city, small enough, with personality, but only 58 miles from San Francisco. Plus, it is so obviously surrounded on all sides by the Mayacamas Mountains and vineyards, with the Russian River Valley stretching out in one direction and Sonoma Valley in the other. Just on the other side of the mountain is Napa – about a 30 minute scenic drive.
Thursday night we ate at a brewpub – Aleworks – in downtown Santa Rosa. We discovered that because Santa Rosa was the home of Charles Schulz, the town has artistic Charlie Browns everywhere! It was wonderful! I took tons of photos of Charlie Browns.
Friday we visited Kenwood and Glen Ellen, but that’s as far through the Valley as we got. Let’s see, we hit Ledson Wienry (our favorite), Kenwood, Kunde Estate, Valley of the Moon, and B.R. Cohn. We also got sunburnt in the convertible.

The weather was perfect – no hotter than 80 degrees, a slight breeze. I
love it there. We bought a lot of wine. We debated on Ledson, as we
really liked it. It isn’t sold retail, but has fairly high prices and
is really good stuff. We picked up a bottle or two at Kenwood (they had
their $75 Cabs going for $35 as an Independence Day sale), a Petit
Sirah at Kunde, a Sauv Blanc and a Cab at B.R. Cohn, and I think that’s
it. We also picked up some Cabernet Vinegar and Olive Oil at B.R. Cohn,
which is simply heavenly. For dinner, we headed back into Santa Rosa,
scouted out some more Charlie Browns, and then ate at Tex Wasabi’s Rock
and Roll Sushi BBQ. It’s just what it sounds like – BBQ and/or Sushi,
and it was yummy! I enjoyed a teriyaki chicken sandwich, and Kevin had
some creative sushi. We also split a dessert of ice cream rolled in
smushed fortune cookies and covered in yummy sauces.