Photos: Wine Bloggers Conference and Russian River Valley Hike

Kevin and I returned from California late Tuesday afternoon. I'm still exhausted and still functioning in the west coast time zone.

The Wine Bloggers Conference was jam-packed with activity, wine, and fun. From the tasting at Kick Ranch Vineyards and liveblogging session on Friday afternoon to the Unconference and Luxe Sonoma tasting on Sunday morning, there was hardly a moment to rest. It was an amazing group of bloggers, wineries, and PR folks. I can't even express how great it was to walk into the room and know so many of the people there, because we'd met through blogging and twitter. It further illustrates my theory that online social media is there to help us meet people in real life. It breaks down barriers for us, and makes those face to face meetings more comfortable.

I'll cover some different parts of the conference over the next few weeks. I haven't unpacked yet, which means all my notes are still buried. You can, however, track what happened at the conference by our overwhelming Twitter feed and, until I get everything up, I leave you with a slideshow of the conference and our excellent hike (really, a strenuous walk) through Saralee's Vineyard in the Russian River Valley. You can see all of our photos, including our personal trips through San Francisco, Tiburon, Santa Rosa, and the Dry Creek Valley by visiting our California Flickr collection.