After not taking any vacation in 2007, we were in desperate need of a getaway this Summer! During the first week in July we drove north to Ashland, Oregon for the annual Shakespeare Festival, with stops in Sonoma and San Francisco along the way.
Our trip started out with 2 nights at the Trojan Horse Inn in lovely Sonoma, CA. We managed to visit several wineries in the Napa/Sonoma area: Ravenswood, Sebastiani, V. Sattui, Sterling, Cheateau St. Jean, and Ledson. We found Sonoma to be peaceful and charming with many quaint restaurants and shops (including a great used bookstore)... and it was even a little more low-key than we expected for being such a famous area for wine lovers.
On our way to Ashland, north of Napa in a little town called Sebastopol, we stumbled upon Ledson. I recognized their tasting room (aka "chateau") from a picture my coworker had taken while on vacation in the area. This last-minute wine tasting turned out to be our best experience of the trip; so much so that we joined their wine club! They had an "old vine" zinfandel and "ancient vine" zinfandel that were superb, and you can't buy this wine in stores -- it's available to wine club members only.
The drive to Ashland was somewhat of an ordeal....we thought we'd take the 101 to maximize the northern CA coastal scenery. Woops! All it did was add 2 hours to the trip, which included only about 15 minutes of ocean view and all sorts of windy mountain roads going into Oregon. We rolled into Ashland super late, but grateful for our 4 nights at the Mountain House B&B.
We'd been trying to get to Ashland for several years and were excited to have tickets for 3 plays: A Midsummer Night's Dream, Othello, and Coriolanus. All 3 were in different theaters with equally different settings and interpretations. Our favorite was the very fun, modern, and musical "A Midsummer Night's Dream." We spent our daylight hours in Ashland hanging out at the B&B reading and resting, exploring downtown Ashland shops and restaurants, and celebrating July 4th with the locals.
We broke up our the drive home with a stop to see the Sundial Bridge near Redding, CA and an overnight stay in San Francisco at the Omni Hotel. While in SF we saw a great exhibit at the MOMA on the famous model-turned-photojournalist (and first female ware correspondent during WWII) Lee Miller -- what a coup for a former reporter and aspiring photographer like me! We also had dinner at one of our favorite sushi restaurants, and spent some time bumming around the city on Sunday before returning to Clovis.
It was restful and different than our other vacations...we were grateful for the time away and new experiences. But we're ready to go back to Europe!
Our trip started out with 2 nights at the Trojan Horse Inn in lovely Sonoma, CA. We managed to visit several wineries in the Napa/Sonoma area: Ravenswood, Sebastiani, V. Sattui, Sterling, Cheateau St. Jean, and Ledson. We found Sonoma to be peaceful and charming with many quaint restaurants and shops (including a great used bookstore)... and it was even a little more low-key than we expected for being such a famous area for wine lovers.
On our way to Ashland, north of Napa in a little town called Sebastopol, we stumbled upon Ledson. I recognized their tasting room (aka "chateau") from a picture my coworker had taken while on vacation in the area. This last-minute wine tasting turned out to be our best experience of the trip; so much so that we joined their wine club! They had an "old vine" zinfandel and "ancient vine" zinfandel that were superb, and you can't buy this wine in stores -- it's available to wine club members only.
The drive to Ashland was somewhat of an ordeal....we thought we'd take the 101 to maximize the northern CA coastal scenery. Woops! All it did was add 2 hours to the trip, which included only about 15 minutes of ocean view and all sorts of windy mountain roads going into Oregon. We rolled into Ashland super late, but grateful for our 4 nights at the Mountain House B&B.
We'd been trying to get to Ashland for several years and were excited to have tickets for 3 plays: A Midsummer Night's Dream, Othello, and Coriolanus. All 3 were in different theaters with equally different settings and interpretations. Our favorite was the very fun, modern, and musical "A Midsummer Night's Dream." We spent our daylight hours in Ashland hanging out at the B&B reading and resting, exploring downtown Ashland shops and restaurants, and celebrating July 4th with the locals.
We broke up our the drive home with a stop to see the Sundial Bridge near Redding, CA and an overnight stay in San Francisco at the Omni Hotel. While in SF we saw a great exhibit at the MOMA on the famous model-turned-photojournalist (and first female ware correspondent during WWII) Lee Miller -- what a coup for a former reporter and aspiring photographer like me! We also had dinner at one of our favorite sushi restaurants, and spent some time bumming around the city on Sunday before returning to Clovis.
It was restful and different than our other vacations...we were grateful for the time away and new experiences. But we're ready to go back to Europe!
