Sonoma - So Far.

Right now I'm so happy. I'm sipping what I'd like to say is local wine from Sonoma (umm.. it's actually from Australia, but whatever) and listening to a lovely sleep time music mix, made courtesy of our host, Kristen Burlington. Thanks to Andrew for connecting us with such an awesome, sweet and gracious host. She also creates homemade post cards from old photographs and personal touches. I'm sure that some of you will be getting some in the mail. If you want one, email me and I can also work that out. On the post cards, she wrote us a bunch of her own suggestions for places to visit in the area. I think that tomorrow's going to be a great day of wine tasting, food, sun, vineyards and Jack London.

Today we spent about eight hours in the car, though there were delightful stops on the Pacific Coast and also in the Red Wood forest. I'll get those pictures up pretty soon. I cannot believe how FREEZING the Northern West Coast is during the summer. I'm sure that those of you suffering through the heat wave in NY don't want to hear that, but honestly, it's like super chilly. I keep refusing to wear pants though, which makes the stops a little more difficult. After driving and taking pictures, we stopped in Santa Rosa for dinner. It was nice. We then continued to Sebastopol (I'll check spelling soon) and took a detour at Screaming Mimi's ice cream. Sooo good. This is the second place this week that we've found making lavender ice cream. I can't handle milky perfume in my mouth, but others seem to really enjoy it. The rest of the flavors were pretty money so I'm glad that we found it.

There has been a little pause in the literary, seeing that there isn't a plethora of spots in the Northwest (surprisingly). However, Jack London, Big Sur, Salinas and San Francisco should make up for that. I'll keep you posted. Thanks for reading =) Don't be afraid to comment, it's encouraging.

Also, we stopped at Kristen's restaurant for dinner and it was A-mazing. Paul had oysters for the first time (note the face). The oysters were hte house specialty so they were covered in blue cheese, butter and bread crumbs and they were basically delectable. Thanks again to Kristen for hosting us and serving me her favorite wine...oh, and recommending the excellent fried chicken (see pic).

I also took photos of Kristen's post cards...they really could be better but I'm trying to represent =).

- Christina