October 21 to 31: San Diego to Sonoma Wine Country

We are and have been in California for more than a week. We have been in city centers in San Diego and San Francisco; along the rugged sea coast along Route 1; to the Hearst Castle; to the penitentiary (Alcatraz); to the Zoo and SeaWorld; on interstates and very twisty mountain roads; and are presently visiting wineries.

Yes, life is fine! Since tomorrow is Alison’s BIRTHDAY, we visited the source of bubbly, the Korbel Winery, to get ready. Nothing like a nice champagne tasting to finish the winery visits today.

When we were in San Diego, we did see both the zoo and SeaWorld in the sun.  Each attraction took us a day to tour and see the animals and shows with the animal ‘stars’.  We also liked all the plants and the local transient winged visitors.  The hummingbirds were fun to watch and photograph.



Neptune Pool



The weather fell apart for our visit to the Hearst Castle so we missed the ‘sweeping vista’ views from the hilltop location.  Most of the reason to go to the Castle is to see the building and furnishings so the rain didn’t impact that.  All the building was done with reinforced concrete to withstand earthquakes and was continuous from 1920 to 1948 and almost bankrupted William Hearst.  The furnishings were from 2800 BC to present day.  Medieval castle ceilings and white marble statuary from Italy. It is hard to describe what was accomplished when cost is not considered.  Alison and I are trying to appropriate the Neptune pool to add to the Agate House from the Petrified Forest. 

 

The sun came out on the drive from the Hearst Castle to San Francisco. We got a nice view of the Castle during our drive up the coast. If you get the chance, drive Route 1 along the coast and take your time. The scenery is exquisite.

We had a fun 3 days in San Francisco staying right downtown on Sutter and Taylor. This was a great location for public transit and walking the hills. We did get our exercise!

We needed to get the ‘check engine’ light looked at on the Subaru and found a good garage 4 blocks from the hotel. An added advantage was we saved 3 days of valet parking charges because the car was in the garage. All is fine with the Subaru and it now purrs down the road……

We used the buses, trolleys and cable cars to get around. It was very economical. Several times the bus fare taking mechanism was broken so there was no charge for those trips! We found a Trader Joe’s at Fisherman’s Warf and got many good items to eat and drink. (And take to India.) While Alison went to a wool shop and Britex fabrics, I took the ferry to and toured Alcatraz Island. The tour is self guided with an audio tape and very informative and interesting. The view back toward downtown San Francisco was good.

 

Unexpectedly we were outside observers of the first 2 World Series games. We didn’t pay the asked $600+ for tickets but instead watched all the enthusiastic fans all over town. Some of the Super Bowl outfits were interesting and add Halloween and throw in the election antics in California and we were well entertained.

 

So here we are in Sonoma County. We did a drive-about yesterday through Sonoma, Russian River, and Napa valleys and saw many vineyards and wineries, but stopped at none. It is very picturesque and the roads are very twisty. Yesterday we did several tastings and some buying as noted above. Today we drove to and along the coast. Tomorrow we head toward Vancouver.

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAYS, KAREN and ALISON!!!!!

55 today!!