We're in Wine Country!

We have been at the Russian River Thousand Trails RV Resort in Cloverdale, California this last week.  We are near all the wineries in Alexander Valley, Sonoma, and Napa Valley.  There are a lot of them, too many wineries and not enough time to enjoy them.  ;)

Our first visit was to Korbel.  The Korbel brothers had originally settled in the location because of the redwood tree forests and made cigar boxes. They began the winery after all the redwood trees around them had been cut down.  After some experimentation, it was found that grapes could grow very well in this region. We were able to take the tour through the old sparkling winemaking facilities and learned about the tedious processes necessary to complete their product.  We finished the tour, then had our tasting, and it was time for the tour through the gardens.

One little bit of trivia we learned was that the 1960's TV series Combat! was shot across the street where there were still stumps left from the redwood trees.  The stumps were blown up in the war scenes and other scenes were shot around the vineyard.

We also drove over to Napa Valley and visited the Vintage Sweet Shoppe.  We had purchased a Groupon for a chocolate and wine pairing.  Oh my goodness, it was good!  We couldn't believe how the different kinds of chocolate would change the taste of the wine.  The chocolate is made in the shop and is excellent!

Our favorite visit was to BobDog Wines.  I had e-mailed and made a reservation for Jim and I to visit.  Tim, the owner, got back to me and plans were set.  The winery was the closest to where we are staying, we just had to drive 2000 feet up a mountain.

It was a beautiful drive up, there are some winding curves and the road is narrow, but it is worth the visit.

Once we were near the top, the views began to reveal themselves.

 

Tim greeted us and took us out to the vineyard for an up close and personal view of the grapes.

Tim's wife, Kandy, joined us and we then spent the next two and a half hours talking and tasting wine as well as learning about the wine and the process to make it.  Tim and Kandy love what they're doing and are very happy to share their knowledge.  We had such a wonderful time and the wine was good too.

Francis Ford Coppala also has a winery in the area.  There was an original Tucker car in a room by the tasting room.

One of the prettiest wineries we went to was Ferrari-Carrano Winery.  There are gardens around the tasting room that were absolutely gorgeous and are free to tour.

 It's been really fun to visit the different wineries, but tomorrow it's time to move on as we head to Klamath in northern California.  We want to spend time in the Redwood National Forest.

A Visit to Alcatraz and Angel Island

We really wanted to go to Alcatraz, but when we looked at the tours for when we would be in the area, the only thing available was a tour to both Angel Island and Alcatraz so we decided to take that one.

We booked the tour a little over two weeks ago and were glad we did.  Once we got to San Francisco, all tours were sold out until the end of July.

We left bright and early in order to make our 9:40 departure time.

The one nice thing about the heat is that San Francisco has not been foggy.  A local told us that when there is no fog around San Francisco, it usually means the inland is very hot.

San Francisco still has cool temperatures. Today it was in the 60's most of the day.

We loaded on our boat to cross over the bay to Angel Island, but first we crossed in front of our afternoon destination, Alcatraz.

We crossed in front of the Golden Gate Bridge.

This was our first glimpse of Angel Island which was used from 1910 to 1940 to process immigrants, mostly Chinese, as they came to the U.S.   It is often referred to as "the Ellis Island of the West".  It was also Fort McDowell in the late 1800's and was used to process returning Spanish-American War soldiers.

During World War II, many soldiers returned here for their processing home.

Today, it is a California State Park.

Once we arrived, we were given a brief lecture by a park ranger and we then boarded trams to take us around the island on a narrated tour.

There were some pretty neat views, here is Alcatraz in front of San Francisco.

I got a picture of the Italian's America Cup catamaran practicing with the San Francisco backdrop.

After our tram tour, we had a relaxing lunch on the terrace overlooking the water at a little sandwich shop.

It was then time to get back on the boat and head to our next destination, Alcatraz Island.

Alcatraz is best known for the penitentiary that operated here from 1933 to 1963, but the fort was originally built to protect San Francisco during the gold rush and Civil War.

Today, Alcatraz is a National Park for us to visit as well as a bird sanctuary.   I snapped this picture of a pelican looking out, however there is nothing behind it, so it is free to fly out.

The thing that really struck me about the island was the contrasts.  At one point it looks like an Italian villa overlooking the ocean.

Flowers and gardens were all around.

Then there was the prison.

As we entered the prison cell area, we were given headphones for an audio tour.  It was very well done with commentary by actual prisoners and the haunting sounds of closing cell doors and prison riots.

This was one of the main cell blocks.

Here is the recreation yard.

This was D Block, the maximum security unit.

There were even cells set up with some of the activities of some of the prisoners.

The sea gulls are all over the island right now with their babies.  Here is one with her baby that took over the fireplace in the warden's home.

 We saw another one sitting on the concrete rail among the flowers and when you look below her,

there was the baby.

There were more great views.

Here is Oracle, the U.S. America Cup catamaran in front of San Francisco.

We enjoyed watching the birds and admiring the views as much as the visit to the prison.

About 4, we joined many others as we boarded the ferry back to San Francisco.

We were really glad we had not only gone to Alcatraz, but also Angel Island.  It was a wonderful tour!

It's Been A Very Busy Week

We knew there was a lot to do when we got to Morgan Hill, but we never dreamed we would be so busy.

Sunday, we drove back to Monterey taking the dogs with us. It was going to be another hot day so we thought if we took the boys we wouldn't have to worry about getting back early.  It was a cool 77 degrees in Monterey.  We spent the afternoon taking the 17 mile drive around the Pebble Beach peninsula.  It was gorgeous-beaches, homes, and golf courses.

Monday, we visited the Monterey Aquarium and then took a walking tour around Cannery Row learning about the history of Monterey and the canning industry.  It was very informative.  We loved watching the seals on the beach.

Wednesday, it was back into San Francisco to spend the day at Pier 39.  The America's Cup is taking place in San Francisco and the ships were out practicing.  The Oracle is the defending champion.  We took two boat rides, one that went out to the Golden Gate Bridge and around Alcatraz, and the other was the Rocket Boat which was probably our favorite part of the day.  The boat would turn 360 degrees in the water and then go up on its side, it was lots of fun!

Thursday was July 4th.  We were planning to go down Highway 1 to Big Sur.  We started out and hit a traffic jam about 5 miles out of Monterey.  We decided to just find a place by the beach in Monterey and watch the boats and waves.  It was a great afternoon.

Friday, we visited Pinnacles National Park which was about 50 miles from us.  It became a National Park in January.  It is so new they still do not have the National Park sign yet. We only spent a couple of hours there as we had to be in Santa Cruz for a family cookout.  Jim had contacted one of his cousin's son that live there and found out both his sisters were there as well as his other cousin Michelle and her husband.  We had a wonderful time visiting with all of them!

 Saturday, Jim was able to play on Spyglass, one of the golf courses on Pebble Beach.  Thank you Bobby, for making one of your dad's dreams come true.

It was back to San Francisco on Sunday to visit Golden Gate Park.  The park was begun in 1870 and is similar to Central Park in New York City.  We went to the De Young Museum and the California Academy of Sciences.  There was also a concert in the park that we listened to for several songs.  We also drove over to Lombard Street so Jim could drive the car down the "crookedest street."

We are loving both San Francisco and Monterey!