Sonoma Vacation: The Finale

The final days of our honeymoon were spent much like the first - exploring Sonoma and Napa, eating great food, drinking excellent wine and beer, barbecuing and relaxing at the cabin. It was an interesting experience for us, because we had not yet taken a vacation that was longer than a weekend without friends or family involved. We also had not experienced a vacation in which we did not argue about some trivial matter. But this trip was different. We seemed to be getting along and - if you can believe it - actually enjoying everything we were doing together.

As I mentioned previously, we spent a day meandering up the coast to Anderson Valley on a whim and enjoyed some very tasty beers in the outdoor beer garden at the Anderson Valley Brewing Company. We snacked on pretzels and read local newspapers outside. We chatted with other tourists visiting the brewery. Then we decided to hit the road to get some lunch.

Our mode of operation for the trip was generally to go out for the day and get a grubby meal out, followed by a trek back to the coast where we would barbecue on the patio overlooking the ocean. This day was no different. We headed back down the 101 South towards Healdsburg, a quaint little village with decent to upscale restaurants and a friendly feel, where we lunched at the Bear Republic Brew Company. This was the second time that week we had visited. We sat out on the patio and ordered some salads and an appetizer, which were very decent for bar food, and a couple of their beers - the real reason for the visit. Please do try to make it if you are in the area, especially if you are a hop head. The Hop Rod Rye lives up to its name, delighting the palate with a hoppiness that only a true beer lover can appreciate. My two personal favorites are the Racer 5, an India Pale Ale with floral notes and a nice sharp bite from the hops, and the Red Rocket, a red ale with caramel notes.

That night we visited the second of the two restaurants in Jenner. We had enjoyed Indian take-out our first night, but had saved the River's End for my thirtieth birthday. Coming off of our mid-afternoon beer haze, we wandered down PCH to the ocean-front restaurant and took a table by the window. We started with an appetizer of oysters on the half-shell accompanied by two half glasses of Scharffenberger Brut, a very nice, toasty California sparkling wine. This was followed by a great Syrah and our entrees, which turned out to be okay, but unmemorable. The service was nice without being stuffy and we had a very enjoyable experience. I do have to admit that while we enjoyed ourselves, we probably could have just had appetizers and drinks and foregone the $300+ bill. But it was our honeymoon and my birthday, so we had planned to splurge a bit.

The following day was spent tasting beers at the Russian River Brewing Company and eating lunch at Third Street Aleworks in downtown Santa Rosa, a slightly larger city located south of Healdsburg. Downtown Santa Rosa is an eclectic mix of shops, restaurants and other businesses, including an excellent Italian deli across from a shopping mall, a fair trade shop where you can get art, sculpture or T-shirts, among other things, and some really great restaurants at really great prices. While we had our choice of numerous cuisines, we decided we were in the mood for more beer tasting. We started at the RRBC with a sampler of their beers on tap. Wow! The Belgian-style Damnation and Redemption were my favorites, but all were pretty excellent and there are a lot to choose from. The food - mainly pizza and salads - smelled and looked wonderful, but we decided to head on over to the Aleworks to check their fare out. It turned out to be pretty standard beer fare, but to be fair we had ordered nachos and a salad, which is anything but exciting at most restaurants. The beer was good, although nothing to scream about, however the patio overlooking Third Street was sunny and clean and provided a nice place to people watch on that sunny June afternoon before heading back to the quiet serenity of Jenner.

Friday was our last full day in Sonoma and we had plans to meet Jeremy's cousin and his wife and baby for lunch in Napa. We finally had our official vacation argument that day. As a warning, ladies, do not expect your man to plan a single lunch if he normally flows along with the tide. Regardless of his inability to decipher exactly where and when we were to meet for lunch, we did end up meeting with the family and having a very nice visit in downtown Napa. It was Italian and again not very spectacular, but had a nice patio where we sat for a couple of hours and chatted. That night was spent packing and getting ready for our last day of vacation - a night in Berkeley.

We left Jenner the next morning, woeful that we didn't have another week of vacation at the little house, but excited to spend our last night alone in Berkeley. We did what everyone does in Berkeley once we arrived - we people-watched and window-shopped. Afterward, we grabbed a beer at a little brewery near the Cal campus and then headed back to our hotel at the Marina. Dinner was at Skates on the bay overlooking the San Francisco skyline. Avoiding the dining room, too full to eat an entire smorgasbord of food, we opted for the bar area, which had small tables lining the windows. It was a perfect end to a perfect vacation (squabble and all), watching the sun set over the city of my birth as I began a new phase in my life...