CALI... day 2

Day 2 in Cali... started out as a great day, and to be honest, never changed. We woke up and watched Game Day (which was IN CS for the Aggies & Gators game). KG went and picked up some empanadas from this little shop by the hotel as recommended by Paul, and they were fabulous!

Once we finally drug ourselves out of the hotel (which was still really early due to the time change), we headed out, top down, to drive around and see what we could see.

It was a GORGEOUS day. The sun was shining, and it was a little chilly in the morning, but warmed up to a beautiful day.

Top down, baby!

I love vineyards and took plenty of pics of them!

Since we were out and about so early, not many winery's were open yet, so we just drove around. We eventually found ourselves up on this overlook of Lake Sonoma. It was beautiful!!! And we didn't even plan it! Of course, the wooden platform was a bit scary for me... I wasn't prepared for that, but I wasn't missing the view!

One side was the lake, and the other side was the valley of vineyards.

Our first winery stop... and it was amazing!

After our wine tasting, we walked back out thru their gardens, and it was just beautiful!

Back on the road to the town square... we were meeting everyone (well, a lot of the group) to watch the A&M game. That's what happens when you travel with other Aggies!!!

We watched the game at the Healdsburg Bar & Grill... knocking out the game, lunch and a "brewery" stop for KG.

My new fave beer...

It was a good game, but the Aggies came up short in the end. I actually wasn't took shocked by that, but it was fun to watch, miles away from CS, with a bunch of Aggie fans!

As the game was coming to the end, I went over to the La Crema tasting room to meet JJ and a few others.

When the game was over, KG came and met me at La Crema (yep, I skipped the last quarter), and he and I headed back out. The Coppola winery was opened later than most of the others, so we decided to hit it up.

The place was amazingly beautiful.

Funny side story... one of the resorts we went to on our honeymoon in Belize was a Coppola place, and obviously, they served a lot of Coppola wine. At the time, we didn't like it. So, going to the winery, we thought surely this many years later (and a good bit of wine knowledge and taste later), we would enjoy the wine.

Nope. This was the only winery we didn't end up buying a bottle to bring home. Still, it was fun!

After we left Coppola, we headed to Diavola for dinner. Many people had recommended it. KG loved his pizza... and my pasta was okay. Later I was told pizza was the way to go. Oops.

And believe it or not, that was the end of our day. It was everything I envisioned a trip to wine country would be!