Sights to See in Sonoma

Today we headed to the Sonoma Valley area to check out the sights there. I read somewhere that if you wanted lots of hoopla and crowds, go to Napa; if you wanted good wine, cheese, and scenery, go to Sonoma. That really sums it up--Sonoma is a lot more rural,

but much more scenic.

We saw this chateau from the highway because it sits way up on a hillside of vineyards. It was so incredibly beautiful that we turned around and went to check it out.

Mamaw and Jo had to stop to admire all the flowers. The aroma in the air and

the views were fantastic.

No matter which way we turned, the views were incredible.

If you look closely, you will see sheep in the pasture across the way from this chateau--even the black sheep of the family. If you were able to look as closely as we could,

you would notice that these are just sheep cutouts!

We drove on to the town of Sonoma which had lots of interesting shops around a town square. We really enjoyed the Sonoma Cheese Factory which had lots of samples--no pictures because we were too busy eating cheese :)

The sign that said "Chocolate Tasting" drew us right in to this shop.

We did taste the chocolates and were not disappointed.

This is a cow made entirely of wine corks. Isn't he cute?

We had lunch on the patio of a little French Bistro called The Girl and the Fig on the

square in Sonoma. Strange name but really good food.

After Sonoma we drove to a community called Glen Ellen. This is the Figone Olive Press. Most wineries also grow olive trees since they need the same climate and growing conditions as grapes. We tasted several olive oils and bought some citrus-infused oils that were really good. This picture was on the wall of the olive press room and told the family's story.

Glen Ellen is also the town where the author Jack London lived and died and had a ranch (He called himself the "sailor cowboy.") We went to the Jack London Historic State Park and visited London's house and saw lots of memorabilia. It was very interesting and different from seeing lots of grapes and olives!This is the Viansa Winery near Glen Ellen. Our school superintendent's husband told us to be sure to visit this one because of the scenery and because it is a small independent winery.

Again, the view from the chateau was incredible.Ed and Mamaw had a seat at a little bistro table on one of the Viansa terraces. If they look relaxed, it's because I told them to sit for a picture, but after I snapped this shot I told them to get up and keep moving before they got used to the leisure time! Aren't they good actors?We went inside the chateau and enjoyed looking around, but we especially enjoyed seeing the wine cellar down below. Here Ed is checking out the section of 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon barrels.

Stay tuned...tomorrow morning at 5:30 we take our hot air balloon ride over Napa Valley.

All Aboard the Napa Valley Wine Train

On Sunday evening we boarded the Wine Train for a dinner and a 3-hour excursion from Napa to St. Helena and back. We had a table in the Vista Dome car, so our seats were raised giving us fantastic views from the big windows. The train supervisor came by to chat with us and found out that were were from Texas/NM. He graduated from UT-Austin, and once he found out Ed & his mom & dad were with Furr's Cafeterias for years, he offered to give us a personal tour through the train and show us the kitchen. It was a very special event.

Ready to board the train in Napa.

A view of the Vista Dome car as we entered.

Here we are ready for dinner at the head table of the car.

(Of course, on the way home, we were the end table...)This is the train supervisor, Jerome Matthews, from Texas. He gave us lots of interesting information about the train, such as it can serve 320 people in 2 seatings during the 3-hour train ride. Last week 320 Texans charted the entire train, so I guess he is partial to Texans.

Here we are looking through one of the kitchen cars. We went to the next car and got to meet the head chef.

Here are some of the incredible views of the countryside from our train windows.

First Day in Napa Valley

We arrived in the San Francisco/Oakland Bay Area on Saturday afternoon and just walked around a little to get a feel for the area. On Sunday we headed to Napa to check out some of the local sights before boarding the Napa Valley Wine Train in the evening.

Here are some of the highlights:

Ed checks out the bay area from the balcony of our hotel suite.

In Napa we went to Copia which is an institute started by Robert Mondavi as a tribute to the culinary/wine traditions of America. At Copia is the only restaurant Julia Childs ever allowed her name to be associated with. They grow their own herbs and vegetables in their gardens. Here Mamaw and Ed check out some of the areas which tell which herbs, fruits, and vegetables go well with which wine grape varieties.

One of the first names on our list of places to visit in Napa was Taylor's Automatic Refresher diner. This is one of the first diners that was featured on Guy's "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives" on Food TV. They serve up-scale hamburgers and sandwiches including an Ahi Tuna burger and have a full wine menu. We had burgers and lemonade (I had fish tacos, but they were great too).

A Little Wine and A LOT of water!

Since today was our last day in the Seattle area, we took the advice of some locals

and drove over to Snoqualmie Waterfalls and to the St. Michelle Winery.

We were not disappointed at all.We had a wonderfully clear view of Mt. Ranier as we crossed over Lake Washington
on the way to Snoqualmie to see the waterfalls.

Stephanie, do you recognize these waterfalls? They are actually the

ones used in the filming of "Twin Peaks."

This waterfall is said to be higher than Niagra,

and it certainly was as loud and as misty!

Because the sun was shining, there was a beautiful

rainbow next to the falls

After we left the falls, we discovered the Snoqualmie Centenial Log Pavillion

and this gianormous logAfter we left Snoqualmie, we went to the area of the St. Michelle Winery

which is actually one of the oldest on the west coast. The winery

were absolutely beautiful.

Here is Ed by one of the giant wine barrels.

Tomorrow morning we fly out of Seattle and head down south to Oakland

for our week in the San Francisco, Napa, and Sonoma Valley areas.

Vancouver BC Variation

We left the beauty of Seattle yesterday morning to see the wonders of our neighbor to the North, Canada. We drove up I-5 about 2 1/2 hours. Of course, we were on the road before most folks were out of bed, but the drive was really beautiful. Lots of green trees and green grass intermingled with lots of water. Here we are at the Canadian border. We could read the language, but there were signs to tell us to "Think Metric" so we never really were sure how far away anything was!The first place we headed was to Granville Island which had a huge market area

and lots of cool shops.Look at the size of these berries! We passed lots of berry farms between Seattle and Vancouver. I'm gonna remember these the next time I pay out the wahzoo for berries 1/2 this size.I guess everything's relative. Poor Vancouverites (?) have to pay a lot for these "hard to find" chilis that we have all the time at our grocery stores.Ed enjoyed finding The Lobster Man who ships live lobsters, Dungeness crabs, and

all kinds of clams all over the world.Mamaw and Ed check out the wharf area. They are looking at lots and lots of yachts

since this is the Granville Yacht Club area too.After Granville Island we went to the northern part of Vancouver to see Stanley Park. It is a very lush, heavily wooded area. Driving through the dense tall trees, it was easy to imagine what this part of the world looked like before all the city building began. Then we went up on Prospect Point and could see the opposite side of the spectrum just across the bay.

Savoring Seattle

We started today with a guided tour through Pike Place Market. Even though we wandered through on our own yesterday, we learned a lot of the history and "behind the scenes" information today. We also got to sample lots of good foods and then received a discount at any of the merchants, so, of course, we had to shop a little when we finished. Grampa wore his bright shirt from Grand Cayman so that we wouldn't have any trouble finding him in the crowd. Our tour guide, Eric, really enjoyed picking on the guy in the "Hawaiian" shirt, so we had a lot of fun. Here are a few pictures of what we saw and did in the market.

Our tour guide Eric and his pink umbrella so we could always see him...besides, he said, no one would run over a guy carrying a pink umbrella.

We all had earphones so we could hear everything in spite of all the noise going on in the market.

This is the original fishmonger station at the market. If you've seen Food TV, you've seen the guys throw fish. They actually started that as a time saving device since it takes 60 steps to go from behind the counter to the front to get whatever fish a customer wants. They are a bunch of characters!

This is one UGLY monkfish. Don't think I'd want anyone throwing this guy at me.

Here we are waiting for our samples of Piroshky, a Russian meat-filled sandwich. We had a beef one and also a salmon one. Yumm-O! At other vendors we sampled cheese, clam chowder, and pastries, just to mention a few.

The next 2 pictures are from the front of Pike Place Market in tribute to the Japanese-American farmers who originally started the market before WWII. However, after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, most Japanese were put in internment camps "for their own protection," and the market closed. Later "Americans" reopened it, but the Japanese farmers would not participate. (Jo's note: if you want to read a really good book that deals with the Japanese-American situation in the NW at this time, read Snow Falling on Cedars.)

We also went by the original Starbucks Coffeeshop since the company began in Seattle. We learned yesterday on our hop-on tour that there are 134 Starbucks in the 5-mile area of the tour, plus lots of Seattle's Best coffeeshops (also owned by Starbucks). Ya think they are a bit caffeinated around here????This is the below street area of the Elliott Bay Book Company which was used as the outside shot for the TV show Frasier which was filmed in Seattle....just an interesting tidbit for our readers.

Figured I'd better get Mamaw and Nana Jo in a picture since Nana Jo is usually the one taking the pictures. This is at the original location of UPS. They have a really nice waterfall area that is primarily a rest/lunch spot for their employees. Everyone in the historic district of Seattle is required to dedicate 1% of their area for art, so this is a good example.

We have rented a car to drive to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada for the day tomorrow. Stay tuned for more good pictures...

A Day of Exploring

This morning we headed to the harbor area and really enjoyed the hike. We cut through the Seattle Sculpture Park which was very interesting. We checked out all the places along the piers (which, of course, weren't open as early as we were there) and then headed to the Pike Place Market area. Later we heard about the original underground Seattle area while we were back on the double-decker bus, so we took the 1-hour walking tour. After a full 12-hours of mostly walking, eating/drinking and just generally enjoying the mid-60's sunshiny day we headed back to the hotel and crashed! Here are some of the day's pictures:

A giant Ampersand sign at the Sculpture Park.

For you "younguns" this is an old-fashioned typewriter eraser that we had to use before correcting typewriters and White-Out were invented. We never went near a piece of paper without one of these little gizmos.

These "eyeballs" are actually benches so you can sit behind the eyes.

We really enjoyed the view of the bay on our morning walk to the harbor.

Mamaw and Jo take a quick breather as we walked up and down the pier area while Ed checked the map to see exactly where we might want to go (next picture).

"I am their leader--guess I'd better figure out where we're going!"

You really can't tell from this picture, but there are almost a ka-billion steps that we had to climb to get to the public market area on Pike Street. It wasn't nearly as bad as climbing our hill or driveway in Capitan, though....I guess because of the lack of elevation which means there is much, much more oxygen to breathe. I discovered I really like oxygen! Wish I had more where I live....

This is Pike's Place Market. We have a personally guided tour through the market later today (Wed.), so better pictures and comments will come then.

This is one of the underground skylights that were built into the top-side sidewalks back in the late 1880's.

This is just an interesting building in the old downtown area that I thought looked like some of the buildings in Paris that were built in a triangular shape where several streets converged.