{"id":1866,"date":"2014-05-29T11:09:26","date_gmt":"2014-05-29T18:09:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pkenagy.com\/blog\/?p=1866"},"modified":"2014-05-29T11:15:51","modified_gmt":"2014-05-29T18:15:51","slug":"sonoma-valley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pkenagy.com\/blog\/sonoma-valley\/","title":{"rendered":"Sonoma Valley"},"content":{"rendered":"

After our trip to San Francisco, we loaded up and drove on to Sonoma. \u00a0On our way out of town, we stopped by Anchor Steam<\/a> brewery for a tour. \u00a0Once we finally found a parking spot, we spent a few hours on a very informative tour. \u00a0Truth be told, they don’t put out any of my favorite brews, but there was a lot of history behind it and they are currently expanding as well. \u00a0From there, our itinerary listed Lagunitas<\/a> brewery as the next stop, who, as it happens, DO put out some of my favorite brews. \u00a0I’ve also heard from many that it’s a great place to hang out, with a large outdoor area and a good food menu. \u00a0Alas, a quick check of their hours showed they were closed on Mondays, rats. \u00a0I guess that’s on the list for another trip, it’s not that far from our house anyway. \u00a0Deprived of that destination, we made the quick call to head to Russian River<\/a>, which was located near our final destination for the day anyway. \u00a0They brew what is considered one of the top IPA’s in the country, so it was a suitable substitution to be sure. \u00a0We enjoyed a good lunch there, then checked into our hotel. \u00a0For dinner we went to a friend’s house who lives in town. \u00a0He fixed a great meal for the whole group, and we got to check out his cool gardens. \u00a0(Big vegetarian; \u00a0He’s got quite the setup.)<\/p>\n

The next day, we all met up at his house again and loaded up\u00a0in a limo for a Sonoma Valley wine tasting trip. \u00a0Our first stop of the day was at Coturri<\/a>, which was quite a drive. \u00a0Our friend Steve knew the owner at this place well, so we got quite the hook-up. \u00a0I’d never to been to a winery anything like this place, it was interesting. \u00a0I’d call it “informal,” he kept grabbing random bottles from his storage building and bringing them out. \u00a0He had a table set up outside, and we just kind of enjoyed the weather and some tasty vino. \u00a0We stayed there quite a while, then headed off to our next stop at Buena Vista<\/a>. \u00a0This one (and the remaining stops for the day,) were more what I’d experienced before: \u00a0Stand at the counter, taste a few glasses, move on. \u00a0And move on we did, to Gundlach Bundschu<\/a>. \u00a0This was an interesting stop, as it is actually the oldest winery in the world. \u00a0Or maybe it was the oldest in California. \u00a0Possibly just Sonoma. \u00a0I don’t know, I was losing interest in wine rapidly by this point. \u00a0The building was certainly interesting though, and so were the grounds. \u00a0We spent some time there, then wrapped the day up with a nice little picnic in the square downtown<\/a>. \u00a0Next stop, Lake Tahoe.<\/p>\n\n\t\t