And the trip is history

Kayaking - Tara3
Originally uploaded by tarakay827.

And with that- the trip winded down. Day 7 we made a point to grab lunch at In-N-Out Burger beforew spending hours due to an "indefinite layover" waiting to get home.

As truly amazing as the trip was- I was ready to sleep in my own bed and see my puppies again. Now I am just building back up that savings account so that I can head out on vacation number 2! I have to say, I felt like such a grown up taking a full week off of work and traveling across the country. It might not have been a week of laying on beach as Dan thinks the next trip will be (we'll see about that- he tends to not be too involved with planning so I will through some adventure in there) but it was fantastic. I hope we head back there some day in the not too far off future.

Luther Burbank Home

Luther Burbank Home - Tara
Originally uploaded by tarakay827.

After kayaking we rested and shower to head out to Santa Rosa. We hit a few wineries along the way and stopped at the Luther Burbank home and the Charles Schulz Museum to pay homage to the creator of Snoopy.

Kayaking Bodega Bay

Kayaking Bodega Bay - Couple Shot
Originally uploaded by tarakay827.

We had quite the fun time kayaking in Bodega Bay. Who knew that kayaking was so much work! It was much more tiring than canoeing... And I am much better at kayaking than the other one in the boat...

We had a blast trying to get the seals to come over close enough to get a good picture with our crappy water-proof disposable one. (didn't want to ruin the digital one). And we saw pelicans which was very cool but our picture didn't turn out so well.

Dan @ Trentadue Winery

Dan @ Trentadue Winery 2
Originally uploaded by tarakay827.

We hit a number of wineries over the trip ranging in size of 2 million cases a year to just 1,000 cases a year. It was really cool to see such a variety and to hear the "what makes us different" line at each one. What I liked about Sonoma is that for tastings they ranged from $0 to $15 and waived it if you bought a bottle... not bad!

Lunch @ Kendall Jackson

Lunch @ Kendall Jackson 2
Originally uploaded by tarakay827.

The Kendall Jackson Estate had a really nice gazebo right in a small vineyard (that had the names of the types of grapes posted so you could see the differences) where we had a picnic lunch. The sandwhiches we made at the cottage and we picked up a little salad at a roadside deli that was really tasty!

Korbel Cellar

Korbel Cellar - Dan
Originally uploaded by tarakay827.

Now that is quite a bit of champagne!

Korbel Champagne Cellars

Korbel - Tara
Originally uploaded by tarakay827.

Day 5 was spent touring Sonoma County. Korbel was really quite fascinating. The cellar tours gave you quite a bit of information and history even if they did smack you a bit to much with their marketing crap. The grounds were very pretty and the garden tour of the 100 year old family garden was really quite interesting.