Another sunny gorgeous morning. Lee and I had some tea and went out for a walk before breakfast. There were a few deer wandering around as well as wild turkeys so I was hoping to get a few pictures during our walk. People in California (including locals) don't seem to be early risers - we were always the first people up moving around.
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| These guys don't seem worried about Thanksgiving |
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| Main house at The Crocker Inn |
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| I love the funky collection of furniture on the front porch |
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| Too cold for swimming - would love to come back in the fall |
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| The road into the Inn - beautiful view overlooking the valley |
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| We caught up with the deer but they were pretty shy |
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| Dining room |
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| Poached eggs served over polenta with homemade salsa (I couldn't wait to take a bite - sorry) |
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| Vineyards across the Alexander Valley |
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| Vineyards in every direction |
After reviewing the maps, we selected Raymond Burr Vineyards as our first stop. I was always a fan of the actor as Perry Mason. After he died, his partner kept the vineyard going and he still lives there. We had the place to ourselves and the man who ran the tasting room had worked for Burr when he had property in the Azores. The guy was so nice and the red wines were delicious. I loved all the old pictures of Burr in the tasting room.
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| Great collection of wines, old photographs, Emmy awards and wine awards |
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| Francisco Baptista - our terrific host in the tasting room |
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| View from the deck at Raymond Burr Winery |
Healdsburg looked like a great little town to check out so we headed there to look around. We poked around in some shops and visited the tasting room for Toad Hollow Winery before heading to a pub to grab some lunch.
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| Toad Hollow Winery tasting room |
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| Santa Fe Chicken Salad and draft pear cider |
Our next destination was the Robert Young Winery. It has been in the same family for 150 years and four generations. There wasn't one bad wine in the bunch and I bought a really nice red for Lee to take home to share with John. The tasting room had great old family pictures and the house on the property was beautiful.
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| Family home |
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| Tasting room |
After a long day of touring around, we opted to pick something up to bring back to our cottage. Earlier in the day, we visited a great general store so we headed back there for provisions. We picked up some great cheese called Humboldt Fog, some crackers and had some sandwiches prepared for us.
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| The front porch at the Dry Creek General Store |
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| I loved this tower of onions |
Once we arrived back, we opened the bottle we bought back in Carmel and enjoyed it outside with our cheese and crackers.
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| So relaxed right now |
Our sandwiches were great and we got our bags packed so we could relax in the morning before we had breakfast and hit the road. What a great day!
Beautiful, mouth-watering, looked like you two really took every advantage of the scenery, food and wine!
ReplyDelete(loved the turkeys!)