Beautiful Evening on the lake

 

Winding down the week with dinner and drinks.

Troy Graduates Middle School

 

Our oldest grandson Troy has graduated middle school!  He is looking forward to high school.

Troy with his proud parents.

And his proud grandparents!

A Guided Tour Through Sonoma Valley

 

One of our close friends asked if we'd like to see a few of her favorite places in Sonoma Valley - we said of course!

So we flew in on a Friday afternoon in preparation for meeting her bright and early Saturday morning.

We needed lunch after the trip so we stopped at V. Sattui in Napa Valley.

Always a favorite of ours - both for the wines and the deli! 

We almost got skunked though as it was much busier than expected and we hadn't made reservations.  We might have to start making reservations there...here is my wife, thankful we got in!

We took the rental car to our hotel for the night.

The next morning!  What a beautiful drive through Sonoma Valley!

We were having so much fun and the views were so nice that we pulled over to take a few photos - something we very rarely do!

What a beautiful day!

St Francis Winery and Vineyards

 

Our friend introduced us to a new winery!  St Francis!  We went there before noon and before the crowds arrived.  Here is my wife in the main tasting room.

Very nicely done!

We had signed up for the wine pairing and being that it was the week of Earth Day,  the food was all vegetarian and most of it grown right there on site.

Cheers!  Thanks for introducing us to this magnificent place!

Jimmy is the winery gardener who grows the food.   He happened to bring his dog to work that day.   Jimmy also gave us a tomato plant grown right there on site!

Here was the pairings we had.  Delicious all!

The two favorites of everyone was the charred asparagus and....

...the strawberry tartlet!

Sigh!

 

We made a surprise stop in Sonoma!  A little shop called Sigh....

...and unknown to us, our friend had arranged a meetup with Cathy, a woman my wife had worked with when they both worked for a company that owned a Sonoma newspaper.  They had a great visit!

A few drinks being made at Sigh.

Domaine Carneros

 

Next stop:  Domaine Carneros!  A favorite of all three of us!

Well, actually the next stop was Etude but I failed to take any photos there for some reason.  Then we went to Domaine Carneros!

Just watching the act of pouring the champagne - excuse me, sparkling wine - is relaxing and fun.

And the bubbles!  Oh, the bubbles!

It's time!

I think we all three picked the Ultra Brut as our favorite.

Time for some cheese and crackers~

A view out to the patio from our seat.

The Grove at Copia

 

We finished the day at The Grove at Copia.

It is a Culinary Institute of America (CIA) restaurant where they train future chefs.

A very pleasant way to wind down a very pleasant day!