Random Travel Thoughts

• It’s 1369 miles from here to there and back.
• Everyone should drive the Redwood Forest Highway at least once in their lifetime.
• There’s a lot of agriculture in California – most notably (on this trip) grapes, olives, and sunflowers.
• Sun screen and fingernail polish don’t mix – one melted the other leaving a gooey mess on my fingertips.
• Cows in California aren’t all that happy – as determined by watching the entire heard huddling under the only tree in the pasture vying for a tiny spot of shade to avoid the 107 degree heat!
• When you’re 200 miles from home, husbands think you’re “almost there” and don’t want to stop.
• Quinoa makes a nice salad.
• There’s no place like home.

P.S. If you tried to leave a comment previously and were unsuccessful, I fixed the problem. Comments are most welcome. And one other item... you can click on the photos to make them larger.

Day 5 - Sonoma to Roseburg

Goodness. How did that happen? I woke up in Sonoma, and find myself retiring for the evening in Roseburg! After a light breakfast, we toured the town one more time then hit the road. Oh! Before we left, we spotted a celebrity -- Kate Goslin. If you don't know who she is, please don't ask. I'd be embarassed to explain. :-)

Found ourselves in Willows for lunch. I recommend Casa Ramos for those that like Mexican food. The fish tacos were great. Reminded me of our trip to Loreto last year. A few more hours of driving, a quick tour of Ashland, and then we stopped for the night in Roseburg.

We’re staying at the Holiday Inn Express. It has a lovely view of the river. (Sorry the picture is a little dark.) After dinner at McMenamins, we spent the evening watching the ducks, some really big beavers (did you know Beavers are a member of the rodent family?), and even an Osprey catching its evening meal. It doesn’t get much better than this! We’ll make a stop tomorrow to visit with the grandkids, but then we’re off for home. Can’t believe the trip is almost over. Didn’t stop at as many wineries as we anticipated – but we did join a wine club, so we’ll let the wines come to us.

Day 4 - Sonoma

Had a nice continental breakfast at the hotel this morning, then headed south from Healdsburg to Sonoma. We apparently are not well versed in California Directional Signage. Tried to follow the signs to Sonoma, and ended up going in a big circle around Santa Rosa! Finally gave in and turned on the GPS. Even then, we had a few challenges – but finally arrived at our destination. Took back roads most of the way here and saw some fantastic scenery.

We’re staying at the Best Western Sonoma Valley Inn. It’s a lovely place, and walking distance to everything in town. We had lunch at A Taste of The Himalayas. (That's me in the pool.)

Tried a couple of new wines. When we were on our group tour, I found it interesting how people’s tastes differ. So just because I like something, I don’t expect anyone else to necessarily like it.

The one we liked: 2005 SIMI Merlot
The one we hated: Harthill Farms Merlot. Should have known better… there wasn’t even a vintage listed on the bottle.

I think on Wednesday we might head to the Cline and Jacuzzi vineyards. We’re also planning lunch at The Girl and the Fig. It comes highly recommended.

Day Three -- Wine Tasting

Give the girl a little fresh air, sunshine, wine, and dinner, and she's out for the count! The following blog is compliments of Mr. Kerns...

The husbands point of view on our vacation:

Monday - Things are going quite well.

We booked a wine tour with Platypus Tours after trying several other companies. Turns out we got pretty lucky. We went to four wineries; the first was a smaller one – Harvest Moon. They grow 90% of the grapes used in making their wines. The wines were very nice and Karen, who usually doesn’t care for whites, found one that she liked! We purchased a number of bottles, both red and white. We will have to report on how they are when we can really give them a try at home – although the tastings were very good. Did you know that the larger wineries spill more than some of the smaller ones bottle!

The second stop was at the Russian River Winery which, besides wine tasting, included lunch. Our tour driver (Toby) made us lunch; it was a bit light, but fit the bill. We purchased a couple of bottles of red after lunch and moved on.

The third winery (Moshin) didn’t do much for any us so we skipped any purchases with them. Don’t get me wrong, we tasted their wines; they just didn’t get us to cut loose with the credit card.

Now we come the fourth and final stop on the tour -- Everett Ridge Winery -- what a delight! The owners came out and joined us while serving. They served a lot of samples; the wine was accompanied by Cheetos and a few family stories. The wines were exceptional and we not only bought several bottles, we also signed up for the wine of the month club with them. Did I mention we are invited back for several wine tastings and BBQ’s throughout the year! Somebody in the club has a very, very large BBQ – supposedly the size of a locomotive! They say that three guys can’t get the lid open, but fortunately it has hydraulics. This thing can cook a cow, pig and twenty beer can chickens at the same time!! I-5 may be getting some ‘Kerns’ road time in the near future.

This was pretty much an all day event. We made it back for a little dinner at the end of the tour, but the bed was calling. Next stop Sonoma……..

Day Two… Crescent City to Healdsburg

We headed south from Crescent City on Highway 101. A nicely maintained road, usually 2 or 3 lanes in the direction of travel. We kept an eye out for the cutoff to Highway 1, and finally came across it at Leggett. I kind of thought we’d come across a gas station at the cutoff, but we didn’t. About 2 miles into this twisty, turny, two lane road, the gas light on my dash came on. Nothing like adding an element of suspense to an already torturous drive!

Those turns, some of them hairpin switchbacks, went on forever!! I was literally running on fumes. Finally made it to Westport – a ONE-PUMP TOWN. Unfortunately, it only pumped regular, and my car runs on premium. But we all know the old saying about beggars and choosers, so yes, I put regular gas in the tank. Just enough to get us to Fort Bragg and a “real” gas station. Didn’t stay long in Fort Bragg, but it looked like a nice town.

We continued our journey to Mendocino. A lovely little ocean side town. Lots of fun little shops, galleries, and restaurants. But I think what I will remember the most are the amazing and abundant flowers. Some I was familiar with, but were more beautiful than any I’d seen before, and some were totally new to me and were completely amazing. After a nice lunch of clam chowder, fish & chips, and a Red Tail Ale, we were off again. Foolishly, we thought all the twisty roads were behind us. Wrong. Highway 128 was almost as bad. But I must admit, we did see some great scenery. The Redwood Highway is amazing. At points, you feel like you’re following a path through the woods instead of on a highway. The redwoods are so amazing, and grow right next to the road. I mean really… almost IN the road at some points! Then once we made it to Westport, and before we started heading east, the ocean vistas were fantastic. The water along this part of the coast is a beautiful turquoise color.

So now we find ourselves in Healdsburg. Ended up at the Best Western Dry Creek Inn. Probably should have booked in advance and found something closer to town, but this place is fine. Now we’re trying to find a winery tour for tomorrow. It’s starting to look like we should have considered doing that in advance, too. Oh well, live and learn. I’ll let you know how it all turns out. We plan to be here a couple of days, then head to Sonoma for a day or two.

No wine report today, but the Red Tail Ale was great!

Day one… Oregon City to Crescent City.

Holy cow… how did it take 10 hours to drive 350 miles?? Must have been that stop in Lincoln City for breakfast. Or maybe it was the visit to the Sea Lion Caves. I hadn’t been there in 34 years. It’s a very cool place. Smelly, but cool. And there were HUNDREDS of sea lions. And of course there was that stop in Coos Bay for lunch. We arrived in Crescent City just in time to hit the cinema and see the latest Harry Potter movie. It was good. Not one of my favorites, but as I recall the Half Blood Prince wasn’t my favorite book, either.

The Scenery: Driving the Oregon Coast from Lincoln City south is absolutely beautiful. There’s everything from evergreen forests to rolling hills, and ocean vistas to fields of blue berries and Easter lilies.

The Hotel: Nothing to report here. It’s a run of the mill motel similar to a Motel 6. It’s called the Bay View, and yes, it has a view of the bay! Somewhat obstructed, but a view none the less. And WIFI… gotta have WIFI. Oh, and one of my favorite movies was on TV when we got back from the cinema – My Cousin Vinnie. (Don’t laugh!). Oh, I forgot to mention the fog horn. Or lighthouse horn, or whatever it is. About every 10 seconds we hear this distant, haunting booooop.

The Wine: OK, so we’re not really in the heart of wine country yet, but that didn’t stop us from sampling one of Safeway’s finest. It was a lovely merlot from Sonoma County – a 2005 Rodney Strong. Even drinking it out of the plastic motel glasses I could tell it was something worth writing about – so I am.

Tomorrow, we’re off to Healdsburg – via Mendocino! Hopefully it won’t take us 10 hours to get there.

Before the Road Trip

In response to several friends asking me to tell them about our road trip to California Wine Country, I've started this blog. I hope you find it interesting and check back frequently. We plan to head out in about a week. Already thinking about what to take. Have a bag of miscellany already started. Binoculars, wet-wipes, power cords for the electronics, AAA guide book, corkscrew, camera.... can you think of anything else we shouldn't go without?

Our initial thinking is to head to the Oregon Coast (Lincoln City) and drive down 101 to about the border on day one -- Brookings, maybe. Then take the next day to get to the heart of wine country. I hear Healdsburg and Anderson Valley are nice -- as well as Mendecino. We're playing it pretty loose and not making any advance reservations. I'll let you know as we go if this was a bright idea or not.

We took a little back-yard adventure today. Went to the Oregon City Locks. Pretty cool. I've always been facinated with the engineering of moving boats from the lower Willamette Falls to above the falls. Cool stuff. We walked down on a dock a little north of the locks to check out some fishing possibilities, too. That's where this picture of the 87-year old historic Oregon City/West Linn Arch Bridge was taken. Did you know it's going to be closed for repair starting later this year and lasting until 2011? I guess after 87 years, it really needs it!

Check back soon. I'll try to make daily posts once we hit the road.