chickenfeet (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
chickenfeet) wrote2008-09-02 07:53 am
chickenfeet) wrote2008-09-02 07:53 am
Vacation
We are in Petaluma. The flight down was uneventful and the drive up from SFO was made decidedly less stressful by the GPS. Sunday was mostly spent settling in, buying supplies etc. The lemur's favourite market here is Wholefoods. I can see why ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
panjianlien refers to it as Whole Paycheck.
Yesterday we headed off to Healdsburg and the delights of the Russian River Valley. We tasted at four wineries; Clos du Bois, Trentadue, Preston and Mazzocco. Clos du Bois was very good; excellent wines and informed, friendly staff. Actually they were all like that which reminds me why I like Sonoma so much more than Napa. Mazzocco is amazing. They make a Chardonnay and a couple of Cabs but their real raison d'etre is Zinfandel. They had fourteen Zins available. We tasted four aand all were quite excellent and very distinctive. It's just amazing how they bring out the character of each vineyard. Don't bother looking for their wines in stores. Like some of our Niagara faves they sell out through a combination of mailing list and cellar door.
We lunched at The Bear Republic Brewing Company in Healdsburg. We had brilliant burgers and I had fabulous garlic/parmesan fries with mine. The lemur had the very good lobster bisque. The star though was the beer. They do an IPA called Racer 5. It was amazing. When I described it as being "like Al's Cask on steroids" the lemur looked at me like I was nuts, until she tasted it. They also do a version with an extra hit of hops. It was good but essential balance seemed to have been lost. The Racer 5 definitely goes high on my best beer ever list.
All in all, the food and drink around here is amazing. The net thing to check out will be the seafood.
The only not so good is that, after months of behaving itself, my ankle is being a bugger. I ran yesterday in pain and I'm resting it today. We'll see where it is tomorrow.
panjianlien refers to it as Whole Paycheck.Yesterday we headed off to Healdsburg and the delights of the Russian River Valley. We tasted at four wineries; Clos du Bois, Trentadue, Preston and Mazzocco. Clos du Bois was very good; excellent wines and informed, friendly staff. Actually they were all like that which reminds me why I like Sonoma so much more than Napa. Mazzocco is amazing. They make a Chardonnay and a couple of Cabs but their real raison d'etre is Zinfandel. They had fourteen Zins available. We tasted four aand all were quite excellent and very distinctive. It's just amazing how they bring out the character of each vineyard. Don't bother looking for their wines in stores. Like some of our Niagara faves they sell out through a combination of mailing list and cellar door.
We lunched at The Bear Republic Brewing Company in Healdsburg. We had brilliant burgers and I had fabulous garlic/parmesan fries with mine. The lemur had the very good lobster bisque. The star though was the beer. They do an IPA called Racer 5. It was amazing. When I described it as being "like Al's Cask on steroids" the lemur looked at me like I was nuts, until she tasted it. They also do a version with an extra hit of hops. It was good but essential balance seemed to have been lost. The Racer 5 definitely goes high on my best beer ever list.
All in all, the food and drink around here is amazing. The net thing to check out will be the seafood.
The only not so good is that, after months of behaving itself, my ankle is being a bugger. I ran yesterday in pain and I'm resting it today. We'll see where it is tomorrow.
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Do you need tips for places to stay in Mendo? Many of them book up pretty far ahead, especially for weekends.
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Closer to Mendo is the Seafoam Lodge (937-1827), which also has great views but is east of the Highway; in the off-season it has great rates ($88/night) but at this time of year it's probably pricey. In the Village itself, the Mendocino Hotel (937-0511) is a beautiful old Victorian with a lovely restaurant, great location, but I bet it's expensive.
As for things to see and do here, we always take visitors to the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens (www.gardenbythesea.org) - we have memberships and free passes for guests. There are numerous excellent beaches for strolling along as well.
Mendocino Village is a charming place to wander around for a while - if shopping is your thing you can do that, otherwise just walk around and admire the pretty houses & landscaping. Several good places to eat & drink - I recommend Patterson's Pub for lunch, it is a true local hangout with a great selection of beers and surprisingly excellent food. Or, go to Cafe Beaujolais for either lunch (very good value) or dinner (expensive but said to be worth it). Mendocino Hotel is also good for lunch or dinner.
Fort Bragg is less charming but does have the North Coast Brewery and a nice little pub, Piaci's, well known among West Coast beer aficionados (and with a nice selection of wines as well).
If you'll be coming up in the morning, we could arrange to meet for lunch in Mendocino or Fort Bragg, then walk it off at the Gardens if that sounds good to you. Or something else, your call.
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Drive up tomorrow morning starting fairly early. We are staying in Fort Bragg (Beach House Inn) tomorrow night and then probably working back south with stops on Tuesday. Meeting up for lunch tomorrow would be excellent if it's not too short notice.
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