Sadly, we had to leave Sonoma this morning. Our plan was to have breakfast at Creekside Cafe, go back to the Airbnb and clean up and check out, go to UPS and ship our friend’s wine back home to Illinois, and go home.

Three out of four isn’t bad. Our host told us he didn’t think we could ship wine at the UPS Store, and he was right – the franchise would need a wine shipper’s license, which apparently is expensive. They suggested Buffalo’s Shipping Post in Napa, so we drove over there (a pretty drive!), and they took care of everything. They even had menus on display for local restaurants, so we decided to go to Gott’s Roadside in Napa for lunch before heading home.

Gott’s was busy, but the line moved fairly well. After ordering, they said it’d be 25 minutes or so, and they were right. I had a very nice burger, sweet potato fries, and a small milkshake; Diane had the ahi burger, and our friend had the street corn. Everything was good, but the street corn smelled wonderful – I would think about going to the Palo Alto location to try it while it’s still in season!

After lunch and a brief walk in Napa, we hit the road; we weren’t in a hurry, so I did something I’ve always thought about but never had done in the 37 years we’ve lived here. We stopped at the Vista Point off the Lake Herman Road exit on 680 South and took a look at the ghost fleet. There’s not much of it left (when we first moved here, there were hundreds of ships; now there are fewer than ten), but I was able to get a photo of two of the ships (I didn’t realize there were two ships until I looked at the photo this evening – it looked like one ship with the naked eye).

And then we came home; it was nice to make dinner instead of going out!

We were up bright and early this morning so we could have breakfast before a long hard day of wine tasting. Breakfast was at Baker and Cook, very near our Airbnb. All three of us had the same thing – cinnamon french toast with apples, walnuts and pure maple syrup. The portions were generous, but I managed to finish mine!

Our wine tour was with Platypus Wine Tours; there were 10 customers on the bus, along with our guide, Luis. We visited three wineries, Roche, Mayo, and Bennett Valley Cellars, where the winemaker met us and gave us a private tour and tasting. We bought more than enough wine at each stop to have our tasting fees refunded – I think that’s a good investment, right?

Dinner this evening was at The Red Grape just off Sonoma Plaza. I wasn’t sure we’d be able to get in, since their reservations and waitlist had closed early this afternoon, but there was plenty of room when we got there just before 8pm. I wanted something sweet afterwards, so we stopped at La Michoacana and I got a guava paleta (frozen fruit bar).

It was a very nice way to spend Friday. Shabbat Shalom!