Wine Country - Sonoma Valley

Tuesday, June 22.  We left Napa Valley Campground and drove back into St. Helena for coffee and a trip to the money machine.  We went to a gormet market in Oakville and drove through Yountville.  Went into Napa, where we went to Oxbow Market, drove through downtown and to Hess Winery, where we toured their art collection.  There are so many vineyards you cannot hit even a fraction of them in a week, so they all have some kind of gimmick to get you to come to their vineyards.  Some have incredible haciendas, some brilliant gardens, some art collections in their mansions, and others have live entertainment in the gardens.  You don't even have to buy anything or pay an admission price.  You can just hang out in the gardens.  Bring a picnic, buy a glass of wine, and sit at the picnic table overlooking the vineyards and enjoy the music.  Not a bad way to spend a day (or a life)!

After touring the Napa Valley, we zigzagged over and toured the Sonoma Valley, arriving first in the town of Sonoma.  Okay, just leave me here~~really, this time.  Napa Valley, I guess, is supposed to be the equivalent of old money, the big flashy area.  Sonoma is the new comer, less flashy, more homey, but still, gracious and absolutely stunning.  It's the kind of place where you think:  "If I had all the money in the world, I would live here."  And, I think, that's about what it would take. 

Sonoma is laid out like an old Spanish town, with central town square with trees, a pond, benches, and lots of moms and kids.  There are historical buildings to tour, great food to eat, and ice cream.  We leisurely walked around town, spent a lot of time at the museum of early California life, and had ice cream.  We left town about dinner time and got a campsite at Sugar Loaf Ridge State Park.