2018 Road Trip - Napa and Sonoma Valleys

For a change of pace we spent a couple days in California's wine country. I was surprised on how expensive the wine tasting fees had gotten, especially in Napa Valley. I'm not sure how they can get away with charging for more than a bottle to sip a glass of wine, but we gave in for the most part.

In Napa we tasted at three wineries. Robert Mondavi was nice with beautiful grounds, but the kids got bored watching us drink. We had visited V. Sattui way back in 2002 and again had a wonderful picnic on their grounds with food from their deli. Peju was impressive with fancy artwork on their grounds, but their $40 tasting fee was not so impressive.

In Sonoma we visited five wineries. Two of which, Cast and Preston, we had visited in 2015. We stopped a St. Francis Winery just because it had the same name of the school. It turned out to be a good tasting experience and kid friendly. Foppiano Winery had a nice relaxed setting in their yard and served generous amounts of wine. It also had a place for the kids to play which reduced the wine whining. In general Sonoma was much more relaxed and cheaper than Napa.

We spent our nights camped at Doran Beach Campground on Bodega Bay. It was more of an RV campground, but our tent fit in just fine. It's interesting that the RV people tend to be more friendly than tent folks. The campground was on a jetty with lots of beach for the kids to explore. Unlike our other camps it was very cold, at least compared to the desert parts of our trip and the nearby Sonoma Valley. We barely had the right clothes to keep us warm at night. Fortunately the campfires were able to help out by being more than just a marshmallow roasting tool.