For my mom’s 60th birthday (June 4th) and a belated gift for my 30th, my mom, good friend Rabia, and I spent the past week biking through Napa and Sonoma, CA. Rabia and I hadn’t taken a trip together since our trips to Florida when we were tweens, so it was a fun trip down travel-memory lane.
Road biking is a wonderful way to see the vinyards and taste the wine of Napa and Sonoma. We joined a tour via Backroads, which offered plush beds, really good food, and luxury off-time when not pedaling….it was awesome! Did I mention the spa time?…yeah, that was pretty amazing too. We typically biked 30-some miles each day, stopping at wineries to taste wines or grab lattes at cute coffee shops in the Russian River Valley. Some in the Backroads group opted for the 70- to 80-mile options, but I’m pretty content with our scenic choice.
First day of riding outside of the Etude Winery…we had overcast skies for the first two days.
My mom and Rabia triumphing Sonoma Mountain Road…our burliest mountain of the trip.
Lavender was in plenty everywhere…I bought way too many lavender bath products. It smells sooo good!
We rode the coastline for about 10 miles after spending the night at the Bodega Bay Lodge in Bodega Bay. It felt good to see the ocean…I even touched the sand. From the coast we cut in along the Russian River Valley…beautiful.
After biking up the coast, along the River, and through a valley, we rode through the Redwoods before stopping for lunch…all that in one morning. This was a really big tree, which made a great shot for Mom and me…it made me feel small after all the gourmet eating.
Coffee pit stop…it was hard to get back up. The sun made it a lot easier to keep cruising.
Rabia tasting wine at the Arista Winery…following a lunch in the Redwoods. The grounds were covered in lushes lavender and a Japanese garden. It made sipping wine that much more enticing….I recommend the Zinfandel.
Just a few more miles ’til our stay at the Madrona Manor.
Mom and me at the Madrona Manor…ready for dinner and wine. The dinner was hosted by Eric Kent wineries who gave an informative tasting that gave us some great insight and eduction on wine making in the valley. I loved his Russian River Valley Pinot Noir and his art-inspired labels.
Keep on truck’n.
Vinyards on the way to the Robert Young Winery…last stop before the spa. Robert Young offered a great tour of his cellar and was very kind.
Oak barrel outside of the Grey Stone Cooking Institute in St. Helena, CA.
We started and ended in San Francisco…what a cool city. Hotel Monaco took very good care of us…I dropped for an entire extra night after getting strangely sick to my stomach and puking throughout most of the extra day I had put aside for some city time. It’s always a little embarrassing when you find yourself vomiting into a clear plastic bag along the sidewalk on Market St. in San Fran. I’m not sure if it was a 24-hr bug or food, but it was a miserable day…major bummer. After three $19.00 hotel movies, some room service, and good company, I survived and felt great the next morning….I’ll deal with the Am Ex bill later.
Farmer’s Market at the Ferry Building Saturday morning….deep breathing through the nausea while the girls browsed.
After recovering from the whole stomach thing, we had a few hours to catch a great brunch with Rabia’s friend Haley the next day before catching our flight. I did manage to squeeze in a killer sale at Anthropology and some H&M speed shopping as well.
It was a beautiful last day in the city.
