Sonoma Valley and a California coastal drive

Dear Friend,
Naturally and dramatically, beautiful is how I’d describe the coast of California north of San Francisco and the Oregon coast. We’ve gone to the Northwest about 5 or 6 times, to different areas and for different reasons each time. California is a huge state with so much to see that we aren’t through spending time there yet. Oregon was lovely and we’ve been back to Washington state once since our first visit to Seattle.
The Sonoma Valley was a detour on our coastal drive to Seattle from San Francisco over several days and it is what I want to start with because that was day one of this particular trip. This trip was mostly a driving trip along the coast. My husband and I and our grown son made this trip as he wasn’t married yet. We left San Francisco midmorning in a rental car. Despite having read a guide book about the area, we all felt like leisurely meandering, and just poking our noses in those things that looked interesting, so we did. We followed the map and the signs to the tiny town of Sonoma, California. We arrived about lunch time and after walking around the town square or plaza and browsing in the shops we found a little Italian restaurant and had lunch. Then we toured the Sebastiani winery which is right there in town.
We drove slightly east of Sonoma and stumbled into the Buena Vista Winery (That's the front door of the visitor center on the left.) which unfortunately was closed. It’s one of the oldest wineries in California dating from about 1857. Then when driving down country roads back towards Highway 1(the coastal highway) we saw a little sign that said “winery” and when we turned off to the direction the sign pointed this is what we found. (See picture to the right.)
It is a small boutique winery selling all of it’s product to people who live in California - I don't think they advertise. The owner was very interesting to talk with and we sampled a couple of his excellent wines. I believe the architecture is Russian. There is a Russian Wine Road in the area. There are other examples of Russian architecture in the area as well. Then back to Highway1 and we drove north. We spent that first night in a nice small motel right on the highway in Gualala (They pronounce it wa-la-la.)

There will be several days with posts about California, Oregon and the Seattle, Washington area. I hope if you’re thinking about where to go next and you haven’t driven the coast you will consider it. It was a very relaxing and interesting trip. Hwy 1 doesn’t have the traffic that we so often find pretty places – at least not so much during the week.

Take care,
MaggieGladYouCame