We just had the most wonderful Labor Day weekend in Sonoma. Whitney’s friend from grad school has a little house up there (well, his parents do), so we got to relax in the forest for a few days. We went to a few wine tastings and vineyards, ate really good food, and lounged by the lake. It was great weather, great company, and great views, and it was just what we needed. To make it a little bit sweeter, Kipling got to join us on this vacation, and she was in heaven romping around outside and swimming in the lake. Living in California is wonderful because you’re always a reasonable drive away from some great vacation destination.
We drove up Friday and spent the night in San Francisco. It’s so eerie/cool to wake up to all of the fog.
Saturday morning we drove up to Sonoma. We grabbed delicious sandwiches from a deli and headed to our first vineyard, Quivira, for some wine tasting.
Each wine tasting served 4-6 different wines, and I reaffirmed my preference for white over red wine.
We were pleasantly surprised (though our friend checked before) that a lot of these vineyards were dog friendly, so Kipling got to join in on the fun!
Summer Berry Tart for dessert.
It’s a blurry Kipling, but I love this photo because it encapsulates how excited she was running around in the sunshine. Living in a little apartment in LA with only a small dog park nearby, Kipling hasn’t had the space to roam like she had in Texas. She loved it.
Another blurry Kipling. This vineyard had farm animals (cows and pigs), and it was so funny to watch Kipling meet these animals for the first time. I was trying to snap a photo of Kipling sniffing the cows (above), but then she got excited and started barking to play (the cows were a bit frightened).
But they were still interested.
Here she is meeting the pigs. I was a little nervous because she stuck her head through the gate to sniff right at their faces. No harm, no foul though.
I love love love…love love…sunflowers.
Family picture. 🙂
Afterwards we went back to the house and napped and snacked at the lake. So relaxing.
I’ll be back with a couple more posts about our trip, but, like, can we go back already?
Dress on sale at Topshop; shoes are Minnetonka that I got in New Mexico.
-wonderland sam
I really enjoyed your pictures! They are all lovely, especially the first few of the fog! I absolutely love wine tastings and vineyard tours. Sonoma sounds lovely!
For Labor Day weekend I visited a few friends in Austin and explored a new part of South Congress, I wrote about it here.
-Sarah
sarrrahgirl
Thank you! It was such a wonderfully relaxing trip, and I’m not even a big wine drinker.
I LOVE Austin. My husband and I just moved from Austin to Los Angeles in January. We had a short trip back there in July, and I so wish we could have stayed longer. South Congress is one of my favorite places, and all the food places you mentioned in your post are all DELICIOUS. Perla’s on South Congress is good for brunch, and if you haven’t yet, you have to try Gourdough’s!