Picked up the rental from the airport today… Buuuut it iRosie was chuffed, upgraded our Mustang Convertible to her dream car, a 2011 Chevy Camaro Convertible……we just upgraded our Ford to a Holden in layman’s terms, go GM! After only one hour of being on the road Rosie asked if it actually had suspension….the Operator said ‘yes, in the seat’ and all the rattles, limited visibility and challenging luggage contortions simply added to the character…..Rosie and the Operator swore they would never complain about their BMW again. But its red, and it is a convertible and looks pretty mean!
We left the airport and headed toward the Golden Gate Bridge as per the assistance of our new best friend, Miss Garmin GPS. The Operator was driving like a native and loved the 4 way stop signs…we believe it was first to the stop, first to go….assertiveness rules in these conditions and we were raring to go! The day was warm, the sky was blue and as we rolled over the Golden Gate bridge, the fog was pretty thick.
See the fog bank over the Bay?
The photo doesn’t look as bad as it was, the whole San Francisco skyline was obscured, glad we weren’t cycling today!
We headed out of town on SH 101, the traffic was pretty light and we were cruising…Katy Perry blasting out of the stereo much to The Operators disgust. The city disappeared pretty quickly and within half an hour we saw out first herd of cows…that is ‘grass feed and no growth hormones used’ as per what the milk bottle says…Fonterra you are no too bad after all…$1.99US for a litre of the white stuff. HHmmmm only $3.25 for a bottle of Miller……Miss Garmin said Sonoma was only 30 mins away as we cruised past San Quentin prison, wouldn’t it be cool to rock on up and say you wanted to visit the most bad assed prisoner there……anyway, we were still cruising……Mariah Carey had taken up residence, they advertised it as a Rock station, differing opinions there big time!
The highway turned barren, the grass was burnt and bleached, houses and towns seemed few and far between and we are only 45 mins from the city as we turn into Sonoma County, tumbledown barns and unpainted homes flash past, we switch back to a two lane road and slow to 25 miles an hour, then the grape vines appear and the landscape perks up abit.
Sonoma township is home to 9900 people, it is so Victorian it is crazy, wooden villas dominate the township with flags flying off the porches, the town is built around a square which is simply picturesque. We got there pretty late so will show you some snaps tomorrow, we will be out and about early on a walking tour of the town and out for a wine tour before we head off again.
We splurged abit tonight and decided to stay in Sonoma at the El Dorado Hotel, we had a beautiful dinner at The Girl and the Fig |Bistro, http://www.thegirlandthefig.com/ was one of the most different and best meals we had ever had, an entree of bio dynamic radishes grown on the restaurants farm ( this is California) with a mild anchovy butter, was so crisp fresh and crunchy, coupled that with a steak tartare with mustard and capers….delish. The Operator had Pork Belly and Scallops for a main while Rosie had a Smoked Trout Salad. Rounded the night off with a very light pumpkin cheesecake….google pumpkin cheesecake Ash, it is delicious!!!!!!
We were only 50 mins out of the city and already it is like being in another laid back chilled world, this place is majic!
