Beautiful Sonoma Valley!

Beautiful Sonoma Valley!
Yesterday we took a long drive across woods, mountains, and along the Pacific Ocean.

We first headed North of Petaluma and Santa Rosa, on highway 101, to Healdsburg, a very nice town which features a Spanish style architecture and has plenty of posh shops, wine tasting places, and restaurants.
We strolled in the city for quite a while, there were plenty of "brocanteurs" (called antique shops here, but to get the real feeling I'd say brocanteur). I almost bought an old picture of a Chinese guy with two young children .. but it was so big ... how to transport it back to Paris?
Then we had lunch in a nice restuarant that had a lot of tables outside, in a private garden.
From there, I had spotted a place for icecream, and we went and had one (as small and as expensive as French icecreams). We had our treat in a park in the center of the town.

Then we drove North towards Asti, along minor roads in the vineyards. I love to see how vineyards remodel the landscape.
The vineyards here are pretty high compared to the vineyards in the Loire (where I harvested last year). They look almost like bushes in some places!
So peaceful!




After a while, we headed towards the mountains between the valley and the Pacific Ocean. We passed Lake Sonoma and its refreshing view, and drove for more than one hour amidst sequoias, sky and valleys. Beautiful 35 miles of woods, mountains, high trees, and quietness.
A true regal!

At last, we arrived on the coast, and the Pacific Ocean, which makes me always a bit nervous, was majestic!
From there we drove South along Ca 1, and then back to Petaluma for a quick spinach leave salad with fresh poche organic eggs.