Location: Sonoma Area
Attractions: Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve, Seghesio Vinyards, Gloria Ferrer Vineyards

After a breakfast of eggs with guacamole on an English muffin, we jumped in our fresh-off-the-factory-line SUV and headed north to the Armstrong Redwoods Forest. We found a place to park and a trail to jump on and started walking.

The air smelled of sweet pine as we walked along a trail that ran along a slowly bubbling creek. The entire forest was shaded and cool from the ancient giants that stood all around us. Some of these trees were 1400 years old. Shortly into our hike, we saw one of these massive trees that had fallen. The force of its impact left some of the tree splintered into a thousand pieces. I can only image the sound it must have made when it fell.

As we were walking, we noticed right on the trail was a HUGE yellow slug. Upon closer inspection we noticed that the shape of it was a bit phallic. Come to find out later, it was a banana slug. It was very slimy and as we attempted to roll it off of the trail, anything that touched it stuck to it. I couldn’t help but feel we caused it more harm than good by trying to help it out. Oops.

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Once we got cleaned up and had a bit of lunch, it was WINE TIME. We knew we had to be to Gloria Ferrer by 2:00 because we had scheduled a tour, so we left plenty early so we could stop at at least one or two other wineries on our way there. Our friend that we were traveling with actually worked as a wine and beer salesman back in Iowa, so he had the knowledge that we lacked about wine and wineries. We passed a sign that he recognized as some good wine so we made our way to our first winery stop for a tasting at Seghesio. The wine was great and the guy pouring for us was nice enough to show us around the cellar.

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Our next stop was our tour destination at Gloria Ferrer. They are known for their sparkling wines and we had a sample while we were waiting for our tour guide. The tour was the perfect balance of information, drinking, and beauty. We saw the grape fields, wine caves, some old artifacts and got to watch the robotic way in which they bottle wines now. After our tour, we sat out on the gorgeous patio and sipped our wine. We also had a bit of water since the day’s hiking and drinking left us a bit parched.

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Once we had our fill of the Gloria Ferrer winery, we started back to our “love shack” but we had to hit one more winery on the way home. We decided to stop at Imagery. They had cool artwork around the tasting room and each bottle had some really cool artwork as well. Maybe it was because we were rushed since they were closing soon, or maybe it was because we had already been tasting wine all day, but I can’t say I was impressed by their wine. Once we got kicked out of Imagery, we stopped and got groceries, and some beer, and headed home for supper. Spaghetti Carbonara was on the menu and there wasn’t a noodle left when we were done.