Bringing Down the White Picket Fence
A Couple's Quest to Live Globally
I spent the night in this dress, sandwiched in an economy class seat in a pressurized capsule that transported me across the Atlantic. In France, in the early morning hours, Paul lugged my suitcase up the narrow wooden steps to our third floor apartment, and I pulled up a chair to my favorite window in all of Paris. Here I’ve watched a man stop daily to feed the pigeons. I’ve watched young Parisians open cafes and close them, all in the same day’s work. I’ve watched the rain pour down over polka dot umbrellas, and I’ve leaned out cautiously to witness a quarrel in the street. This is my window; the one that opened my eyes and taught me to see.
Another cafe; this one in Provence. How many stories can we tell with just one photo? I’d say the guy in the shorts, legs crossed and hands placed perfectly upon his leg, is pretty pleased with his ponytailed friend. She’s said something that’s made him proud. He’s impressed. What about the woman just behind the lady in the fancy dress and the cute shoes? She’s at the cafe next door, but she’s awfully unhappy. Tongue in cheek, hand on her forehead, she’s tired of the backpackers tromping through the local cafes, bumping her table. “Remember when it was just us?” she asks. He does; he certainly does.
Have you ever picked up the New York Times, read about a place, and told yourself that one day you’ll go there? Do you really mean it? Do you cut it out and save it and show it to anybody who will listen? “Read this. Doesn’t this sound great?”
That’s Healdsburg. It didn’t happen right away. We read the article and two years or so later, we made it happen. We planned it quickly, just moments after lying in bed debating just how to pull off the perfect last minute spring break vacation.
There’s wine country. There’s Sonoma. And then there’s Healdsburg. Just about the most perfect small town you can find, with a plaza full of tall, lush trees with tasting rooms and restaurants galore. It sits nestled at the crossroads of Dry Creek, Alexander, and Russian River Valleys which means you’ve got endless amounts of wine and vineyards just a short drive in every direction.
Where We Stayed
We stayed at The Healdsburg Inn, a Four Sisters hotel located right on the plaza. It’s quaint and cozy and within walking distance to everything Healdsburg has to offer. Breakfast is cooked and served every morning and wine and cheese is offered every night at 5PM. Be sure to stop at the front desk and ask for two-for-one tasting coupons. The ladies at the front desk are extremely helpful and always willing to point you in the right direction. Cookies are available all day too!
Where We Ate
We arrived to Healdsburg early in the morning and since our rooms weren’t ready, we headed to Costeaux French Bakery for breakfast. Here is where Paul made the best decision of all of us, and the one I would most recommend for breakfast in Healdsburg. Don’t go for the $15 omelets like the Moms and I did. Just go for the Bloody Mary. For just $9, it’s a complete breakfast. And you see the spices around the glass? That’s not Old Bay. That’s Tajin, and it is amazing!
Healdsburg is well known for some restaurants that are a pretty big deal. Restaurants like Barndiva, Dry Creek Kitchen, Valette, and Chalkboard are just a few of the places listed at the top of “best restaurants in Healdsburg.” We didn’t get to these restaurants, mostly because when you are eating and sipping wine all day, small meals become your go-to thing. The places we did eat did not disappoint. Here are a few that we highly recommend:
If a fresh sandwich or salad is all you need midday, go to the Oakville Grocery, just steps away from the Healdsburg Inn. Everything is fresh and delicious here and the bread is outrageously good. Sit outside in the California sunshine and watch as people come and go through the plaza.
If brisket is your thing, head across the street to Kinsmoke. Paul and I stopped in here just to check the place out (we’d already had lunch). The staff was so friendly and when they heard that we weren’t eating, they gave us a taste of just what we were missing. With a sample of brisket in front of us, I couldn’t help but put together my own bbq sauce tasting. Paul and I differed on which ones we liked best, but it’s safe to say, you really can’t go wrong with any kind of bbq sauce. This place is definitely on our “must go back” list for whenever we find ourselves in Healdsburg again.
For the best happy hour in Healdsburg, head to Bravas Bar De Tapas. You’ll feel like you’re walking into someone’s home. Head straight out back and sit outside on the patio. Happy hour here is called Local’s 420 Hour since everything listed on the menu is $4.20. We highly recommend pulling up a seat at the bar for the bocadillo and the patatas bravas. Repeat after me, bocadillo.
If after a long day of vineyard hopping, a dozen oysters is more of what you’re looking for, head just across town to Willi’s Seafood and Raw Bar. Owned and operated by the same restaurant group as Bravas Bar De Tapas, Willi’s is serving up fresh oysters and seafood all day long. The service is friendly and the oysters are perfect.
Campo Fina is another great place for a snack or a full meal. Here you can play some bocce or spend your time at the bar snacking on tuna stuffed sweet n’ spicy peppers. I’m sure you can guess what I opted for. If you’ve gone too long without pizza, this is where you can also satisfy those bread, sauce, and cheese cravings. If you want our recommendation, go for the Pizza Anchovy. It’s divine.
You can’t go to wine country without having a picnic in a vineyard. And you can’t get your picnic from any other place than Big John’s Market. It may look like just any other grocery store when you pull in, but it’s just not. Order up a few sandwiches, grab some napkins and plastic utensils, and head to a vineyard that allows you to bring a picnic lunch. We had our Big John’s Market spread at Dry Creek Vineyards, which is a gorgeous setting for eating gorgeous sandwiches. Paul and I are still debating which vegetable sandwich was better: Oakville Grocery or Big John’s Market. We’ve settled on the fact that we just can’t say one was better than the other. They were both superb.
If there is one piece of advice that you take from this post, it should be this one. Just across the street from Oakville Grocery is a rather modern looking tasting room called Lioco. You should go there on a Tuesday at 4PM, right when they open. Why Tuesday, and why right when they open? Every Tuesday from 4-7, you will find Houtskool Dumplings, a pop-up dumpling shop serving little bundles of homemade love filled with vegetables, meat, and fish. They call them “artisan dumplings for everyday life” and they are just incredible. This is why you must arrive when they open. Other people know just how good they are too. Order them all with a bottle of wine for the best dumpling tasting of your life. By the way, the wine at Lioco is good too.
Tastings and Vineyards
Our first visit to a wine tasting room in Healdsburg was at Williamson Wines. The lady at the front desk of the Healdsburg Inn said this is the place to go since the emphasis is on food with wine. Since she was speaking my language, we headed straight to Williamson, where the owner sat us down and gave us a full education on Williamson’s wine and the food that goes best with it. We had such a good time here and enjoyed the experience so much that we became members. Rarely can we find a winery that ships to New Jersey, but Williamson can, since they don’t produce enough wine to use a distributor. You cannot buy Williamson in a store, but you can have it delivered straight to your door if you’re part of the club. The other perk to becoming a member of Williamson? Their recipe collection! On their website you can find a database of recipes created to pair with each of their wines. I am so eager to get our first shipment and start my own little culinary adventure, complete with wine pairing, right from my kitchen.
Aside from Dry Creek Vineyard, we also took a trip out to Ferrari-Carano Vineyards and Winery. This was my mother-in-law’s favorite stop of the whole trip. It wasn’t the wine that sold her, but the estate itself. With its beautiful gardens situated on a massive property filled with vines, this is what most picture wine country to look like. If you go here, make sure to walk downstairs and check out the barrel room.
Our Take on Healdsburg
We are simply head-over-heels in love with this little town. So much so, that Paul keeps giving me all of these reasons why we need to go back. I don’t know if I can completely trust him, or if he’s just looking for a way to get back to his late night ice cream spot, Noble Folk. Either way, I don’t need a reason to head back to Healdsburg. There are still so many restaurants that I haven’t had a chance to visit yet. Like any vacation for me, this was the “so much food, so little time” situation I always run into.
If you are headed to wine country, please, please, please remember it’s not all Napa. In fact, it’s so much more.
This photo was taken out the window of our hotel room in Lyon, France. Usually, I remember the names of every hotel and restaurant we’ve stayed at, but this one, I can’t recall. This usually means there wasn’t anything memorable about it, or I didn’t like it, but there are so many memories from our stay in this hotel that are just…funny. Here are a few:
- You had to walk through the train station to get there. That is if you took the train all the way to the station. Or, you could get off the train a stop earlier and taxi your way to the next train station. We know this by experience.
- The room was like a closet and if you looked out the window you saw nothing. But if you turned your head right, you saw a magnificent view of Lyon (see above).
- You go to Lyon to eat, but you should not eat the cheese plate at the hotel after a bouchon lunch and just before dinner. We advise against this.
- We’re still not sure if you were supposed to eat the salted crust around the steak. We are leaning towards no on this one, but we ate every bite. It did taste kind of salty, and it was a particularly long walk back to the hotel after all that cheese and salt.
- And if I didn’t mention, it is terribly inconvenient to traverse a train station just to get to the front door of your hotel.
This is pure happiness. Headphones, a good book, and the French countryside. This high-speed train swept me from Paris to Lyon and then to Provence. Another summer after a stressful school year (as if I knew what stress was then). This country taught me how to take deep breaths. I savored every minute of calm, and now I long to go back.
I long for this. Sitting by the water in short sleeves, reading a book by the water with a huge Ferris wheel looming over me. It’s Seattle in August. It could be a guidebook to Japan or a bartender’s manual of cocktails. Perhaps it’s his own novel. Whatever it is, this man is going places.
I’m always looking for a good bike to ride when I’m traveling. As long as I can get myself on the right path within good distance of the city streets, I am ready to ride. We rented these bicycles from the Westin Bayshore Vancouver and took a ride along the water on the bike path around the park. We pulled over to take in this incredible view of the city before heading back to our hotel to ready ourselves for our Alaskan cruise. The Westin Bayshore is right on the water. It’s a great place to stay before embarking on a cruise, especially since you can watch your ship come in during the early morning hours right from the convenience of your hotel room.
I could look at this photo for hours. There is so much life here; so many stories, dreams, worries, and thoughts. There are people smiling, enjoying a night out with friends, while others sit and speculate. I could pick any person from this scene and tell their tale. Of course, it would be a work of pure fiction, as I’m sure I could never truly know what that man is wondering about, the one in the center looking towards the sky. Or the girl with her hand on her head, her elbow in the air. Did her boyfriend break up with her? Did she drink too much wine? Is she out of cigarettes? I could write a book of short stories all about the people who sat at the Bar du Marche on a warm summer evening in the city of Paris.
One of the best ways to see San Francisco is with the tour company Vantigo. On the San Francisco City Tour, a Volkswagen bus picks you up right from your hotel to take you on a ride around Fog City. You’ll stop several times along the way to capture great photos while checking out Twin Peaks and the Golden Gate Bridge. Your driver will give you the full rundown of the history of the city while impressing you with his stick shift skills as he navigates those hills and parallel parks the bus. If you love this tour, there are others to choose from like San Francisco City and Alcatraz Combos or the Craft Brewery Tour. By the end of the day, you’ll be ready to pack your bags and live the van life.
They say the third time is a charm, and I think Paul and I agree, this trip to California wine country was the best one yet. We did it all wrong the first time, improved upon it significantly the second time, and nailed it the third time. While I don’t regret any of our travel adventures, we often learn from our experiences. So, let’s recap:
Trip #1-On our month-long cross country trip, we stopped in Napa for a night. After several sleepless nights of tent camping and many long, long days of driving, we weren’t up for hopping around Napa Valley with a wine glass. What we saw: the Culinary Institute of America, Yountville, and the inside of our eyelids (we were so tired). The good: we discovered Hog Island Oyster Company and figured out the location of The French Laundry (just in case Thomas Keller sends us a personal invite and we need to get there quickly).
Trip #2-You want to see wine country the right way? Then head straight to Sonoma Valley. We hit up Sonoma as part of a three-part trip that also included San Francisco and Carmel. On this trip, we discovered the Four Sisters Inns, a small chain of adorable California boutique hotels that run similar to a bed and breakfast, including a wine and cheese hour at 5pm each evening. Kind of like a Kimpton, but more like staying at the home of your California friend whose mom knows how to make a good quiche and a classy cheese plate. On this trip, we ate one of the best meals of our lives at The Girl and the Fig (no other soft-shell crab will live up to that one) and learned about the incredible existence of biodynamic vineyards. We went on a tram tractor tour of Benziger and ate a grape straight off the vine.
Trip #3-Third times the charm. Here are some of the details of our latest adventure, plus links to all of the good stuff, just in case you are planning a trip full of California sunshine and wine. This post is all about our stay in Sonoma. Stay tuned for part 2 to learn all about our stay in the beautiful town of Healdsburg.
How We Got There
We flew Southwest Airlines out of Philadelphia. I couldn’t resist the price of the early morning flight to Chicago, then Chicago to San Francisco. Because our flight left at 6 AM, we stayed at the Marriott Philadelphia Airport the night before. Since this hotel is conveniently connected to the airport, you can roll right out of bed and into the terminal, avoiding the hassle of hailing down the hotel shuttle. Added bonus: rooms with an airport view allow you to continuously watch planes take off and land.
I know I say this a lot, but I love Southwest Airlines. I’ve always loved them for various reasons, but just about every time I fly them, they give me more and more reasons to stay loyal. On our flight from Chicago to San Francisco, we had a bachelorette party sitting behind us, on their way to celebrate in Napa. The flight attendants made the bride to be a crown out of bags of Southwest pretzels, then had her walk down the aisle before we made our descent. Once on the ground, they played “Going to the Chapel” while she and her friends giggled in glee and pronounced their love for Southwest over and over again, in both verbal and Instagram hashtag fashion. Just like that, Southwest gained another group of loyal fans.
Paul captured this shot right out of the plane’s window. The Rocky Mountains at 35,000 feet are pretty spectacular.
After landing in San Francisco, we picked up our rental car and began the foggy, then sunny drive to Sonoma.
Sonoma
We were greeted at The Lodge at Sonoma with white sparkling wine garnished with a deep red raspberry. After checking in, we took in a little California sunshine by the pool before indulging in our first cheese plate of the trip.
The Lodge at Sonoma is a gorgeous resort conveniently located a short walk from Sonoma’s town square. With a cozy lobby and bar and a breathtaking pool, you’ll feel tempted to never leave the hotel grounds. You get a complimentary glass of sangria each day of your stay and daily wine hour begins every evening at 5 PM with tastings courtesy of a local winery.
However, we highly recommend walking to town or, if you’re feeling nostalgic, hopping the coolest hotel shuttle you’ve ever laid eyes on. Who wouldn’t want to take the teal VW bus?
Sonoma Eats
The Girl and the Fig is one of the best restaurants in Sonoma. The food is excellent and the French bistro ambiance pairs well with California wine. Go for the Bistro Plats Du Jour and add the wine pairing. For $54, you get an appetizer, entree, and dessert each paired with a small glass of wine that enhances the flavor of each course. This three-course seasonal menu changes every Thursday. During our most recent visit, our Girl and the Fig experience started with an asparagus salad, followed by lamb sausage over Sardinian pasta (fregola). In true French style, dessert consisted of the chef’s selection of cheese presented to you on your own board.
You don’t have to go with the Plats Du Jour to enjoy everything The Girl and the Fig has to offer. My mom thoroughly enjoyed her wild flounder meunière over yukon potato purée with spinach and lemon-caper brown butter. And if ice cream is more your style rather than cheese, the tahitian vanilla bean ice cream-filled cream puffs with bittersweet chocolate sauce is sure to satisfy all of your dessert-filled dreams.
Breakfast in Sonoma is done best with a visit to the Sunflower Caffe. If the sun is shining, order up in the front and carry your number straight to the back patio. The avocado toast wins best dressed in this beautiful setting, and the poached egg atop is essential in making it perfect. If avocado toast just isn’t your thing, you won’t go wrong with any item on the menu. In fact, you’ll probably stand in line for quite a while trying to calculate just how many times you can eat breakfast while visiting the town of Sonoma.
Vineyard Visits
There are so many vineyards to choose from when visiting wine country, and it’s hard to narrow it down to just a few. One of the best ways to choose is to visit the front desk at any hotel you are staying at. No matter where you lay your head, the hotels always have two for one tasting coupons at nearby wineries.
We visited Buena Vista Vineyards for our first tasting of the trip. Buena Vista is known as the oldest vineyard in Sonoma. It is a historical landmark and the grounds are phenomenal. You can visit Buena Vista just for a tasting or bring a picnic and enjoy a meal amidst their beautiful surroundings. The staff at Buena Vista are charming and they gave us our own personal tasting in their wine cave. We sat at a big glowing marble table while we learned about the history of Buena Vista while sipping their different varieties of wine.
Our second tasting was back at Benziger in a town called Glen Ellen. We had been there before, but we wanted our moms to also experience the tram tour and learn about a biodynamic vineyard. Because we were visiting at a different time of year, we were not able to taste a grape since they weren’t there to taste. Grapes are usually picked in September, so most of the vines at this vineyard were bare. Biodynamic vineyards are unique in that they are not allowed to use any type of chemical on their vines. Wine growers study how to keep predators away through natural means, with fields devoted to attracting the insects that would normally wreak havoc on the grape vines.
Heading to Healdsburg
A couple of years ago, Paul and I read an article in The New York Times about a small town in wine country. Healdsburg, with its plethora of restaurants and its charming town square made it on our list of places we just had to go. Stay tuned for part 2 of our wine country adventure: Healdsburg.
Bringing Down the White Picket Fence 