california, day two: sonoma wineries and healdsburg

After a very poor night of sleep (the first night of trips, I always sleep terribly the first and second nights), we ate breakfast at the hotel, and then made our way to our first winery of the trip: Ferrari-Carano. We knew ahead of time that this day would be the worst weather-wise of the vacation. It was raining on and off and pretty chilly.

The grounds at Ferrari-Carano were nothing short of stunning!

this rose of pinot noir was wonderful, and I'm kicking myself for not having bought a bottle, since it is only available there at the winery

While we were tasting, another lady arrived and sat next to us, and it was fun to chat with her. Side note: this is one of my other favorite things about wine tasting--you meet so many fascinating people. She recommended we try the Siena. She said that she had been traveling for work to Minneapolis from New Jersey a month ago and had ordered it, and it's since been one of her favorite wines. We eventually discovered that she had had it at Bacio which is one of ours and my parents' favorite restaurants. Small world!

our favorite of the ones we tried! 

backdrop at the tasting counter

Now for the breathtaking gardens...(which reminded me of the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum at times...shout-out to my homeland!)

We realized we didn't have lunch reservations anywhere, so consulting our iPhones and Google Maps, we decided that the nearby town of Healdsburg would be our best bet. When we arrived to the area, we discovered that the place was hopping and parking was hard to find, but after we finally found a spot, we set out to find a restaurant by reading the menus displayed outside the establishments. We decided on an Asian fusion place called Persimmon. What a great decision that was! Had we known beforehand how enormous the portions would be, we wouldn't have ordered our own entrees plus the lettuce wraps, but you live, you learn. Brett ordered ramen and I ordered chicken stir fry. I figured my order would be boring but I wanted something healthy, so I went with that. While we were waiting for our food, (mind you-this was 2 pm and the place was packed, which I suppose was confirmation of sorts of what a great place this was!) we made brief conversation with a gentleman who was lunching with a friend who was a beauty salon owner down the street. After he found out we were from Minneapolis, he told us that he is going to be working security at the Super Bowl in Minneapolis in a couple years. He asked us about the night life there, and Brett told him to make sure to check out Marvel Bar. (Later on, before we left, he gave us his card and told Brett to email him the name of the bar so he would remember. He indicated on his card that he was a sergeant in the sheriff's department for Sonoma County, so if we had any trouble while we were there, to give him a call. This prompted Brett and me to perpetuate an inside joke throughout the weekend that we had a friend in the local police department, so if we could be lax when it came to jaywalking or parking illegally...I kid, I kid).

Then they brought out the gorgeous dishes of food and our jaws just about dropped at how exquisite they were styled and how unbelievably tasty they were!

I loved the decor in this place!

my insane stirfry with slender little egg noodles, roasted vegetables, and so much chicken that I had to leave most of it uneaten, which I am ashamed of to this day. Later on, after some Googling, I discovered that the chicken most likely contained turmeric, which to my utter dismay, discolored my clear bands on my braces to a ghastly neon yellow...I was able to brush them hard with toothpaste and dull the yellow a little, but they ended up a horrible dingy color the rest of the trip, and I was incredibly self-conscious of it for the rest of the trip, unfortunately).

Brett's beautiful ramen noodle bowl.

We strolled around the town a little since our next wine tasting wasn't scheduled for awhile. We both needed some caffeine and, when we chanced upon this delightful cupcake shop, we knew we had to sample some cakes, too.

We split Meyer Lemon and Strawberry Rhubarb which paired beautifully with the pour-over coffee

After we got back in the car to head out to Chalk Hill for our late afternoon tasting, I was starting to get nauseated, and I was also still dealing with a headache that had started in the middle of the night and was still lingering into the next day. The combination of food, coffee, and the wine before at Ferrari-Carano, not to mention stress and lack of sleep from the days leading up to our trip and sleeplessness the night before, seemed to hit me all at once and, I was really nervous that I was going to be sick. Throughout the tasting, my stomach started to settle, but I honestly don't remember anything about the wines at Chalk Hill, which is a shame. I think I only had a sip of each one, and I wasn't really into it. Brett took a picture of me and instagrammed it and I look so out of it, but it was because I was feeling so awful in that moment.

Unfortunately we had a dinner reservation at 6:15 (seriously, all I wanted at that moment was plain crackers and nothing rich or fancy) back at John Ash & Co at our hotel, and we almost cancelled it because my head was pounding and I felt sick again. Brett rubbed my neck when we had some downtime, and was able to work out some knots, and my headache pain abated for awhile. We decided to keep our reservation even though we weren't very hungry (lol) with the late lunch at Persimmon only a couple hours ago.

Thanks to God mercifully answering Brett's prayers that I feel better, I slept a little better that night, although I woke up at an ungodly early hour.

We decided that we would never have anything sweet in between wine tastings (Brett thought it had messed with his tastebuds for the wine, too). Lesson learned.