Sonoma Stole My Heart

When Mike and I were planning our honeymoon to San Francisco, we both insisted that we get a couple of days outside of the city to relax.  What better place to relax than wine country, right?  As soon as I told people that we would be going to wine country, I was inundated with recommendations for wineries, hotels, B&B's, etc.  Everyone has their favorite spot in wine country it seems.

After a lot of internet research, I settled on Sonoma, California for our two days of wine and rest.  The main draw was that Sonoma was the closest city to San Francisco.  While Healdsburg and Napa are not that much further away, I didn't want to have to drive any further than necessary.  I also wanted something that was quaint and not filled with tourists and I had read that Sonoma was just such a place. 

When we first drove into "downtown" Sonoma and I was greeted with this site, I knew I had chosen wisely.

How cute is this city hall?  Directly to the right of city hall is this magnificent site, perfectly accentuated by an almost full moon.

The whole town was beautiful and everything you needed was within walking distance.  We stayed at a hotel right in Sonoma, The Ledson Hotel, which I will review on the blog in the future.  Staying in Sonoma was a bit more expensive, but the nice thing for us was that we didn't have to drive anywhere.  We could walk to all of the wineries' tasting rooms in the city.  There are also FABULOUS restaurants in Sonoma, all within walking distance. 

My favorite thing was that a block away from our hotel was a general store that sold wine, cheese and crackers.  They had the absolute best cheeses.  You could go in and sample the cheese too!  I made a fool of myself with the cheese.  We settled on a habanero cheddar and had the perfect snack in our hotel after a long evening of wine tasting.

I will be posting a lot on Sonoma in the coming months from our hotel recommendation to wineries, but for now I just wanted to post about how calming two days in Sonoma was for us.  We had the best time and left feeling totally rejuvenated.  We have often talked about our next trip to Sonoma and I can't wait for that.

And if any Bachelor fans need a further push to visit Sonoma, I give you Bachelor Ben's winery...

Down this row of beautiful ivy covered arches is the Envolve winery, which is owned by Bachelor Ben.  Funny side story, on our second afternoon in Sonoma, Mike was really tired and took a nap.  I got antsy and decided to explore the town.  I had this grand dream of going into the Envolve tasting room, sitting down to the bar to sip wines by myself and getting Bachelor Ben to spill all the Bachelor's dirty secrets to me over a nice chardonnay.  So, I went into the tasting room and there was no one there because it was 10:30 A.M.  There was this guy working with his back turned to me, and I had a panicked moment of it actually being Bachelor Ben.  What would I say?  Would I look like a complete weirdo drinking by myself before 11:00 A.M.?  So, I turned around and RAN down this nice cobbled street like a lunatic and then stood there wondering if I should go back and check if the man inside was Bachelor Ben.