Writers and Wineries

Our first day in the Napa area we drove up through the Napa Valley and hiked up to where Robert Louis Stevenson had a cabin for a few months. Then we found a place for lunch that I'd seen on the Food Network. It was good. The milkshake was probably the best part of lunch, which in a way was disappointing, but the atmosphere and the food was great anyway.
Then we went looking for a winery. Found this one that was built to look like a castle... probably mostly as a marketing tool, but Sean said the wines were good, too.
I liked the sheep and chickens hanging out in the back.
Then we went looking for the Frog's Leap winery. It has been my favorite. They farm organically and don't irrigate their grapes. I smelled the wines and Sean got to taste them. They also grow all kinds of fruits and vegetables and have a chicken coop.

The gardens and flowers planted all around - as part of their organic farming technique - were beautiful. They even made our rental car - a Nissan Cube - look good.
note the frog weather vane...
After that tasting we went back to the hotel for dinner.

The next day we started at the Jack London State Park up in the Sonoma Valley.
Touring houses...
and ruins...
since his dream home burned before they got to move in...
and this "cottage" was too small for Jack London and his wife and all their treasures and guests...
I'm not sure what to think of Jack London and I think I need to read a biography - I think there may be a side of him the park doesn't show... but the gardens were pretty.
Then we had lunch and searched out wineries again. We went to one with an Italian market at it, and they recommended this one down the road - specializing in sparkling wines and pinot noir. And I got to have a cheese tasting while I smelled Sean's wines.
This winery also practices organic farming and the wine expert serving us said they use minimal irrigating, but are not dry farming like Frog's Leap.