Heading North to Sebastopol

Thursday & Friday, June 21-22, 2012
After saying goodbye to Dennis, we headed out for Sebastopol to visit a dear Surface Design Association friend, Joy Stocksdale, and husband Doug, stopping through the Napa Valley wine country on the way.

Years ago we visited the Barringer Vineyard with Dennis. This time we signed up for a tour and tasting at Robert Mondavi in Oakville, CA. Guess we aren't wine savy--the $50 a bottle we tasted didn't seem that much differenct than the $10 a bottle of Mondavi we buy at Costco.

2010 PNX Pinot Noir "The wine shows aromas and flavors of dark plum and black cherry with a hint of exotic spices, and subdued oak allows for full fruit expression. Only 900 cases produced."  We enjoyed the tour and tasting, but decided to wait to purchase our next bottle down the road.

Arrived at Joy and Doug's around 5 pm and spent the evening catching up. Joy treated us to some of her homemade lentil soup, salad and corn bread for dinner. We had her homemade cookies and truffles later with tea.

Saturday
We took a drive through the country side, also a wine producing area and had lunch at a sweet little spot in Graton, CA where we also took a walk.  Mel did notice a large population of VW vans in this part of California--made him smile.
The afternoon was spent checking out Joy's new work in her studio and Mel checked out some of Doug's vintage RVs and trailers which he collects and restores. His latest is an RV that has a roof that pops up (not pictured). A few from Doug's collection...
After another great meal, we enjoyed movie night--The Crying Game. Thought provoking to say the least.
Thanks Joy and Doug, oh, and Dinky for a grand visit.

(They admit, Dinky is a stinker...check out that little stinker below...)

Close Encounters with Dinky