We Return to Kenwood Winery
We visited Kenwood in 2006, way back in the day, when Lisa and I lucked into a trip to Sonoma. We loved it. Lisa was DD that day, and I’m pretty sure I sampled every one of their wines. There are maybe 30 on the …
Author: Paul
Skip Willi’s Wine Bar for Happy Hour at Stark’s Steakhouse in Sonoma
We needed a snack. We’d decided to head to Willi’s Wine Bar, so I looked at their website to check their happy hour deals. They had none. Digging deeper, I found that their sister restaurant, Stark’s Steakhouse, has the “best happy hour deals in Sonoma.” …
Yummy Tacos in Sonoma
This is why it’s so tough to stay angry at California: Mexican food. Goddamn it’s good here. We had an amazing lunch at a food truck along the side of the road in Sonoma, just north of Healdsburg at the Taqueria Guanajualo Taco Truck. Lisa …
Goodbye, Oysters
After we turn in towards Sonoma, it’s all east from there on out. We’ll say goodbye to the Pacific … and its oysters. Sad day. Of course, it’s going to be tough to be more awesome than Indian Pass in Florida or Willapa Bay in …
Camping in California? Avoid the State Parks.
Honestly, they’re just embarrassing. As a state, California should be embarrassed by its parks. They’re shit. They’re just too expensive. Yes, people pay the fee, but they pay grudgingly, because there’s no alternative. They’re not nice-expensive, not cleaner than other parks (they seem dirtier), not …
The Lost Coast of California
Between Ferndale (to the north) and Rockport (to the south) along California’s Pacific coast there’s basically nothing. No real towns, no housing developments, no reality TV stars, hardly any roads even. Sure, there are things marked as roads on the map, but they’re just paved …
The Redwoods of California
If you want to see some big trees, aim for the Avenue of the Giants in Northern California, a road created so that through-traffic isn’t stuck behind gawking tourists on the 101 (my theory, since it mostly parallels the 101). The Avenue of the Giants is a …
Leaving Oregon
I’m going to miss Oregon. The full-service gasoline, the protected coastline, the strict development zones of its cities. California is coming. Fucking California. California is like Texas but filled with things I like. I like the wine, I like the weather, I like the geography … but …
Looking for a Pacific City Dory
I always grab the local newspaper. Always. You never know what you’ll find. You may be passing through a tiny town with a really awesome boat tradition and totally miss it without the local paper. With a little local news luck, we headed into Pacific …
Skype is Wonderful Too
Every year my family has a big meetup in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. We missed it this year because of our travels, but Skype saved the day. Thanks to Skype, we got to see and talk to everybody, including my cousin who’s now a mom, her …
Portland’s Evangelical Hipster Fundamentalists
In Salt Lake City, we found ourselves surrounded by believers, unsure what to do. Same thing happened in Portland. But instead of religious peeps, we were surrounded by hipsters, evangelical hipster fundamentalists. Beards, thick-rimmed glasses, skinny jeans, single-speed bicycles … oh my! Like in SLC, …
Trail Booty: What We’ve Found
I love the Mountain Gazette, the west’s great free adventure magazine. Recently, we read an article about trail booty, the stuff you find while playing outdoors. Here’s what we’ve found so far: 4GB SD memory card found along the Million Dollar Highway. We were keen …