San Fran Day One

Yep. We made 'er. After a 5 hour delay in Milwaukee we made it to San Fran. We grabbed our rental car, which makes me feel a bit like a hamster everytime I hop in. See why?
After settling in to our room at 7am, we grabbed breakfast at the hotel restaurant. We were tired but hungry. We sat next to a couple from England and another couple from Germany. We kinda feel like the minority here. There are so many different languages spoken everywhere you go.

We found a place to park, other than the hotel at the bargin price of $25 per day. (yes, that is a STEAL, hotel wanted $40)... at least the rental was cheap! Then we unpacked and napped until 11 am local time.
We decided to check out the Napa Valley/ Sonoma Areas. We have been to San Fran a hand full of times but never to that area, or even over the Golden Gate Bridge. That was the plan for the day.

We stopped by the visitors center as we arrived in the Napa area and when the guy uddered the words "free cheese tasting' my ears perked up. Blame my dairyland roots but I loves me some CHEESE! Wine? Not so much. It puts me to sleep. Honestly, sometimes I'd rather suck on a lemon. But it was neat to see all the plants and learn some things about the trade.
Before we found the winery we were looking for stumbled upon the Sonoma Cheese Store. Like any good Cheese store, they had a huge assortment of FUDGE.


The winery we toured had a guy that carved signs for them for 19 years. This was the wine makers calendar... showing what they did each month of the year.







They also had one of two of the biggest barrels in the world. There is only one other like it... in Germany.
















The tour guide showed us how the vines grow, and described why they have roses, thyme and other plants nearby. They are to show when bugs are getting close to the vines to protect them.















We took a stroll along Fisherman's Wharf... amid the pigeon's and tourists...