a wine country 4th of july

Thanks to a twist of luck due to some out-of-town friends, we found ourselves spending most of 4th of July week housesitting/dog-sitting in Sonoma. For five glorious days, we lived the suburban wine country life in the small town of Healdsburg. We had cocktails on the back patio. We grilled. We played with the dog. We went for hikes right outside our front door. We found a lake. And we spent the actual 4th at the fabulous pool at the Francis Ford Coppola Winery.


From top left: You may assume these leafy vines are part of a winery, but it’s just a front yard in the neighborhood; our friends’ lovely back patio; the hilly view outside the front door; hiking; our charge – Bosco (he warmed to us); grillin’; homemade flatbread, grilled to perfection; the awesome, custom-made table with succulents and a space to hold cold drinks; this is what working from ‘home’ looks like in Sonoma; our discovery – Lake Sonoma – only a 15-minute drive from the house; the ‘beachy’ area we hiked down to on the lake; two views of Lake Sonoma from a lookout point; the pool at the Francis Ford Coppola Winery; celebrating the 4th of July