oh-twelve wrap-up: fleet week, wine, music, florida and more

October and November are some of the best months in the Bay Area, with warm, sunny weather and lots of outdoor events (turns out it’s a great time to be in Florida, too). Even though it’s now a few months later (I got a little sidetracked), allow me to show off some highlights.


Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in Golden Gate Park; yoga for a cause in Union Square


The Fleet Week air show (with blue angels, a stealth bomber and more) in the bay


A visit to Ram’s Gate Winery in Sonoma with my aunt, in town from Missouri!


Thanksgiving week in Sarasota, Florida: Watching kitesurfers in St. Petersburg; waiting for the sunset at the Hurricane in St. Petersburg; sun setting over the Gulf of Mexico and creating a gorgeous sky; Siesta Key; Longboat Key; buddies at the Mote Aquarium; a manatee kiss on the aquarium window; a rather random group of animals at the Gulf Coast Sanctuary in Sarasota

sonoma (a.k.a. heaven)

Sonoma County is just an hour and a half away from me, and I go there fairly often, but I never get sick of it… or sick of taking photos of it. It’s like I think the next photo will be the best or most representative, which it never is but I can’t stop. On that note, here are several photos from several day and weekend trips to Sonoma over the past four months.

From top left: Medlock Ames winery; vineyards at Medlock Ames; Dry Creek General Store (a fave place to grab a beer and have lunch); the laid-back Preston Winery and all its cute touches (four photos); alfresco dining; homemade bruschetta with some local produce; Alpine Lake, which we stumbled upon while taking a windy non-shortcut from Highway 101 to the coast; the dam at Alpine Lake; overlooking the Pacific; Bolinas Beach (ok, this is actually in Marin County, not Sonoma, but it was part of a Sonoma trip); Bolinas; Bolinas main street; Saturday morning entertainment at the Healdsburg Farmers’ Market; great perch for wine tasting at Iron Horse Vineyards; views from Iron Horse; Red Car tasting room in Graton.

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