Sonoma

Sonoma, California was never before a destination in mind. Neither for my parents – while I was a child in the Bay Area – I had been no farther north than Sausalito,  nor during my brief time in port when the Navy ship at the long- closed Naval Station Alameda 32 years ago. Nor had my wife and I come here during our now, more- than-23 years married.

Those missed opportunities are now atoned history.

The fog rolling toward us yesterday evening bolstered my Boy Scout-era trip preparation.

Leaving southern California with a jacket, for a week of temperatures expected to be over 75 F could have been ridiculed by my friends. However, in a region an hour’s drive from the San Francisco Bay and San Joachin delta, a remark long attributed (falsely) to Mark Twain about the foggy chill here in summer, helped me pack last week. When the fog settled over us, we both were kept comfortable by her blanket and me, my jacket.

Relaxing on a dairy farm, in the Napa valley accompanied by alpacas, wild turkeys, deer, hawks and a black cat named Hazel, I am already thinking when we might return.

Though the manager had already welcomed us, the cat – like our own “feral” Kitty, showed us around the farm and decided to call on us after dinner.  We enjoyed yesterday’s sunset from recliners, with champagne (host-provided), hearing the clucks of the turkeys in the brush, and in the company of Hazel..

A couple hours beforehand, we walked up the drive to a barn where John was milking cows.  He filled 3 bottles for each of the hungry calves in pens across from the milking machines. I made a “worked on a horse farm in my teens” which was admittedly lame. He instead, offered Sheri a nippled bottle of just- drawn milk to hand feed one. 

Though the fog has only cleared by late morning (July 29th), we have had a full experience. Since dawn, when I assumed it was John heading to the barn to milk the cows (every 12 hours), we have been visited by deer, seen the alpacas up close, and been greeted by Hazel.

Tomorrow we head homeward leisurely via scenic highway 101, as we will need a good disposition while navigating through Los Angeles and the San Diego freeway.