Passport to Whine Country

My local SF friend M says to go North into wine country as often as possible while I'm in San Francisco, and so over the weekend my friend K and I did just that. On the recommendation of some good friends, we decided to skip Napa and Sonoma in favor of the Dry Creek Valley. We were assured by all that we Simply Couldn't Go Wrong. I mean, what could possibly go wrong? So off we went.

We first squeezed in a hike to Lake Sonoma. Here's K and the lovely aforementioned lake. Pretty, no?


It was hot and dry, and these little lizards seemed to love it. And some of them weren't so little.


After working up a good thirst, we were ready to hit some wineries. But when we got to our first one, were were in for a surprise. The parking lot was overflowing, there were tipsy people everywhere and guys directing traffic ... it was total mayhem. We got to the registration desk (huh?) and were asked to show our "passports". Blank stares. The registrar explained: this was Passport to Dry Creek Valley weekend. One passport would get us into private parties at all the wineries in the valley all weekend long ... but we needed a passport. No passport, no entry, no way, no how. And the passports were $120 each. Ouch. No, thank you!

Instead, we drove to Healdsburg, CA and decided to sample beers at the Bear Republic Brewery.


They make some interesting beers at Bear Republic, and we tried them all. Or I did. I was perfectly content. Then K drove me home. <hic>