Day 50 – April 29 – Dry Creek Winery

Dorrie woke up with a bad headache.  Yesterday our plan was to leave at 10:30 and drive to a country store (Dorrie and Mary had been told about it at the visitor’s center) to get sandwiches and then head to a winery for lunch and a bottle of wine.

Because Dorrie didn’t feel good, I told Rick he should take the car to see about getting an alignment – the front tires were cupping pretty bad.  So he took off to handle that chore. 

I walked around the campground some and took a few pictures.

Our campers here at the Alexander Valley RV Park

The Russian River at the edge of the campground

Another view of the river

Dorrie got up not long after Rick left and we sat outside for a while.  Finally the flies got to us and we went inside.  Rick got back about 1:30 and we loaded up for the country store and winery.

The country store was just that – a real country store.  We got our sandwiches and bought a bottle of Damnation beer for Rick.  It had a wire cage on it holding the cork stopper in place.

We drove to Sbragia family vineyards – suggested by the visitor’s center for it outstanding view of the Dry Creek valley.

We had a coupon for 2 for 1 wine tasting and tried several of their wines.  Most were made from
their own grapes but they also used some Napa Valley grapes because the owner liked their grapes.  He was the head winemaker for the Beringer vineyards before starting his own winemaking.  All the wines we tasted were good, the best was a bottle of $80 Cabernet Sauvignon.  We didn’t buy that one – instead we got a $22 bottle of Sauvignon Blanc to drink with our lunch.  It was very refreshing.

Dry Creek Valley from the patio

Dorrie, Mary, and Me with our wine

Dorrie, Jody, Mary on the sofa, Rick being himself behind the sofa

We had a good time talking to the girl serving the wine – Jody.  We got her to come out for a couple of pictures with us on the patio.

Just as we were leaving we ran into another couple that came in for tasting.  They were from the state of Washington and when they heard about our trip, she suggested a couple of places we had to see when we went through Washington.  They seemed to be a very nice couple.  They wanted us to stay and drink with them but Dorrie really didn't feel that great and we left.

We returned home to the camper and had dinner.  The guy from Washington had told Rick about a brewery he had tried to go to earlier, but they were not yet open when he was there.  So after dinner we drove back to Healdsburg to the Bear Republic Brewing Company for some of their local brew.  It was pretty good beer.  Then it was back home for the night.

Tomorrow we hope to move to a campground in the Redwoods (they don't take reservations) and we will be without phone, wifi, and TV service for up to three days.  I will post when I can.