Taking the Kids: Traveling with millennials in wine country
It didn't take much convincing. The Fairmont Sonoma spa is one of my favorites with its indoor "bathing ritual" (I loved the water tunnel and scented steam) and outdoor thermal pools and beautifully landscaped grounds.
Afterward, appropriately relaxed, we indulged in a special birthday lunch in Sonoma at The Girl and The Fig, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this summer. "If it's not fresh, we don't serve it," said owner Sondra Bernstein. Think local cheeses and house-made cured meats, salads with greens and vegetables from local farms amazing matchstick frites and burgers, grilled cauliflower and roasted pumpkin for the vegetarians, all with local beer and wine.
The weekend we visited also happened to be Barrel Tasting weekend, which means for the price of a $70 ticket we could visit more than 100 wineries and sample wines, including some from the barrel. We managed three near Healdsburg -- all family owned -- Acorn Winery, Mietz Cellars and Christopher Creek. Besides the wine, the high point was hearing the vintner's stories -- the San Francisco lawyer turned winemaker at Acorn; the artist daughter joining her chemist/winemaker dad at Mietz.
Rather than spend all our time drinking -- and eating, we took advantage of the sunny weather and all Sonoma County, about the size of Rhode Island, has to offer -- more than 50 state and regional parks with hiking, biking (maybe a wine-sipping and cycle tour), birding (which we did right from our deck at theJenner Inn where it's not unusual to see eagles among the 200 species of birds) and, of course, the kayaking misadventure, which we'll certainly hear about the next time my three kids are all together.
"A really special birthday," my daughter said when we got back to San Francisco. "A great time," my son-in-law added.
There was just one disappointment: We'd packed such small bags we had no room to take any wine home.
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