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| Riverfront Regional Park near Healdsburg |
We're enjoying our daily visits to check in with Sarah, Joey, James and Emma Joy. They are getting along great and are requiring very little help as they all get acquainted and adjusted.
This has given us the opportunity to explore a couple of new places, as well as revisit some of our favorites from previous times we've been in this area. In addition to Angel Island, which I wrote about in the previous blog, we also visited Healdsburg for the first time.
Healdsburg is a small city of around 12,000 that is located in Northern Sonoma County. Known for it's numerous wineries, Healdsburg has been recognized numerous times as one of the top 10 small towns in America. After visiting for a day, it's easy to see that the recognition it has received is well deserved.
Healdsburg
We had received a gift certificate for a wine tasting at the Michel-Schlumberger winery from Sarah and Joey that we were anxious to redeem. It was a short 45 minute drive to reach Healdsburg, and we had a few other things on the itinerary before the wine tasting. First up was a hike at Healdsburg Riverfront Regional Park. This park, which features a small grove of redwood trees, is located adjacent to the Russian River, just a few miles out of the city of Healdsburg. It had a nice two mile trail around one of the two small lakes in the park that we enjoyed, even though we had to occasionally tip toe around mud puddles left over from recent rains.
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| From the hiking trail at Riverfront Regional Park |
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| Bald headed guy walking through the redwood grove. |
After the hike we had time to enjoy a nice bbq lunch at KINsmoke BBQ which is located on the square in downtown Healdsburg. When I think of really good BBQ, I don't typically think of California as a mecca for smoked meat, but we both agreed that the brisket and pork, as well as the sides, were all very good!
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| Brisket, Pork, Fried Pickles, Collard Greens and Cornbread......it doesn't get much better than that! |
KINsmoke
We still had a little time before our reserved time at the winery so we enjoyed walking around the town square. Although it was smaller than Sonoma's town square, we both felt that it was more diverse in the number and types of restaurants and shops, both on the square and in the surrounding blocks.
The winery was a few miles out of town, and was surrounded by acres and acres of grapevines in every direction. It was an impressive sight, even though the vines are dormant for the winter. We enjoyed a tasting of six different wines as well as charcuterie board of meats and cheeses. We're certainly no experts when it comes to wine, but the tastings are always fun.
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| A beautiful afternoon for a wine tasting! |
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| Cheers! |
Michel-Schlumberger Winery
We had only one disappointment on our visit to Healdsburg. Beth had found a place called Amy's Wicked Slush that looked amazing. Although the website said it would be open, unfortunately it was closed. I guess we'll have to go back sometime soon!
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| We sure wish this place would have been open! |
Amy's Wicked Slush
During the week we also enjoyed revisiting Bodega Bay and Stinson Beach. It was Stinson Beach where we rang in 2019, not having any idea of the precious gift we'd get on the last day of the year!
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| Bodega Bay, a little windy and chilly but always scenic |
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| Bodega Bay |
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| Stinson Beach is long and wide and on a weekday in January pretty much empty! |
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| Twelve Days Old! |
