So if you read up on the events of yesterday's blog, you know that we had the most amazing weekend along the northern Sonoma County Coasts. I last left you with the breathtaking images in Gualala.
After lunch we headed back south toward the signs that pointed to a winery that was off the coastal path. But first we were sidetracked by an unusual looking building. We noticed it on our way up to Gualala, but didn't see it until we passed the turnoff. Being the much wiser traveler this time around, we knew where to stop.
The Sea Ranch Chapel is a small little spiritual center - they don't really associate themselves with any denomination. When we saw it on the way up, Dave said it looked like an Ewok house. It was a quaint little stop. Notice Dave trying to hold the chapel up in the photo above?
Ok enough of the chapel right? After hitting Sea Ranch, we headed east toward the wine!The one and only winery in this area was about 8 miles down this narrow windy road through the Redwoods. Another gorgeous drive, only no waves. We finally arrived at Annapolis Winery. They had 2 whites - which we skipped being the snobby red wine lovers we are. We lucked out, we had the owners wife pouring for us, and we managed to get 4 or 5 tastes ( I skipped the port), when we were only supposed to have 3.
They had really good wines, and we were torn between the Cab and the Zin, which we ended up deciding to buy a bottle of Cab - to remember this adventure of course.
After about 30-40 minutes at the winery, we made our way back down the windy road, back to the coastal windy roads. We stopped a few times to try and capture the huge waves we saw crashing along the shore. Of course every time we stopped the car, the waves calmed. Oh well... here a few great shots anyway.
Once we made it back to the Lodge, we packed up our bag with the extra blanket provided by the hotel, the wine glasses, some wine, cheese, and the cutting board - and headed out to the cliff to stake out our spot to watch the sunset. This was most definitely the highlight of our weekend.
We got there about 4pm, and the sun was supposed to set around 5:10 or so. So we snuggled up on the cliff and just took in the views and the monster waved (we kept joking that you'd think we'd never seen the ocean before the way we were ooooing and ahhhing). And of course my camera battery was dying, so it was tough to get a lot of shots - but we still managed.
How peaceful is that! I wish I could heard the crashing of the waves as the sun hit the water... it was amazing!After the sun set, we packed up and headed back toward the lodge - and we happened upon a family of deer grazing in the grass. At one point, one of the fawn was within 20-30 yards of us. Of course at this point my camera would barely stay on, let alone focus and zoom, so we didn't get very good shots....
This one you can see the deer along the green grass path... and in the distance is the lodge where we stayed.
We then returned to the room, and started BBQ'ing our dinner - Fillet Mignon, baked potatoes and caesar salad. Oh yeah, you can't forget the bottle of wine. Yes, the lodge provided the BBQ and the charcoal as well! Who needs to go out to eat when you can enjoy scenery like this and don't need to find a DD to maneuver those windy roads!
Sunday morning when we got up, we stayed in bed, drank coffee and watched a "breakfast movie" - something we haven't been able to do since before Drew was born! It was heavenly.We decided we'll definitely come back here - it was the absolute perfect romantic getaway! Just what the doctor ordered.
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