Thanksgiving!

Lil meeting Josh & Megan's son at Rudgear Park on Sunday afternoon.  She was very sweet with him even though he's pretty much too young to be fun.  ;)  He was thrilled with her, laughing and at one point checking to make sure she was watching while he demonstrated his masculinity by climbing a rock.

Matt and I left for wine country at 9 on Monday.  We hadn't planned on going to Turnbull but Matt made a clutch sharp right when we saw the sign.  We have really enjoyed their table red over the years when my parents were kind enough to share it with us.  The wines were wayyyyy out of our price range ($140 for their reserve cab) but we really enjoyed the tasting.  And as far as ambience (and the wine) goes, it was our favorite of the trip.  The tasting area was so serene and simple.

After Turnbull we headed on to Rombauer where we bought a 1/2 bottle of the carneros Chardonnay to enjoy with our picnic lunch.  Their tasting room is chaotic and not at all relaxing but man are their wines good.  The thing about tasting wine at the vineyard (as opposed to my living room) is that you have to listen to other drunk patrons telling the vineyard employees random shit... sometimes amusing but most of the time annoying.  We tried our best not to be those people!

We LOVE Rombauer!

Meta selfie!

Sterling offers breathtaking views and mediocre wines.  Luckily we don't have the most discerning palettes.

We got to our hotel in Healdsburg at about 4 PM... just enough time to relax and finish off that 1/2 bottle before dinner.  We hit up Valette, which was a disappointment.  The food was really good but we were dressed up and looking for an experience... which this was not.  Our server was terse and the vibe was just off.  

Tuesday morning was rainy but by the time we were ready to grab lunch it had cleared up.  We had a really yummy lunch at Rustic, the restaurant at Coppola Vineyards and bought some vino to take home.  You can't beat their wine for that price point.

We missed going to the vineyard because of the rain but there was a tasting room across the street from our hotel so we had a nice tasting before going to see the last Hunger Games movie.

They served wine at the theater which was awesome and interesting.  About 3/4 of the way through the film I realized that I had surpassed my wine tasting  light buzz and had become legit drunk... at 4 in the afternoon.  Only in Healdsburg... and college... and law school.  We had another underwhelming dinner, this time at Chalkboard.  What is up with this whole "We're cool and we hate tourists" vibe?  Not cool man.  I was on the verge of telling the wait staff "We haven't had a vacay alone in 4 years!  Be nice people!"  

It must just be those two restaurants because we had a phenomenal lunch at Barndiva the next day.  The ambience, bartender and wait staff were great, not to mention the food!  Matt had a filet mignon burger and I had a duck leg confit over butter leaf lettuce salad.  We were in heaven.  And the cocktails were divine!  Sadly we had to head home after that meal but we were happy to be driving back to Lil.  We had such a nice time away but Lil is pretty awesome and we missed her somethin' fierce.  

Aunt Kim showed up last night to start the Thanksgiving prep.  Pumpkin pie!

Lil is diggin' Thanksgiving this year because she actually gets is.  She keeps telling us what she's thankful for.  BTW, notice the missing tooth?  Another one on the bottom came off this morning.

Making a decorative center piece this afternoon.  The turkey is roasting and the green bean casserole, yams, potatoes and rolls will soon join the oven party.  It's going to be a yummy dinner!