Day 2

We checked out of the Hyatt in San Francisco, and headed for Vallejo. There is a reason that no one ever mentions the other big bridge in San Francisco, the Bay bridge is nothing to look at. It’s long gray, and uninteresting. Tomorrow we will get to go over the Golden Gate bridge, which will be much better. It’s hard to describe Vallejo, I thought that it felt a little like Rochester, but Kari thought is was more like Mankato.

It’s a bit of a drive to get to any Vineyards from Vallejo, something that we will keep in mind or our next trip. Our first Vineyard of the day is V. Sattui, reccommended to us by Tricia and Chris. Well, it was certainly a great recommendation. We didn’t make it out of there without buying a case of wine! 6 bottles of their dry Reisling, and 6 bottles of their Muscato, both are very good. Part of the appeal is that you can’t get this wine anywhere but the winery. Also, they had a bar-b-que going that day, and Kari and I each had a sausage sandwich. They were also very good!

Next, it was off to the Sterling vineyards.

Unfortunately for us, the place was getting remodeled, and the gift shop was closed. We got to go on the tram ride that you would normally take to get to the vineyard, but we had to stay on when it reached the top. And, the wine wasn’t that great, so we didn’t get anything there, except for a couple of corks!

Further north down the road from Sterling is the “Old Faithful” of the North. I didn’t know this, but Kari did, that they have geyser here in California. I would imagine that it has something to do with the San Andreas fault, and the way that the tectonic plates move, but I won’t get into that. So, we paid our admission, and watched the geyser go off.

They also have a geyser that they tap to heat the buildings there, fainting sheep, and a few other things. Of course, it’s a tourist trap, but the geyser was cool, and we also got some souvenirs.

By this time, it was getting kind of late on a Sunday for any vineyards to be open, so we headed back to the hotel. We were tired, and didn’t feel like exploring Vallejo for a restaurant, so we just ordered in some Pizza Hut, and ate in the room.

Tomorrow, it’s back to San Francisco for Alcatraz and the Golden Gate bridge.

Here is the picture of the day.