I thought yesterday would be hard to beat....

Today was equally as good as yesterday.  Better?  Maybe?  But at least as good.  Don't forget to click on the pictures for a closer look!

We slept in.  I slept for 11 hours.  I don't know when the last time was that I slept that long.  I generally am allowed 6 maybe 7, on the weekends maybe 8, never 11.  I couldn't believe it.

We had brunch reservations for 10am.  Of course, still on CST, we were wide awake at 6:30.  Today we blew off the treadmill and just dawdled.  We got showered and dressed and sat in the comfy lobby couches reading until about 9:30, time to head to breakfast.

We ate at Worth Our Weight.  Worth our Weight is a culinary apprentice program.  "WOW apprentices are young people from 16-24 who have faced major challenges in their lives, including foster care, difficulties with the law, homelessness, and significant family disruption. We provide tuition-free culinary and restaurant management training. WOWs program invites these young people into the greater world of food—sustainable farming, professional cooking, and access to high-quality food prepared by chefs and food service professionals—as well as provide them with the skills to prepare quality food for themselves. Under the leadership of Executive Director Evelyn Cheatham, WOW employs team based learning and emphasizes responsibility, accountability, and interdependence – skills that support success in any endeavor." 

I heard of WOW on Diners, Drive Ins and Dives just before we left for CA.  We were lucky enough to be able to get a reservation.  The restaurant has about 7 tables total.  It is attached to the Boys and Girls Club building in Santa Rosa.

As with Ana's, it didn't look like much.  Inside, it still didn't look like much.  But the food! We were seated and given a plate of baked goods and a plate of fruit.  On the plate of baked goods were a cold bread pudding, a corn bread muffin and a biscuit.  These were served with the best strawberry jam I've ever had.  As with Ana's salsa, I resisted the urge to lick the little serving vessel clean!  I really liked the bread pudding.  It had chocolate in it!  Dave was a fan of the corn bread muffin.

There were 5 or 6 options for the entree.  I selected the Florentine omelet and Dave had the huevos rancheros, one of the entres that was featured on Diners, Drive Ins and Dives.  My omelet came with the best augratin potatoes I've ever had (and I'm not a huge fan of cheese and potatoes).  These were delicous!  The huevos rancheros came with pulled pork, also delicious.

We also got dessert!  When we'd finished our entrees they brought over a maple custard and a chocolate pot de creme.  OH MY the chocolate pot de creme!  It was the perfect texture, just between pudding and fudge and oh so chocolaty!

There are no prices on the menu at WOW.  Everything is on a donation basis.  I wonder how many times they are just taken?  We thought the breakfast was every bit as good as the one we'd had in our hotel on Friday morning, if not better, so we paid accordingly!

Our next appointment was at 12:30 at Kunde for the Mountain Top Tasting.  We had a little time in between so we visited their neighbor, and one of our favorite wineries, Kenwood.  Lauren let us taste anything we wanted, a perk of being a wine club member!  They were having a SALE!  Splits of their yummy sparkling.  A whole case for just $36 and we are wine club members so it was discounted 20% for us and shipped to the house.  I think that was case #5 for this trip.  YIKES!

We still had about a half hour before the Mountain Top tasting so we just sat in the beautiful courtyard of Kunde, soaked up some vitamin D (I'm deficient you know!) and read our books until it was time to go.

Heather, our host for the trip, told us it would be a private tour as we were the only ones signed up.  Just as we were about to leave another group decided to join us.  At first we were bummed.  They couldn't seem to get organized.  One was eternally on his phone, one was always running off for something (a jacket, the bathroom, etc) and one was an older French gentleman who seemed to be very crabby.  We finally got in the van for our trip up the mountain.  Afterwards we were thrilled.  They were hilarious! 

Jean-Paul, the crabby Frenchman, wasn't crabby at all.  He was a riot.  "I don't like wine."  He wouldn't let Heather pour him anything, yet he'd taste out of his wife's or his daughter's (Shannon) glass.  The daughter's boyfriend (Sam) put the phone away once we got going.  He was apparently very interested in the Master's.  They poked and prodded at each other all the way up.  We had great conversation!

Jean-Paul owns his own printing company.  He wanted me to get him the General Mills cereal box printing contract.  Yea, I'll get right on that.  He was hungry and he "didn't drink wine" so he just wanted to go.  We suggested Cafe Citti, just down the road as we love it.  The others didn't want Italian, he just wanted to eat!  They went on and on!

On the way up the mountain we learned that several scenes from one of our favorite movies, Bottle Shock, were filmed on the Kunde property, including the scene in "France" for the competition.  You can imagine what Jean-Paul thought of that scene!  We were lucky enough to drive right past the boxing ring used in the movie!

The tasting bar at the top of the mountain was unbelievable.  We could have stayed there all day.  The weather was perfect, the view breath taking and the wine delicious.  But, we did have to come down.

When we arrived in the tasting room there was a 6 month old black lab there to greet us!  She was about as well be haved as Cabby.  Ok, she was better (but still not still enough to photograph)!  Dogs are allowed everywhere here.  I love that!

One of our conversations on the mountain brought up Ridge winery so we decided to head back to Healdsburg and visit Ridge.  They have four or five Zinfandels, one of which I love.  Of course my notes are home in my book so I couldn't remember which was the one I loved.  Of the ones we tasted, none blew me away so, amazingly, we left a winery with no wine!

It was such a gorgeous day we decided since we were in Healdsburg again, we'd stop back at Seghesio, buy a bottle to have with dinner, and sit in their courtyard and read for a while.  Our seats in the sun...

The winery closed up at 5 so we headed out to dinner.  We decided to try a place that had been recommended by a couple we met at the wine tasting on Saturday.  After a couple wrong turns (the place is literally in an alley) we found it.  It was good, not great, but good.  I had halibut and Dave had a steak.  We did have a delicious appetizer, crab spring rolls (that were actually egg rolls I think.. they were fried).

Now we're packed up ready (not really!) to go home tomorrow.  There's just never enough time here.

It was a wonderful vacation.   I highly recommend this part of the country for a vacation.  We prefer Sonoma to Napa.  It's less rushed, less commercialized.

So sad we have to go home tomorrow... BUT... we have lots of great wine heading to the house and I have brand new appliances waiting for me so it's not all bad!