Mom day among the vineyards

Today was the day we chose for the terrific trio to visit a cool daycamp that Kim had found - where they could have fun with bouncy castles and slides, recording studio and singing workshops, sewing and knitting lessons, cooking class, and drama presentations. Even better, snacks and lunches are provided by a chef. Cool!

Ready for camp!

And the moms? Well we decided we were going to travel to Napa to search out a restaurant I had long heard of as an Oprah favourite, and maybe work in a pedicure at a salon, have a glass of wine...oh the options were many!

I have to admit that I felt very guilty to be leaving the kids at 9:00 this morning...oh the camp was great, the counsellors welcoming... but the fog? It had not yet pulled back over the hills as it typically did every morning and the temperature was only 59 degrees! I was tempted to dash home for some parkas and long pants but the kids seemed fine and after all, many of the workshops were indoors. ;-)

So off we merrily went ...out of fog enshrouded Marin and onto the freeway to Napa. It's a short distance north and we pulled onto the main street about 40 minutes later. We tried to be open-minded, but the place did not seem to have the same charm as some of the other towns and villages I have visited with Kim on previous trips to this wine region, places their family spend more time in.

However, our goal was Ubuntu and we ignored the still gray skies as we walked the main street to find the yummiest, most decadent veggie dishes on the planet. Moments later we caught sight of the restaurant and headed over with some excitement ... to stop suddenly in disappointment.

Closed. Only open for lunch on weekends. These Google web masters had totally missed that small piece of information. Darn it!

However, this helped us make a quick decision to leave Napa and head to Sonoma - next town over - and one that Kim loves and visits regularly. Back on the road, we were delighted to see that within minutes the fog cover broke apart and we were passing vineyards and rolling golden hills under warm sunshine and completely blue skies. The change of plans was obviously meant to be.

We enjoyed walking in the warm sunshine around the main square to lunch at The Girl and the Fig (nope, no idea why it's called that). We sat on their backyard patio with glasses of glorious wine - I drank the golden-coloured Truchard which was absolutely delicious and Kim had a dark red wine named Lioco which she too thought was splendid. We shared a goat cheese platter (which Kim will post a photo of on her blog) and then some tasty, gourmet sandwiches. There was a french flair to the food and considering some of my close friends are currently vacationing in Paris, a city I adore, it seemed a delicious connection. Yum.

Sonoma is a town full of history of the Mexican colonial past. There is a Franciscan mission dating from 1823, and a garrison commandeered by General Vallejo. So very different from Fort Point on Monday, though with a similar purpose. The spanish influence drew me in...

We finished with a stroll around the town's main square, wandering through charming alleys and courtyards.

And no, we did not visit the beer garden!

We returned home to Marin county where the sun was finally shining and took that as another sign...that we needed to stop at a local salon for a pedicure of course.

Nice face.

Shortly after that we picked up our three - and as they came dashing across the school yard they were yelling out their request to go again.

Hmm. Maybe next week.