Wine 2 Waves

Last week I got to do my first over-the-road (tour director speak for multi-day trips) tour that was not in Alaska. This was a 5 day bike tour for NBVT, there were two guides and 8 guests. Well we started with 8 guests but that is part of the story. The tour starts in Yountville with a nice breakfast at Pacific Blues, then we head towards the Carneros region with a stop at Artesa Winery, which has an amazing view of the south valley and on a clear day, San Francisco. Then on to Folio, the new Mondavi venture, where we had a picnic lunch then headed on to Sonoma. My job on this day was to drive the van, pick up lunch and deliver luggage. I really enjoyed it. That night our guests stayed at two very nice hotels, MacArthur Place and El Dorado Hotel and we all ate dinner at the El Dorado Kitchen, right on the square. Unfortunately, one of the ladies on our trip had some trouble with her sit bones and was in a lot of pain so when we got ready to head out the next morning she wasn't up to it, so she road in the van. JW drove in the morning, so she picked up lunch and luggage. We had a beautiful ride up through the Valley of the Moon, then over the hills into Rohnert Park near Sonoma State University. We did have one hill that I was not up to but the rest of the ride was rolling and fun. We had another picnic lunch in Cotati, the JW took over the biking. There was a tough hill in our path but right before it one of our guests had an accident. It was on a downhill and his back tire slid out from under him. He really banged up his arm and I had to take him and his wife (the van passenger) to the hospital in Sebastopol. From there I checked on all my riders as I headed on to Bodega Bay to deliver luggage. There are really only two nice hotels in Bodega Bay, The Inn at the Tides and the Bodega Bay Lodge and Spa. I had to shower quickly and get back on the road to get my guests from the hospital in Sebastopol. I turned out his road rash needed serious cleaning out and 10 stitches. We jammed back to Bodega Bay in time to pick up the rest of the group and go to dinner at Rocker Oysterfellers. Crazy name but great food. Though it stormed overnight, it was beautiful and clear the next morning for the ride up the coast and then inland through the Russian River Valley. We lunched at Korbel, after a little champagne tasting, then continued on toward Healdsburg via the funky town of Guerneville. At this point two of our guests left the tour. The rest of the guests stayed in an amazing place right on the square, called Healdsburg Hotel. It is relatively new but used existing buildings and has a trendy, modern feel. We had dinner at the Dry Creek Kitchen, the Michael Palmer restaurant attached to the hotel. I don't know who Micheal Palmer is but apparently he is famous and we had phenomenal food once again. The next morning we headed of to Calistoga, it was only a half day so we lunched at the Calistoga Inn and Brewery. The rest of the days consisted of sitting in a cafe and reading, then some time in the hot spring pools of our hotel. That night we ate at Brennan's, what can I say, not a bad days work. On our last day, it rained and it was my day on the bike. I did my best to not too obviously convince the ladies (the husbands were a no go, one had a sore arm the other had better sense) that biking was not the best idea. So we packed everything up on the van and went to taste at a winery (I know, shocking), the ladies hoping that the rain would let up and me knowing that this day could get very wet. Well, we biked, there was no stopping them. We got wet, cold, went very fast and had a lot of fun. We looked like drowned rats when we got back to Yountville, so we showered and went off to have some hot, Mexican food to close out the tour.
The tour was great and I can't wait to do the next one, I just hope that I am in better shape and the rain holds off until November.

Thanks for reading.

Pic 1 - Entry to Artesa in Carneros
Pic 2 - Carneros vineyards
Pic 3 - Getting ready in Sonoma
Pic 4 - Windmill between Sonoma & Rohnert Park
Pic 5 - Bodega Bay from the Inn at the Tides
Pic 6 - Inn at the Tides
Pic 7 - Monte Rio thinks very highly of themselves
Pic 8 - Hop Kiln Winery in the Russian River Valley
Pic 9 - Vineyards in the Russian River Valley