Visiting Wine World

 Zou and I decided to drive the Silverado Trail, a road frequented by wine-lovers and sports cars.  And we saw too many of each kind, it, unfortunately, being a Sunday...

A neat B&B (Hope Merrill House, circa 1870) building in Geyserville, where we got onto the Silverado Trail. 

 Just an old gate?  Or a portal into the days of old...  I like the idea of the latter.

This name isn't familiar to me (Soda Rock), but I'm not a big wine connoiseur.  More of a Two Buck ($2.49 now, actually) Chuck (Charles Shaw) type myself.  So, Zou and I didn't waste any time on these foo-foo wine-tasting rooms...!

 You know you're in Wine World, when...

But the best thing on this drive wasn't a thing!  It was a horse!  This guy was a bit of a hog, not letting the other horses near, but he was really sweet with me and Zou.  When I first spotted him and his cohorts, they were on the far side of the field.  I wanted to get a picture but decided they were just too far away.  So I gave up and went back and let Zou out to go pee.  Looking back, I saw the horses had all come over - to say Hi to Zouey!!  Horses seem to have a special affinity for dogs (given the right personalities, of course).  So I grabbed my camera, and Zou and I went back across the street to talk to the horses... 

 Such a sweet boy.  He not only put up with me and my fondness for horse noses (they're so soft), but he put up with my little Zou's fascination and enthusiasm (maybe it was mutual?).

 Zou's favorite is actually cows, but you have to admit, it's pretty darned exciting to get close to any tall, half-ton fellow critter!

 Especially one that LETS you get close!

Especially THIS close!!!  This Mr. Horse was so trusting, so calm, and so patient!

 It was hard to say good-bye.  This guy shot to the top of our Friends List for this trip!!!  My hands were happily horsey-dirty  :)    (and maybe Zou's nose was too?)

The scenes of vineyards in the foreground, and green foothills and cloud-covered mountains in the back, are hard to tire of. 

 I don't recognize most of the vineyard names, but then again, I'm not likely to!  But even I know Clos du Bois!

 I like this winery's signage.

 One of my favorite vineyard scenes.  The vines just go on and on forever!  Sprinkled with oaks... 

 But these beautiful hills, shrouded with the ever-present (and location-appropriate!) clouds, are strong contenders for scenery awards too!

Aaaahh, and here we come to Zou's favorites - the bovine beauties!  But they were too uncertain of us to come over.  A lot of curious interest.  But, as it turned out, they were mostly cowardly cows.  Just not used to dangerous dogs and fearsome photographers, I guess.

 Just GORGEOUS!!!

Another familiar brand.

 Probably the stretch between Geyserville and Calistoga was my favorite.  I actually could have passed on the rest.  So that's why there are almost no pictures after Calistoga...!  But I liked this drive-by.

 And here's the Napa River, at what's pretty much the southern end of the Silverado Trail (in Napa, of course).

I thought there was another, faster route back, but then Google Maps and my smarty phone couldn't help me out on that, and told me "Just go back the way you came!"  So we did.  And here's the parting shot, out of the window on the way back.  I was trying to hurry back in time to make us all some dinner, but wanted to grab a pic of some sun on the vines...

From Uvas to Grapes...

 We now head (kayakless) north on the 101 again.  The landscape continues to green-up and gain trees.  And we continue to experience areas of high traffic, bad roads, and expensive living.

 And the rainy weather that the San Francisco area is famous for...  Tractor helps guide us over the Mare Island Strait bridge (part of the San Pablo Bay).  That crossing cost us $20!!  But it was well worth it to put the messy, crowded, trafficky San Fran area behind us!

 Love these hills!  Muy bonito!

 Oh happy happy, joy joy!!!!  And so much more fun in an RV!!!

Finally we land.  At Dutcher Creek Village., in Cloverdale.  Which is on top of a hill, with not much room and only a couple of spaces for us big rigs.  But what a beautiful area!!!!  My favorite area to explore so far on this trip.  In the heart of Grape Land, surrounded by vineyards - Napa, Sonoma, Calistoga not far off.

 Just walking around the RV park, you can see how pretty it is here!  And, like many places, this campground offers full-time living, as well as sites for a few transients.  But the RV home sites are way prettier than any I've ever seen before!!  In fact, I found my favorite spot!  I don't think I'd want to live here non-stop, but boy what a great weekend get-away!!!  This little spot offers privacy, a great view, and the owners have made it very cute with plantings and a little patio space.

 Like a yurt on wheels...

 Not a bad front yard, eh?!

Kayak Delivery Day

 We made the short trek to Mark's in Menlo.  I was not prepared for how gorgeous his neighborhood is!!!  For starters, his backyard was the equivalent of a high-end dog park!

But let's not get ahead of ourselves.  Let's start this tour right.  Out on the street.  Is this an incredible street, or what?!  Esp. on this showery day, with wet pavement, and dark skies.  Just made it sort of moody and very pretty!  Look at these towering oaks!

Heading into the driveway - don't run over those two tan speed bumps!!! 

 What a cute house!  It was Mark's mom's.  Now, he and his son, Brett, live here. 

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Very sweet courtyard patio.

 Mark and Bill.

 Azalea or rhododendron???  According to what I just read, this would probably be the latter, based on it having 10 stamens (vs. 5 for azaleas)!  I don't know for sure, just know they sure are pretty!!! 

 And the house mascot is this pretty kitty - Miss No Name.  She's still young and very playful but has yet to acquire a name...

 Cat TV, aka Squirrel Circus.

And speaking of squirrels and circus...here's our Dancing Dog, hoping for a squirrel circus of his very own!

Best part of the park

 Adjoining the campground is a creek, where they've made a walking path.  And yes, it's good for the critters (just too far a walk to do dog doody duties, esp. at bedtime!)

 Good ol' Always Hungry Hayes finds snacks, even here!!  There were clam shells all over the banks of the creek, and guess who was immediately crunching some down!?!  Mmmmm, yummy!!!  Ugh.  Incorrigible dog!

 Tractor checks out the creek (without sampling any shells...).

These pretty flowers belong to the California Buckeye, a native bush (or tree) decorated with these sweet-smelling floral spikes.

Just below Menlo...

On Thursday, May 5th, we moved on to Morgan Hill.  We wanted to visit a friend of Bill's and pass our kayaks on to him and his son, but he lives in Menlo Park, and as far as I could tell, there are no good AND affordable RV parks anywhere near there!  So we again stayed in Morgan Hill, around 40 minutes away, depending on traffic...

 Pretty burst of freeway roadside color provided by one of many types of invasive, non-native mustard.

 More MG-like rolling hills, dotted with oaks.  Very pretty!

 As we head farther north, the hills haven't browned-up yet, and it's a bit more foresty.

 We stayed at the Uvas Pines (Grape Pines?!?) RV Park this time.  It sounded much nicer than the campground we stayed at last time in Morgan Hill, which was all concrete and full-time workers.  And it was nicer, but I think we just need to avoid that area next time.  And you'll see one of the main reasons why...

 This park was not really pet-friendly!  It was much prettier than the other place - lots of green lawns everywhere.  But the dogs (and cats!) were not allowed on a single one!  Made it very hard at potty time...  I can totally understand wanting to keep some space green & clean for kids to play on, etc., but can't there also be a handy, dedicated space for pets too??

Our site was also kind of weird.  We were like an end-cap.  And no sewer at our site (although I believe we were still paying the full hook-up rate).  To be fair, they did offer free honey wagon service one of the days we were there, so it worked out OK (although we did carry 24 hrs' worth of grey water with us at the end since we didn't want to do the logistical gymnastics to get our rig to their dump station on the way out (on wrong side of park!!  It's on what appears to be the entrance, not the exit...??).  Oh well, it was good enough for a two-night stay.