Sonoma Valley Wine Country

While we still had the rental car, we took a side trip to Sonoma Valley to tour some vineyards.  Sarah was more the wine drinker in our group, I would be all over touring some breweries….but we had a great time trying different wines.  Ironically our least expensive meal of the trip was a fresh fruit, bread, crackers, and cheese picnic – and one of the best!

We took a tour of the Benziger Winery.  They had a tram tour through the grounds that talked about the history and wine making process.

The girls actually found this interesting.

After awhile....they did get a little bored.

Golden Gate National Recreation Area

The Golden Gate Bridge is actually surrounded by National Park area - called the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.  I woke up early one morning to photograph the sunrise at Golden Gate.  Driving across the bridge to the Marine Headlands...I was a little nervous when the fog was so thick I couldn't see the bridge in front of me.  When I arrived at my location before first light....the fog was so thick I couldn't see a thing.  I honestly wasn't too pleased with my results from that day - but I made the best of the conditions and converted everything to black and white.  

My favorite picture of the bridge was actually one that my 11 year old daughter ended up taking later in the trip (below).

 I waited at the area I scouted for a few hours and was able to capture some clear shots of the bridge, whiles others were more like this video.

The image below was probably one of my favorites that I captured of the bridge.

Anna Claire and I visited the Muir Woods National Monument to see the Redwood trees (will be posted later).  On the way back, we stopped at the Marine Headlands to see if the view would be different.