Winnie Lu Wanders

If you love wine, gorgeous views, top notch hospitality, and a casual vibe, this trip is for you! I’ve never been to California, but wine country has been on my bucket list for quite some time. I always imagined myself strolling through vineyards, sipping wine hand in hand with Bryan, no cares in the world. And you know what? I got just that with this trip.

When we heard our friend talk about wanting to take a trip to Sonoma we got excited and started planning. Thankfully Nate is the BEST and welcomed us to take over his trip. Thanks Nate!

We flew into San Francisco from MSP on Thursday morning and this was the best decision. With the time change we got there late morning around 10 am and had the rest of the day to explore before checking into our Airbnb in Sonoma. We flew back home early Sunday morning. I think it would have been nice to stay one more night, but three nights was plenty of time to explore a handful of wineries.

Here’s a few things we did in the San Francisco area after we landed.

*Lunch at Hook Fish Co. Great location outside of the city and near the Golden Gate Bridge.

*Played tourist and took a photo at the Golden Gate Bridge.

*Donuts from Bob’s Donuts. Located right across the street from Hook Fish Co.

*Drove through Muir Woods Park but ended up not stopping. FYI, you have to have a parking spot reserved so do that in advance if you’re wanting to explore. We had fun driving through and just seeing the beautiful scenery.

*Headed up HWY 1 and relaxed in Stinson Beach for a while. The views of the Pacific Ocean were incredible here. It had peaceful and chill vibes. I could have sat on that beach all day!

On our drive over to Sonoma after Stinson Beach, we stopped for a wine tasting at Black Night Vineyards Tasting Room. If we had more time we definitely would have spent more time in downtown Petaluma. Such a cute city!

S O N O M A

Ready for all the Sonoma things? I’ve got so many stops this will probably need to be more than one blog post! I’ll list them all here and go more in depth at a later time. Just know that every single thing I’m including below are places that I loved and would go back to. Have questions? Shoot me a DM over on Instagram and I’d love to chat with you about our trip!

*Stayed at The Nest – great cost effective location near everything Sonoma has to offer.

*Wellington Cellars – our FAVORITE wine tasting we did the entire trip. GO HERE! Absolutely incredible wine.

*VJB Vineyards – we had lunch here and it was so lovely! Get the pizza if you go. The sister winery of Wellington Cellars and just a short drive up the road.

*Benziger Family Winery – Gorgeous grounds and lovely people.

*Sigh Bubbles Bar – if you like sparkling wine this is the place for you! The flights were incredible and the service was top notch.

*La Salette – the best food I think we had all weekend. Delicious Portuguese food! A little spendy but worth every penny.

*Homegrown Bagels – great cost effective breakfast. Grab a bagel and black coffee. So good!

*Viansa Winery – if you’re looking for the best views, this is the spot! Most beautiful winery we were at all weekend.

*Gundlack Bundschu – we had a lovely wine tasting here but especially loved the walk around the property. Beautiful views and great service!

We traveled as a group of four, but since this was also an anniversary trip for us (married 11 years!), we decided to have a solo dinner together just the two of us on our final evening.

*El Dorado Kitchen was incredible and PERFECT for a date night. Impeccable service and delicious food. Go here for a romantic evening!

We had the most lovely weekend and I’m already dreaming of going back. Sonoma was chill, laid back, beautiful, and the perfect friends weekend getaway. Stay tuned for another post where I go in depth a bit more on my specific favorite spots. Hint hint, we actually ordered a case of wine from a winery because it was SO good!

*My bag I carried the entire trip is from Bags by Alex, a local handmade small business in Minnesota. Use code FallAdventure for 10% off your order before 10/31/2023.