We got up and out by 9:30, pretty good for this crew.

Turned out it was a bit early actually for the downtown Benicia which apparently doesn’t get going until well after 11 – especially on a Tuesday. After a quick walk around town, we decided to make our way to Sonoma – with wine in mind.

No complaints about the drive which meandered through beautiful hillsides decorated with vineyards. We stopped at one, but were met with a rather unfriendly “gatekeeper” who pretty much said we had to choose our tasting menu – with a rather expensive range – before being allowed to transcend the stairs into the actual tasting area.  Not really our style. (The iron horse statue which decorated the lawn was pretty cool though.)

We landed in downtown Sonoma which was a great collection of shops, restaurants, galleries and wine tasting room.  We had a lunch at the Sunflower Cafe. Trip Advisor served us well, as it was a perfect place with a nice garden and good food.  The tangerine beer was a hit – really refreshing – like the sign says – it’s five o’clock somewhere.

After a few stops in the local shops, we ventured down a small alley and found Passaggio Winemakers for our first tasting. Frank did the pouring and actually joined us for a picture for his Facebook page and our blog. After that, Lisa and Carol took off toward the next destination and made the mistake of not looking back and when they did, the rest were nowhere to be found. Turns out they had hardly had gotten out of the first wine tasting shop and they found another one serving free tastes of Pinot Noir!

A trip to the local bakery and a quick stop at the chocolate shoppe (yes this group enjoys food) and we were on our way back to the Chapman’s.

We were glad that Donna could join us for dinner. We made the short drive into Benicia and ate at Luca’s Bar and Grill – famous for their Tuesday night fried chicken which Carolyn and Heather sampled. All around the table the fries got a thumbs up, as did the roasted brussel sprouts. (And to think of all those times our moms tried to get us to eat them as kids.) It was an enjoyable meal and  the night was clear under a full moon. Walking down the tree lined streets of Benicia in the dark was however, a bit precarious due to an influx of Pokemon Go players on the hunt.