I need a Napa.

We started this morning with a vague plan. To try some wine and enjoy ourselves. Not being at all familiar with the local viticultural regions we took a punt and picked a route around Sonoma, Glen Ellen, Napa and Petaluma (our base). This plan was rapidly turfed when we started battling Labor Day Holiday traffic both on and off (tasting tables!) the road.

Side Note: In the states they have access to an amazing thing called satellite radio. Mick assures me that it's accessible in Oz but we just haven't got on the band wagon (in cars. Teehee). We should. It's terrific. There is a whole station completely devoted to Elvis, live from Graceland. Curious about how an Elvis station would work, we googled. He recorded 553 songs in his career! Uh-may-zing! Come on Justin Bieber, keep up!

Sorry 'bout that. Back to business. Our first stop was Domaine Carneros in Napa. Owned by the Taittinger Champagne House, certified organic and just a little bit fancy! We tried four of their wines for an affordable $25 (a person! Ouch!). The stand out was Le Reve Blanc de Blanc; light golden in colour, lemons and apples on the nose and peaches and shortbread on the palate. The finish was smooth and dry.

Continuing our theme (does two stops classify as a theme?) we headed north west through the mountains to Glen Ellen. Up-hill from the town proper we arrived at Benzinger Estate. A family run Demeter Bio-dynamic certified winery and vineyard. We took a tour of their facilities, including the fascinating insectary where they grow plants to lure "friendly" bugs to the site. I could have wandered the plantings for hours.

As part of the tour our guide discussed the use of different oaks and corks in their product. He adamantly informed the group that no wine worth it's salt should be sealed under screw-cap. Like it was common law or something. Outrageous.

The Benzinger 2006 Oonapais Sonoma Mountain (Bordeaux blend) had an earthy nose, rich with plum and coffee. Well balanced tannins and excellent length supported complex flavours of blackcurrant and cocoa.

We finished our day with a surprising meal in downtown Napa. Not wanting to find ourselves at one of the many tourists traps, I found a link to a New York Times article reviewing West Coast restaurants. This led us to a table at Ubuntu, a community based vegetarian restaurant and yoga centre. We were blown away by the variety and inventiveness in the menu. It should be included in study texts for Melbourne chefs caught in the unstoppable mushroom-pumpkin risotto cycle.

Every dish made us stop and rethink what we were eating. Potatoes roasted in cucumber ash? Yes, it really worked.

They grow many of the ingredients bio-dynamically in the kitchen garden and source the others locally. Can I get a plate of harmony and connectedness on the side please?

Yosemite tomorrow. Sleep now.

xo

Sittin' in the mornin' sun.

We woke this morning to a beautiful sunny day. We started out indulging ourselves with a late breakfast of Chili Cheese Dogs. Delicious. A word to the wise, don't inspect the cheese too closely...

Again we headed SOMA, this time to MOMA (Museum of Modern Art). Their main exhibition was titled Calder to Warhol. A private collection from the Fisher family (founders of The Gap). It was a great mixed collection, including one of my favourite Warhol prints featuring the King.

The exhibition that really caught my eye however, was titled New Topographics. It is a complete restaging of a 1975 exhibition of the same name. It featured photographs of industrial and suburban landscapes; often stark or desolate. Un-traditional beauty highlighted by the artists use of composition and lighting.

We walked north from MOMA along the docks. I sung the song while Mick elbowed me to shut-it.

We lusted our way through the Marketplace. A collection of local stalls selling free range this and local organic that. As we walked north, the famous fog rolled in through the Golden Gates. Fresh off the Pacific Ocean it rapidly chilled the sea breeze. Sweet relief from the hot sun.

We caught the last boat tour of the bay which took us underneath the Golden Gate Bridge, through thick fog, via pods of bay dolphins, around the island home of Alcatraz and back to the docks past a colony of seals being oogled by a thousand tourists.

An observation for you: in Australian English we pronounce Hyundai "Hee-un-day" or "Hi-yun-die" in American it's simply "Hun-day". This is apparently, the official pronunciation they chose when the car company was introduced to the states in 80's. Too many syllables?

We cheerily took our windswept selves towards Fisherman's Wharf for dinner. Fresh Dungeness Crab served in shell with chili, garlic and scallions (trans. Spring Onions) marinade. We resisted the promenade corn-dog stands and the not-so-legal looking churros vendor (man standing on footpath with foil wrapped churros) and headed back into town on Powell-Mason Cable Car.

We are looking forward to tomorrow. We pick up the car and head north to Mendocino.

Open road here we come.