Saturday, August 18, 2012

Our Last Day

We spent most of our last day on the far West coast! It was a perfect ending to our fun vacation!
 We drove out to Highway 1 and ate lunch at Hog Island Oyster Farm.




 They gave us 3 dozen oysters, a shucking knife and a shucking glove and Bryan went to work!

 He opened all the oysters!






After we left Hog Island we headed North up Highway 1, the coastal highway.



 It started out pretty foggy but cleared up the further North we drove.



 The water was so bright blue!





This is where the Russian River meets the Atlantic! I don't know if I've ever seen a river meet the ocean like this.


I don't know if you could tell from the first picture, but those are all seals laying on the sand bars!
We were making our way North to Hirsch Winery and Vineyards. One of our sommelier friends in Boston recommended this place.
There were wild blackberries EVERYWHERE! Bryan pulled over so that I could pick a couple to try. Much sweeter than the ones on Mississippi roadsides.




Pinot grapes! These are smaller, thinner skinned, harder to grow... they love warm days and cool nights which makes this area a perfect for them!

We had a hilltop tasting here!








On our way to dinner we stopped by the Russian River Brew Company so Bryan could taste their beer, Pliny the Elder... recently voted the best beer in the world!

Our final stop was the Culinary Institute of America for dinner. Students prepare the food under the supervision of some master chefs. Our dinner was very good!

What a wonderful trip we've had! I'm on the plane headed home right now! It will be nice to get home and sleep in my own bed tonight! (And eat lots and lots of salads this week to try to make up for all the amazing food we've had in the last few days.)

4 comments:

  1. What a trip!!You made amazing pictures. By the way I hope you brought that good looking man who opened the oysters for you home. I need him to open me some. I love oysters on the half shell.

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  2. Wow. The light there looks incredible!

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  3. Love the photos of the coastline So incredibe!

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  4. Aimee20.8.12

    The woman in the background of Bryan's oyster trophies picture looks amazed that Bryan could open all those oysters! All of those places look incredibly beautiful!

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