Labour day Weekend in Sonoma's Wine Country

Over a conversation we were having some time last week, after the UrbanToddler had fallen asleep and we had just finished binging on two delicious episodes of Arrested Development, we suddenly realized that we had not yet visited Healdsburg. We couldn’t believe it. I mean we love wine and we live in Northern California, why the oversight? So that night, Mr. Urban arranged for us a quick getaway for the long weekend to Sonoma.

Early Sunday morning, we quickly packed and headed north. Before long we were in Healdsburg, where we congratulated ourselves on our timing, for completely avoiding the long weekend traffic. The plan was to get some food and have a picnic lunch at one the many wineries we had read or heard about. But as we arrived at the very charming town square, and was greeted by the sweltering 100 degree heat, which was especially shocking coming out of an air conditioned car, we thought it best to eat in town under an umbrella and hit the wineries after…

I had seen Healdsburg in the title of many magazine articles in the recent years… like how the town has gone posh on us, and how it is renowned for its “eclectic offerings of all the finest things in life” or being the “Belle of every wine country Ball”.

And as we walked around the town square, with its lovely old and new architectures, the Ultra chic wine tasting rooms, charming book stores, restaurants and galleries, we quickly fell in love with this uppity wine country town… and then we realized we were 2 years too late for the visit, as a Toddler friendly town, Healdsburg is not.

Nevertheless, we found a perfect spot for lunch, Oakville Grocery, which I must say was reminiscent of this Bakery I had dreamt of visiting some months ago, which turned out to be a movie set to my great disappointment. Lunch was wonderful on the shaded patio of Oakville, where we had a Beet and Feta salad, Walnut crusted chicken fingers, a Crab Cake, an olive medley in a lemon marinade, and the most amazing Sonoma goat cheese. And of course a great Merlot that Mr. Urban picked for us.

After lunch, a long lazy stroll about town, many bottles of water and delicious Gelato from Powel’s, we were finally ready to go and see some wineries.

There are about a 100 wineries and tasting rooms in Healdsburg. But we decided to narrow our visit down to 2, with an ambiance appealing to both Toddlers and their Parents.

First we headed to Bella Vineyards, enjoying the amazing views and rustic architecture on our way. Bella is a small winery operated by a husband and wife, with a lovely picnic area where to one side you face Dry Creek Valley, and the other the vineyards. Beautiful olive trees are scattered about. And wine caves are nestled into the hillside.

And then we visited the Ferrari-Carano (which was started by the Carano family and I don’t quite know how the Ferrari came about). Its immaculate gardens and fountains simply took our breath away. My girl never wanted to leave, and we probably wouldn’t have ever left, if we weren’t worried about heat exhaustion and a cool hotel pool wasn't awaiting us…

FORTY THREE YEARS, SEVEN MONTHS AND FORTY DAYS

My life and the life of every Iranian I know, is bookended by the Iranian Revolution of 1979. It doesn't matter that I was barely old enough to remember this historic event or that I spent the decades that followed it, far far away from Iran, the Revolution of 1979 is a heavy, tacky, cruel bookend that defines who we used to be, who we are and the recurring nightmares and dreams we’ve had for 43 years. I can pinpoint with certainty the exact month after which a general feeling of displacement settled like sticky dust all over me, my family, my classroom, my teachers, our closest friends, our home, our city… In the years and decades that followed, I never experienced another event that brought such a magnitude of change to the nucleus of life. Not in Iran, and definitely not after a whole life lived outside of Iran. Perhaps only recently, the experience of the Trump years and the Covid-19 pandemic, the significant fear, change and frustration that both events brought to our col

On Donald Trump, Crunchy Bananas and our Children... A "How To" on keeping up Spirits and Sanity

The other morning at breakfast, my four year old looked, yet again somberly, at the breakfast before her. Despite having enthusiastically selected a hodgepodge of liberally salted hard boiled egg whites on the side of toasted hamburger buns, strawberries and vanilla yogurt and a cup of milk, she still could not bring herself to enjoy her breakfast. Her face was wrinkled, as was mine with exasperation from yet another failed attempt at assembling a palatable breakfast for my picky eater. This one, she is quite the philosopher. And before I could ask her why she wasn't eating, she said: "Two Things!" Holding up two tiny fingers. "The smells of these foods I picked, don't go with each other! And I wish Donald Trump would magically become Hillary Clinton, and the word (world) would be GREAT again". Despite our best efforts to protect our children from the anxiety of these times, they are alert and picking up on the mood (and the lingo) in the wor

Safa

I have always loved words. The way some people love shiny new objects. As soon as I heard a new word, a word that captured my imagination, my energy, my hundreds of unnamed inner thoughts and feelings, I would latch on to it with fearceness, joy and curiosity. I have also always been intrigued by how regular old words can be used in an unexpected context and evoke bursts of unexpected feelings in the listener, such as laughter, anticipation or tears. I would search for those words coming out of the mouths of everyone around me, and mentally catalog them like a dutiful librarian, and await the opportunity to say the words with my own mouth out loud to an audience, or better yet use it in an essay where the teacher could grade it, get a kick out of it, or read it to the whole class. As a child I always loved the Persian word Safa . For one thing the word sounds so simple, yet sophisticated and beautiful, and for another, each of my memories of hearing this word is stored in th

AnonymousSeptember 7, 2010 at 4:22 PM
Glad you remembered all this; I still remember that amazing Vanilla Gelato!

-Mr Urban
AnonymousSeptember 8, 2010 at 12:53 PM
I'm so glad you finally got to experience Healdsburg, I love that town, mainly because it was the first romantic getaway Bill took me on.
Gorgeous pictures btw.
Paola

An Urban Girl

Search This Blog