Napa and the Sonoma Coast

After finding a county park campground on the eastern side of Napa township, we headed north along the 'Silverado Trail', taking in America's finest wine-growing region (as the spiel would have you believe).

We used our imagination as to what the experience might be like for those people who spend their day being driven around in the multiple stretch limos we saw, stopping at one fine vineyard after another, leisurely sampling one beautiful wine after another, no doubt accompanied by exquisite delicacies prepared by world-renowned chefs.   Mmmmmm.

That's not what we did.

But hey, we can still tell you that the area is really lovely - a very beautiful day's drive in fact (we just didn't stop in at any of the wineries which are kind of the crux of the whole region!)

Okay, so as you drive, you cruise past one beautiful vineyard after another and I don't know about anyone else, but I find there's something so peaceful and comforting about the way they manage to get those vines so straightly lined up - maybe it appeals to the obsessive compulsive lurking inside.

We found Yountville for a fun play in a great little playground and shock-horror, the kids were labelled 'mean boys' for the first time I can remember. A little girl had tried to tell them (admittedly, in a fairly bossy way) that they were using a play thing incorrectly and they told her to leave them alone and that they were brothers and she couldn't tell them what to do. Cue little girl sobbing hysterically and screaming "they're being mean to me!!!" Then the parents got involved. Way to fly the Ossie flag boys!

Reaching Calistoga, we turned west and then followed Hwy 29 down in the opposite direction. Some of the towns along the way are truly exquisite in a pristine for-the-tourists kind of way whereas Calistoga appealed to us with its more grounded, real vibe (while still lovely).

There was a real lack of campgrounds in this region and we ended up driving back up well north of Sonoma to Sugar Loaf Ridge State Park before we found somewhere.

The next morning we were up and out heading west towards the coast when we got caught up in detours in effect for the Tour of California which was heading through the area. We passed through some beautiful grazing land and rolling hills as a result before hitting the coast at Bodega Bay.

Back on Highway 1 we worked our way slowly up the coast, taking in the rugged scenery as far north as Fort Bragg and camped the night at MacKerricher State Park.

The next morning, Nath took a run with Indy riding his bike beside him back towards Fort Bragg along a disused rail line converted into a foot trail (about 5km return). Dash and I took a scoot down to the seal watching platforms but didn't sight any.