Wednesday July 7th

Just a short update!  Spent yesterday in the Sonoma & Napa Valleys - the wine district north of San Francisco.  Had a lovely day - drove through a couple of really lovely towns, saw some beautiful redwoods and visited a Petrified Forest (reputedly the largest in the world) which had some amazing petrified redwoods.  Managed to force down a very pleasant lunch at yet another lovely little town - Calistoga and then drove down through the Napa Valley.  It was so green and so neat and has so many huge vineyard buildings and houses.  Called in to the Beringer Vineyard and what a vision the old "house" there is! Rhine House was built in the late 1800s and is stunning both inside and out.  We are not sure if Fosters still owns Beringer, but if they do and any of you are shareholders you should demand a subsidised visit.  Here is a photo so you can get inspired and start your planning.

Today we wandered around Pier 39 on the waterfront and checked out the Sea Lions down there, which is a pretty amazing sight.  I was very taken with this one!

We then caught a ferry across to Sausalito, passing Alcatraz on the way.  It is a very attractive area to wander around.  Lunch today was at Horizons, a beautiful old waterfront building that was once the San Francisco Yacht Club.  It is behind the building you can see in the photo below.

Tomorrow we catch the California Zephyr train for a two and a half day trip to Chicago so I am guessing that we won't have internet access there, so stand by for the next instalment after we reach Toronto on Sunday.