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We were invited up to Healdsburg by Mister Gary (Cathy Seghesio’s dad), Uncle Cotton, and Mister Larry who came out from Louisiana to host this authentic New Orleans party. We joined in the fun at a traditional crawfish boil!. They cooked up the crawfish Cajun-style with red potatoes, corn on the cob, andouille sausage, onions & garlic. We I peeled & ate ‘em while they were hot along with some 2006 Barbera & 2006 Cortina Zinfandel. It was pretty nice to be able to experience the sights and sounds of the bayou without having to drive 3000 miles.

We left the party early so we could eat a family dinner and walk around the square before it got dark. There are many places to eat in the square, but a lot of them are your typical nice places to eat. We were looking for a more local home grown feel. We found just what we were looking for, in a place called “Ravenous”. It has been a local favorite for 17 years, and just moved to their own location, a cute little house just a few blocks from the square. The chef takes real care in choosing her menu, and even writes it out herself daily. She chooses dishes based solely on what is available locally, and her creations are simple and full of flavor.

Tina had the rolled flank steak combined with proschitto/arugella/onions/carrots/breadcrumbs, which was served with roasted potatoes and seasonal vegetables (super fresh). I had the Poblano, which was a mexican veggie dish, which is not a common choice for me but sounded really good….and was amazing. The wait staff was really friendly, the hostess who was new, Linnea, had never worked food service and was doing a great job. Rachel our server was SUPER nice, and really helpful with choosing our food. Everyone in there was a local, in fact, I am pretty sure all the other tourists were in the square, which is a shame, cause this is probably the best place to eat in the area.

Our next stop was our lodging for the night. Again, a place farther from the square than most will venture, and again, well worth it. We found the Country Garden Cottage through Healdsburg Property Management via Google. The price was right, and so was the availability. What we drove up to was not at all what we expected.

We arrived in the front of this beautiful red ranch house, with beautiful white rose bushes. We were greeted by Chris, who was so gracious and genuinely happy to see us. We unpacked and got settled for the night. It was really warm but there was a cool breeze coming through the open window. There is central air, and I am sure it is needed later in the year, but this night was perfect. We played building blocks with the girls and enjoyed some coffee, and then went to bed. The mattress was amazing, much better than our new one at home unfortunately, and the sheets were of heavenly quality - the thread count was HIGH. All 4 of us slept through the night and woke up refreshed and ready to hit the square.

We hit the Center Cafe in the morning for breakfast. They have these really great tasting potato pancakes. They will scramble a denver omelet into the potato pancake and grill it, it is awesome. We also had the pancakes, french toast, poached eggs, and biscuits and gravy. The french toast was a little heavy on the nutmeg, and the gravy was a little light on grease, but overall it was a great breakfast.

We finished off the weekend with a trip around the square. There are many great shops, and the people are very friendly.

If towns were required to have a square there would be a lot more community, and a lot less towns.

Here are the pics!

We headed to Sonoma this weekend and made Train Town our first stop. For those who are not familiar Train Town it is a station modeled after the 16st Station in Oakland from the 1930s, and is, “The Most Well Developed Scale Railroad In The Americas”. You embark from the station at $4.25 a head and ride through a nicely scaled forest of green trees and green water. Your journey will take you over five bridges and trestles. There are two tunnels, one 140 feet and one 40 feet long and end up in “Lakeview” a fictional town with really old characteristics, like a horse drawn fire engine. You always get the feeling like you should able to spend more time “Lakeview” but they want you back on the train you came in on. It is probably easier to regulate traffic that way, but the $4.25 begins to feel like less of a bargain.

The girls were showing signs of hungriness, and it was H-O-T, so we decided to pull into the station and head to the Plaza (or Square depending on your generational experience in Sonoma).

The only person still optimistic was cotton candy salesman Jesus Ortiz, who was giving away cotton candy to little kids, perhaps to ease the pain. “The team is great,” he said. “Cotton candy is great. It’s going to be a great year. I’m always hopeful in April.”

more pics can be found here

After missing every weekend in winter 2007, we put our collective foot down and headed for the mountains. It was a gorgeous day, and the snow as still plentiful as we headed into the Tahoe National Forest. We found a cute little red farm house, which would have provided an awesome backdrop to take a few pics, except it was open house weekend and the neighbors were a little perturbed by the additional traffic. So we headed up a few more hundred feet in elevation, to an exit with no services and no traffic, providing a perfectly safe location for playing in the snow. After playing in the snow and taking *several* pictures, we had worked up quite an appetite.

We headed down the mountain and into Auburn, a cute little town with wintery charm. We didn’t see the clock tower that is pictured on their website but we did see plenty of charming gold-era themed shops. Thanks again to the iPhone and what ATT service we could get on the mountain we settled on the Auburn Alehouse via yelp.com.