Sonoma, Scribe, and the Seashore

Weekends are the coolest. But you know what's just as cool? A random Thursday that you decide to take off of work because one of your best friends comes into town last minute. This is exactly what I did one week ago today with my friend Ian, who was in town from Brooklyn. Our day began early and with a trip over the Golden Gate Bridge. Endless possibilities awaited us on the other side:



First stop? Breakfast with our friends Jen, Sarah and Dana at the Fremont Diner in Sonoma. This is one of those places I pull up to in the car and say: how have I never been here? There was talk of biscuits:



and pancakes...



and then there was the eating of the biscuits and the pancakes.



You can't put an old pick-up truck outside of a diner and not expect people to hop right onto it. Sarah, Ian and I posed for the camera (which happens to be my BRAND NEW IPHONE!!! ...more on that later).



We then ventured down what felt like an old dirt road to Scribe, the winery where Jen works. Fun side note about Jen: back in the day, Jen and I went to junior high school together. Her family then relocated to the east coast. I stayed put in L.A., went to college in Maine (where I met and became best buds with Ian), moved back to L.A. for a minute, and then lived in Portland, Maine for about a year before moving to my beloved SF.

During one Portland night, I met up with Ian and some friends at a bar called Heart. Who was sitting at the table with them? Jen! Out of the clear blue sky a vision from my adolescence appeared. We played a quick game of: what, who, how?! Jen spent summers in Maine and since Ian is what I call the "Prince of Mount Desert Island" he was bound to meet her someday and become friends. Small world. Even smaller was when within a month of my living in SF, I run into Jen at a poetry reading. Small world indeed.

So, Jen being her gracious self, invited us all to the winery for some tasting and exploring. Whether you like wine or not, Scribe is a wonderful place to be.



Fresh, wildflower bouquets on every wooden table.



Spectacular views every which way you looked.



Decorative vignettes in the most unexpected places!



Sarah, my lovely friend (another one of my BFFs from Bates), also saw good reason to take the day off. She made the trek out to Sonoma all the way from her farm near Sacramento.



Her sweet friend Dana was visiting from out of town as well, so she was also with us (Dana in the cute hat). So much love!



Me and Jen, mid-pose.



Sarah, mid-swing.



After offering us a tasting of a few delicious wines, Jen had to get back to work. She told us to wander the property, leading us in the direction of the Hacienda, which is basically an abandoned old house.



It might have been empty and uninhabited, but this place sure had its charm.



Dried flowers never looked so well-placed.



This room reminded me of how much I love wallpaper.



The view from the second floor. For all the Dickens fans out there, this place was straight off the pages of Great Expectations. It's as if we were in Miss Havisham's house.



After Scribe, we hadn't had nearly enough of each other. Once we'd hugged and kissed Jen goodbye, we took a long windy road west. Our destination was Point Reyes, one of my personal havens. We only had a few hours before we needed to be back in the city, so we made the most of our afternoon with a hike along the seashore.



Ian and me, looking well-worn from an adventurous day. It started to rain a little bit which was actually quite cozy. A little drizzle didn't stop us from enjoying the sights.



Until...



Oh, yes, the flood! Yes, indeed, the trail was flooded. We did see some FLOODING signs on our way into the park, but we naturally disregarded anything in our way. Luckily, I have some brave friends and they were prepared to walk through the muck. Knee-deep muck. I'm slightly less advanced and asked Ian for a piggy-back ride through the water. He was so sweet to say yes. And everyone (Ian, Jen, Dana and Sarah) was so sweet to spend the day with me. Last Thursday reminds me of a quote from Great Expectations that I believe sums up the powers of a special day:

"That was a memorable day to me, for it made great changes in me. But, it is the same with any life. Imagine one selected day struck out of it, and think how different its course would have been. Pause you who read this, and think for a moment of the long chain of iron or gold, of thorns or flowers, that would never have bound you, but for the formation of the first link on one memorable day."

-Charles Dickens, Great Expectations

Here's to long chains of iron or gold, of thorns and of flowers...