Tonight, we eat cactus!

 Day one of our Sonoma Trip: 

We saw the sunrise as we drove to O’Hare from our hotel and felt sorry for the poor suckers sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic heading into the city. 

The flight was fine. We had extra voucher money so we got to upgrade to first class. Pinkies out! We read, dozed, had some airline breakfast and marveled at mountains and land that is not covered by corn and beans. 

We decided to act our age and rent a Mustang. We were hoping for a convertible, but that was going to be an extra hour and I was already impatient. 

We drove through San Fran and across the Golden Gate Bridge. The old girl is gorgeous, but in need of some paint. 

Once we got into the Sonoma Valley and were surrounded by grape vines, I swear the air smelled different. I had never thought about corn having a distinct smell, but maybe it does? (This is one of the weird things that will keep me up at night.)

We are staying at the historic Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn. It’s a lovely property. They have wine tastings with local vineyards every afternoon. 

And of course we got some bubbles when we checked in. 

For dinner we walked to a local Mexican restaurant, La Hacienda Sonoma Bar and Grille. The salsa was spicy and so good. *All* of the food was good. We decided that since nopales (cactus) was on the menu, we had to try it. We decided it was like tangy asparagus or green beans…and yes we did eat it all.  On to Day Two!