Thanksgiving in Sonoma

What a trip! We relaxed, we explored, we played and best of all we slept well! I believe the key to a great vacation is sleeping well. And we all slept well. With the great sleep that we got, we were able to enjoy all that Sonoma County had to offer, and it was a lot. From rugged coast, to tall redwoods, to rolling hills with vineyards, we saw and did it all! Gorgeous is the one word I would use to describe Sonoma County. Here are a few pics and you can let me know if you agree...



We traveled north on Monday to spend Thanksgiving up at a camp. The camp is open for pastors and their families to stay for get-a-ways. They graciously gave us a mobile home to to use for the 5 days we were there. The grounds were beautiful with walking trails, basketball courts, soccer field, volleyball court and baseball. And believe me, we did it all.

On the way up we stopped at the Jelly Belly factory. If you have a sweet tooth and are ever in the Bay area, it is the place for you. You call smell the sugar in the air and you get to taste lots of it too.

And yes, we got to keep the hats!


Paige is in front of a picture done in jellybeans!

Our first day was spent playing around the camp and then visiting the beach. This water is not for swimming. It is the most dangerous beach in California. But it is beautiful. The kids didn't care, they spent their time exploring and playing ball with Daddy and some friends they met on the beach. We finished the evening with a picnic watching the sun set over the Pacific. Can't think of a better way to finish the day!

This isn't one of us below, in case you were wondering ;)

The second full day we drove to Armstrong Woods State Park to hike and check out the Redwoods. The kids loved exploring. At the visitor center they gave the kids a scavenger hunt map to look for certain things a long the way. They thought that was great. After the park, we headed over to Korbel Champagne Cellar for a winery tour. It was very interesting.

Day three (Thanksgiving Day) we drove around the countryside looking at the beautiful vineyards. Fall was at its peak with colors ranging from red, to orange, to yellow. We then found a city park in Santa Rosa and spent time playing and had our thanksgiving picnic. Later in the afternoon we played a family game of soccer.

The picture below is of a zinfandel grapevine that is from 120 years old!

The climbing thing below was Clay's favorite part of the park. That is him up at the top with the gray shirt on. He climbed the thing 10 times.
Our Thanksgiving picnic.

The next day we packed up and headed home. We are thankful to Mt. Gilead Camp for hosting us on our Thanksgiving get-a-way. It was sad to leave, but home is a great place to be too. And when we got home we were greeted with this beautiful sunset.