So after some wine purchases in Oregon, we realized that it was time to head into California for the month of September.  Now we  had fires in Southern Oregon, some ‘smoke alert’ days while we were in Sutherlin,  but nothing prepared us for driving down towards Redding, where the Carr fire had destroyed so much.  This picture was taken north of Weed, California.   We started smelling SMOKE in Medford, Oregon, but really hit it as we came further south, especially around Lake Shasta.     Fortunately for us, by the time we reached Red Bluff, we were no longer smelling smoke and some small patches of blue sky could be seen.

The great thing was that the sky was blue, and while quite warm, it wasn’t hot like it had been last year.   We had a wonderful time in the Sonoma Valley, first with 10 days in Cloverdale and then 7 days in Duncans Mills.   The  fruit was on the vines and they were just days away from picking.

Of course it was wonderful to see the roses looking so well as they play their role in being the “canary” of the vineyards.  Fungus will attack the roses before it hits the grapes, so while they look beautiful, they are also serving a very valuable function.

We didn’t visit any new wineries this year - just made sure we made it to many of our favorites and stocked up on some great wines for the winter.

After a couple of weeks we headed on towards our next stay in Pacifica, California; which is south of San Francisco right on the beach.  That one will be up shortly!