Big Pig Day 2 - The Watsons!

James slept until 7am Central Time this morning, but in Oakland, CA, so we were up and at them so early that we had the Bay Area roads to ourselves.  We got into sunny Roseville--a Naperville twin of a suburb 20 minutes northeast of Sacramento, around 9am, and met up with Erica's cousin George and his wife Amy, and their 3 kids.

I love driving east out of the Bay Area.  In the summer, all the grass dies on the mountains, turning them gold.  Once you begin your descent out of the coastal range and into the Central Valley, you leave the cold and drear of the Bay behind.  Whereas in Oakland it was 68 and dumpy, in Roseville it was 100+ and sunny as a lark.  Better yet, within a few minutes of reaching the valley floor from the west, we could already make out the silhouette of the Sierra Nevada rising over the eastern horizon, meaning that we were seeing all the way across the state.

After catching up with the wonderful Watson clan in their cool-ass house with a pool, we left for the lovely Amador wine country (free tastings!), one of several nice wine countries in the state which are proud not to be, but are also sort of jealous of, Napa and Sonoma.  Amador's thing is growing big, bold Zins and Cabs, varietals that thrive at elevation.  Cousin George is a regular at the humble Amador Cellars, where James pulled a BYOM in the tasting room.

The '14 milk drinks particularly thick when temps pass 102 degrees

After the tasting, we enjoyed a delicious picnic lunch (what Americans believe is) the Continental Way: with wine and cheese and bread and fresh fruit and capricola, etc.  After that, we visited the Cooper and the Runquist vineyards, before calling it a day.

Barrels, barrels everywhere at Cooper Vineyards

James was his usual cheery self again, keeping it real by sleeping at all the right times and not really fussing much.  Erica kept it very real, too, by sleeping through most of the day's drives along with her son.

Thorn: Breaking one of the Watson's neato colored wine glasses.
Rose: The Petit Verdot at Runquist.  Hot cha!
Bud: Pool time with the kiddos tomorrow and a local microbrewery I've been hearing so much about.

Car Miles: 90
Total Trip Miles: 1939.5

--Grant