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Theresa O’Connor / Treasa Ní Chonchúir

Sunset in a hilly place. The far off horizon glows yellow and orange. Above, the sky is a gradient from those colors to a mid blue. Below the sky, dark hills covered in trees.

Sonoma

parents, my sister, her husband, Eryn, EJ, and I spent in Sonoma celebrating my folks’ 50th wedding anniversary.

We stayed in a hillside a bit west of Glen Ellen. The drive up to the house was pretty harrowing, so we spent most of our first day lounging around and enjoying the pool. Then we got all gussied up and had a celebratory dinner at Normandie in Napa. The food and the wine were all amazing.

We managed to get a bit of an earlier start the next day. We started with a wine tasting at Hamilton in Kenwood, then stopped at Ike’s for sandwiches on our way out to Sonoma’s coast to see Fort Ross, the southernmost Russian settlement in North America and one of California’s State Parks. We got back to Glen Ellen right around dinner time, so we ate at The Saloon at The Jack London Lodge before heading back up the hill.

It was a whirlwind visit—2,700 miles is a hell of a long way to come for the weekend, and I’m so glad Kathleen, Shawn, Mom, and Dad all made the trek out to California.

Seven people are standing on a deck at sunset. An elderly couple is surrounded by their family, including several adults and one child.