People ask me what I was looking forward to the most post-pregnancy. Sushi? Unpasteurized cheese? Oysters?? Yeah, sure I do love all those things, but for my entire 10 months of growing that human, I was most looking forward to wine – and finally getting to enjoy wine country again! It was pretty tough for me to have some of the best wines in the world less than an hour’s drive away and all I could do was give it all a longing stare. That’s why I was determined to get my butt back to wine country after Carter was born. It was also a wonderful excuse to get my butt out of our house! So at four weeks old, we loaded Carter up in the car {and all his gear – our station wagon has never been so full!} and headed for Alexander Valley.

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Nestled 90 minutes north of San Francisco just north of Healdsburg, Alexander Valley is a wine lovers sweet spot. While the region is known for its amazing Cabernet, Zinfandel and Sauvignon Blanc, in all our adventures in wine country we’d never ventured that far north. Needless to say I was very excited to get out among the vineyards, but the first step was finding a place to stay. Thankfully, I discovered a picture perfect rental home on Homeaway.com. This spot had my name written all over it!

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This modern take on a farmhouse had everything my design-loving heart could ask for in a vacation home. The architecture and design are stunning. Think vaulted ceilings, beautiful hardwood floors and pitch perfect finishes in every space. The house is split into two sections with an adjoining deck…that leads out to a heated pool! Um, yes and yes. We would slide open the oversized glass doors and just sit in the kitchen letting the warm wine country air waft in. The minimalist decor and neutral color palette was so relaxing. The spa-like bathrooms and gourmet kitchen were another major plus. And Carter got to take his first dip in a pool. He was less than amused but he loved the shower we took after getting out!

And while I was temped to sit on that deck all day erry’day, we did manage to get out and about. That was made particularly simple because there were wineries and the cute Jimtown Store literally steps from our front door. That took care of my need for cappuccino and my return to wine tasting – no driving required! But wine country is too beautiful not to venture a bit further so we did hop in the car and head to Dry Creek – a whole 20 minutes away and discovered some of our favorite wines to date.

Wine tasting with a newborn was actually a breeze. Sure I overpacked swaddle blankets and under packed diapers. Sure, we had blowouts and spitups that required me to do laundry {thank you rental house with laundy room}. But none of it mattered because I was dealing with those things in such a beautiful space! Carter also basically slept the whole time we were out and about, really boosting our parental confidence. In fact our confidence was boosted so much that we even braved a dinner in downtown Healdsburg. Sadly, that experiment was less successful. Carter did not take to bustling restaurant noise, so we were forced to enjoy our entrees solo while the other parent circled the block with the stroller. But since we ate at the new-parent dinner hour of 5:30pm, we were able to return to our gorgeous rental home, that stunning deck, the fine bottle of wine we’d picked up in the Valley that day and this sunset:

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And I couldn’t have been happier.

I’m already counting down the days until we can return. While I’m hesitant to give up this gorgeous find, you can check it out for yourself on Homeaway.com right here. Below are a few of the spots we uncovered during our mini-adventure, but I know they are only the tip of the Alexander Valley iceberg. If you have any recommendations for wine tasting, dining or really anything fabulous in northern Sonoma/Russian River/Alexander Valley, please leave them in the comments!

FAVORITE ALEXANDER VALLEY DISCOVERIES:

Wineries
> Hawkes
> Truitt-Hearst
> Preston
> Medlock Ames

Food
> Healdsburg SHED
> Scopa
> Noble Folk
> Flying Goat Coffee
> Jimtown Store

For more of our favorite wine country finds click here, here and here!

Still have wanderlust? Check out the rest of our Gotta Getaway series HERE including trips to Santa Barbara, Hawaii and Washington, DC.

What do you think?

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7 Comments

  1. Wow, that vacation rental looks amazing. I love Alexander Valley, so I’m checking into the rental right now. Thanks for sharing!