In 1988, we did our first trip back to Australia after moving to the US four years earlier. We decided to do a few days in California before heading across the Pacific. We liked Ridge wines and decided to go via San Francisco and check out the winery at Ridge which is situated at Montebello near San Jose.
The winery and tasting room. On weekdays you have to reserve for a tasting and seeing I had to drive and also fly to Australia that night, I did not wish to indulge.
The views are fabulous over the San Jose area.
Old vines.
We did not see any.
It is a very steep and windy road to get up there.Marianne gets a bit scared when we are close to the edge of a cliff and I don't blame her.
Bridge over the bay.
The top of the ridge.
The original house and winery. You can read the history here.
We headed down the hill to Saratoga where we stayed overnight years before.
Halloween decoration.
The historic section where the houses look like they come from the east coast.
The motel where we stayed back in 1988. It was a lot cheaper back then. A lot cheaper!
It was old fashioned and I loved it. I remember having an afternoon nap and waking up to the warm wind blowing through the big trees.
Saratoga would be a lovely place to live but you could never afford to.
After lunch we drove to SFO airport via route 35 that follows an inland route along the spine of the peninsula.
There are not many places that make it convenient to stop. However it is a great drive and we drove several miles through clouds and past redwood trees. It was a great end to our few days in California.
