Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Help Wanted - Vacation Planning

This October, my husband and I will be celebrating 11 years as husband and wife.



As a way to mark this event, we decided to take our first "Just Us" vacation in almost 7 years. Originally, we had talked about going to some tropical place in the Caribbean...and then remembered that hurricanes really like to visit that area in October. Our wedding was almost postponed because of a hurricane and our first and second anniversaries had "run ins" with the mighty wind & rain machines as well.

So, now we are planning on our first visit to California Wine Country.



The first place that comes to mind is Napa, but I'm worried that it has become "too commercialized" with one tourist trap after another. Then we talked about Sonoma Valley. Our brief online research leads us to believe that Sonoma is quaint and not going to be "wall-to-wall" with buses full of tourists.

With that being said, could I get some ideas from any of you who have been to either place? Which location has a better "non-touristy' feel? What is a "must do"? What should we not even waste our time and money on? Any and all advice is going to be greatly appreciated.