Capture The Color

Thanks to Elle for nominating me for the Capture the Color contest. 

I've always had a love for photography, and have no problem hauling my huge Canon 7D with me on my travels.  What is the best souvenir you can possibly take home from your trip but your photos....or a hot guy with an Olympian swimmers body (Okay seriously, I need to stop crushing on these swimmers bodies.  I feel like a Pedophile).  But I digress, you don't need a fancy SLR camera to take great photos, in fact, two of the photos I chose for the contest were taken with a small Canon Point & Shoot.  I won't tell you which two they are either.

>>>>Blue

This photo was taken in the Philippines on an island called Boracay.  I chose this photo mainly because it had several shades of blue, the deeper blue skies, and the almost teal-like colored waters.  What you don't see is my poor aunt next to me fanning me while holding my freshly cut coconut drink, because I was near the verge of dehydration. 

>>>>Green

This photo was taken in the Caribbean island of Dominica during our hike to Trafalgar Falls.  The whole island was filled with Green landscapes, even more so than my favorite country, New Zealand.  

>>>>Yellow

If you have seasonal allergies like I do then this photo is probably your worst nightmare.  I feel like sneezing just looking at it, but I also feel happy, maybe because I was drunk on lots of wine when I took it.  The photo was taken in Sonoma Wine Country in California during the winter.

>>>>White

For me, probably one of the most beautiful spots in the world are the Salt Flats in Bolivia.  There are no paved roads, strip malls, or traffic lights.  The photo was taken at a Salt Hotel (a different one from the one I stayed at).

>>>>Red

I had several photos that I wanted to choose for the Red Category, but the lady from the Himba Tribe in Namibia became an obvious choice.  While modern women are applying moisturizer on their face in the morning, the Himba women are applying otjize (a mixture of butter, fat, and red ochre) that causes the red hue on their skin and hair. 

I now nominate five other bloggers (including some new blogs I have recently discovered) to take part in the Capture The Color contest:

• Jackie from 6 Months To Live
• Ashley from Wanderscapes
• Celine from The Happily Ever After Project
• Fidel from Scene With A Hart
• Megan from Meganotravels

Go Wine Tasting In Sonoma

I love wine tasting, and that's an understatement.   I have had the pleasure of wine tasting all over the world, so it may seem hard to believe for most people that I had never gone to Sonoma (I had been to its famous neighbor Napa twice).

 

I flew in to Sacramento on a Friday, and hung out at a local winery by my friends house as merely a warm-up.  That night we mapped out our wine agenda for the following day.  Excited, and equipped with sober bellies we headed to Sonoma driving on one lane roads (which proved to be very frustrating especially as a passenger to a speed demon, and slow drivers taking over the roads).  We checked into our awesome priceline hotel (a resort style Hyatt for $48 a night...yay for going during the low season).  

We ate at two places we found on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.  Great food, especially breakfast at Hank's Creekside Restaurant.  Do most people in the South eat this type of stuff every morning?  It was good, but it was a total heart attack on a platter.  Give Sonoma a point for having decently yummy food that doesn't have to break the bank.

Now onto the wineries.  We got a Wine Road Pass for $25 to get free tastings at 50 different wineries in Sonoma County.  The kicker is that the pass is only good for that day, so unless you can teleport yourself through 50 wineries in one day, and you have a body that has no effect on alcohol, then forget about making it to 50 wineries!  We got to our first winery at roughly 1PM, and finished our 7th winery by 5PM.  By the last two wineries we were literally speeding through tight, windy roads to get our "money's worth."  It truly was like the Amazing Race: Sonoma Wine Trail edition, and we would be the nurse and doctor team.  :)

Sonoma County is A LOT more spread out than Napa, so we were amazed that we made it to 7 wineries in a 4 hour time span!  My favorite winery was  Francis Ford Copolla's Winery.  That was the only winery where I did not dump any of my wine tastings.  The best part?  They sell their wine in stores I frequent (like Costco!), and oddly enough the wine is actually cheaper at Costco than at the actual winery.  Go figure.

Date Accomplished: February 20th, 2010