Wine country living

I went to the Sonoma and Russian River valleys this past weekend. It was really quite picturesque, and the weather was awesome, especially for those who prefer it a little warmer. I was expecting a huge amount of traffic on the way in, so when I turned onto 37 to cut over to 121 and Sonoma, I wasn't surprised by the monstrous back-up. I assumed that the traffic was for wine country and a ferocious number of tourists on that fine August Sunday, but I was wrong.

Apparently, the Argent Mortgage Indy Grand Prix was scheduled for this weekend, and we had hit the colossal traffic jam right as people were arriving for the show. It took us an hour to cover the seven miles from 101 and 37 to just past the racetrack on 121! It was completely infuriating. From what I can see on the web, this track isn't a traditional oval track, but as we were bitching at the traffic after we realized what was going on, we imagined those thousands of people watching cars turn left for three hours and were perplexed.

Anyway, Sonoma was pretty deserted, strangely. I usually hate crowds, but in wine tasting and tourist spots, you'd be surprised at how the unexpected lack of people is really disconcerting. I mean, who wants to be the only sucker eating in an empty restaurant, right? After talking to the cashiers, I think even the wineries were a little disappointed by the tourist turnout.