Capay Valley Almond Festival

I ended up not running yesterday because it was too windy. I can and have run in a lot of weather conditions including freezing rain and triple digit heat, but I’m a wuss when it comes to strong wind. The few times I’ve tried it, I get really tired and a runny nose, no fun! But I did drag myself out for a run this morning with slightly less wind and I’m glad I did! It was beautiful outside and I got to say hi to a sheep herding dog watching over a herd of grazing sheep.

He even ran along the fence with me for awhile.

Later in the morning, hubby and I headed to the Capay Valley Almond Festival for a little change of scenery and almond festivities.

The festival is spread out between 4 small towns in the Capay Valley with various events going on from live bands and kiddy activities to wine tasting. And the drive there is gorgeous through the Sacramento valley and into the rolling hills of Capay on winding, scenic roads.

There was plenty of almond sampling, of course. I had no idea there were so many varieties of almonds with slightly varying flavors and textures.

My lunch consisted of almond sampling, olive oil and bread sampling, and kettle corn. I’m not proud of that, good thing I had a huge kale and protein-loaded smoothie for breakfast. :-)

And there were lots of other local foods on display and for sale such as walnuts, garlic, and beans.

It’s also a huge motorcycle event with the winding, scenic roads through the valley and activities at each stop. We had a blast checking out all the bikes and classic cars on display.

But the festival is really about almond blooms which are blooming away this time of year. And they’re lovely!

And here’s me taking that shot thanks to hubby. :-)

I could have easily spent a few hundred dollars buying local gourmet foods!

I limited myself to $60 and took in the scenery and perfect weather instead.

And snapped this creepy old house in the middle of nowhere on the way home.

When we got home, I went through our loot – 6 bags of almonds, local extra virgin olive oil, local organic black beans, and local wheat berries.

Love the name and logo for Full Belly Farm. :-)

And I scored plenty of reading material, recipe books, and guide maps for neighboring towns.

Overall the festival was a lot of fun with lots of information and gourmet shopping. And so fun to see little farming towns so close to us, but so different. After a long day of running and walking all over the festival, I’m ready to call it a day! Hope everyone had a great Sunday!