Well, we got back from Napa safe and sober. I’ve put most of the pictures we took on a nice little album, here you go: http://www.alfaj0r.com/photos/Napa.
The trip was nice, it takes about 4 hours to get there, and it’s really easy to find. We stayed at the Wine Valley Lodge, and from there we went to all the places that we visited. About the lodge: don’t go there. It was pricey, and the shower SUCKED. There was very little pressure, and we only got hot water for about one hour. :tizzy:
Anyways… We arrived in Napa on Friday at around 3pm, and shortly afterwards we were riding our bikes to downtown. Once we got there, we locked our bikes and walked around downtown, which took about 30 minutes. Napa is really small! It sure is cute though, and there’s lots of nice little stores. In fact, most of the shops are local, and not big chains.
Later at night we returned to downtown to have pizza, and to go to the movies. We went and saw The Prestige, which was pretty good. It started off pretty slowly, and I was struggling to stay awake, but after about 30 minutes, I was hooked and the movie got very entertaining.
On Saturday we loaded our bikes in the car and drove to the bottom of the Silverado Trail. We pulled into the first winery that looked good enough, did a little tasting and we got on our bikes. We rode almost 3 miles going North, stopping in a few nice wineries (see the pictures!) until Stef got struck with a migraine. It was a big one, it seemed, so I left her at a winery, and rode to get our car. I picked her up, loaded the bikes, and we headed back to our room. She took some medicine, a nap, and 2 hours later she was good to go :)
After that we went to Rutherford Hill, because Meredith had recommended us the grill there, and in the way there we stopped at the Robert Mondavi winery. It was one of the nicest places we’d been to, and the wine was quite excellent too.
The Rutherford Grill was really nice, although a bit trendy (too trendy for us). We had some humongous burgers and a nice dinner in the patio as the evening settled.
On Sunday we checked out of the room and headed out to Sonoma. This was the prettiest part of the whole driving experience, lots of vineyards, rolling hills and trees with autumn colors.
We stopped in the town of Sonoma to stretch our legs, and then we were planning on
driving up to the Petrified Forest in Calistoga, so we headed North once again. In the way there, Stef spotted the Blackstone winery, so in we went. This was probably one of the best winery visits, because it was such a small place and we were the only ones there, that it felt very private and personal. The wines we tasted were delicious also, and we even bought a bottle of wine of a varietal that is only available at the winery!
After a bit more of driving, we finally got to the biggest disappointment of the trip: the Calistoga Petrified Forest. We paid the entree fee and walked the trail. Let’s just say that it was very :what:. Sure, it’s cool to see these trees that have turned into stone because of the volcano’s ashes, but everything is fenced off and it’s just like going for a little hike in the woods -except for that you have to pay.
We left the forest hungry, so we went to Calistoga in search of a place to eat. We were thinking Mexican the whole time, but as we walked the 4 blocks that is downtown, we ran into a sign that said Gnocchi, so in we went! :cool:
After a nice lunch, we set off to Domain Chandon. We knew that the tours start on the hour, and we had 30 minutes to get there. And we got there just in time, if not 3 minutes late.
Chandon was probably the best winery we visited, because it was the only one that actually gave a tour of its grounds and facilities. It was nothing too great, but the place is really beautiful, so that’s the best part of it.
We got to try some sparkling wines at the end, including the newest one, the Rosè. Yum!
After that, we got back into traveling mode, and 4 hours later we were back home :) Overall, it was a very nice 3-day weekend, very relaxing and quite memorable. I hope we’ll be doing more little trips like this more often!
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