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| The Beautiful Napa Valley! |
For the past few years, a small group of my girlfriends have all gotten together for a weekend trip somewhere. Because of weddings, showers, etc it has typically been somewhere one of us actually lives. This year, we decided to all fly out to San Francisco and stay in Napa! Being the party planner that I am, I put together a 4 day, 4 night schedule of fun and feasting for our long awaited trip.
Thurs Night - Friday
The first night we all flew in to SFO on different flights from around the US. My flight got in first so I picked up the rental car and checked us in at the Hojo Express near the airport for easy access back and forth as everyone else flew in.
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| Golden Gate Bridge Vista Point |
The hotel was fine for a night and considering we were up and at 'em pretty early the next morning (west coast time change was to our advantage!), I'm glad we saved our more luxe accommodations for the remainder of the trip. After checking out of the hotel, we sat in commuter traffic before eventually making our way over the Golden Gate Bridge. Two of my friends on this trip have never been to the Bay area before. Fortunately, they were welcomed with clear skies and a fog-free view of the bridge from the several vista points we stopped at along the way. It was a beautiful sight, though after seeing the movie San Andreas, I kept picturing a different scene in front of me. (Ahh!!)
After an hour or so of photographs, we made our way to Sausalito. It was easy to find parking at 10 AM in a lot along Bridgeway and the town was very quiet. Most of the shops weren't open, so we walked along a trail near the water for an hour or so until people starting to arrive on the ferry and the stores opened up. I hadn't been here before and expected a more lively vibe. I was feeling a bit down until we made our way back to The Barrel House for lunch and drinks on the back deck. A bloody mary turned my frown upside down. From there we drove out to Muir Woods for a self-guided walk through the park. The windy roads up the mountains made for an interesting adventure... I definitely wouldn't want to go up there after dark! I went to Muir woods on my last trip and really enjoyed it, so I was happy to be back with my friends.
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| Muir Woods |
The last stop on our itinerary before getting to our hotel in Napa was the Jelly Belly factory in Fairfield. The traffic out there was horrendous. As the minutes ticked by, we were closer and closer to missing the last tour of the factory at 4pm. Fortunately, luck was on our side and we squealed into the parking lot at 3:58, just in time to hear how Ronald Reagan's favorite candy is made. I expected to learn more about the specific ingredients that go into jelly beans, but perhaps if I knew, I wouldn't eat them anymore? In the end, we only had a handful of samples along the way as well as a small bag to take home and eat. I would have preferred to pay $10 for the tour and eat unlimited jelly beans! Yumm... I should mention that they have a chocolate & wine pairing room on site. If we would have arrived earlier, I definitely would have stopped in there.
We finally made it to the Napa River Inn in the early evening. We were greeted upon arrival with a wine tasting in the lobby and our tasting cards that were included in the package. The staff was very friendly and we were able to park in the lot right outside the hotel. After freshening up at the hotel, we spent our first evening on the town at Bounty Hunter Wine Bar & Smokin' BBQ. I didn't make reservations in advance, but we were eventually seated after having a drink at the bar. The benefit of sitting at the bar before ordering dinner is that we could watch every plate of food come out and decide what we wanted in advance. The four of us shared the meat platter as well as several side dishes. The food was good and the wine flights complimented our meal.
Saturday
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| Filling the balloons |
The next morning, half of our party went on a hot air balloon tour while the other staff explored downtown and Oxbow market. Napa Valley Balloons, Inc. had arranged for a van to come pick us up at the hotel at 6:15am. They were right on time and after a short ride, we were checking in at Domaine Chandon. Coffee and pastries were provided while they gave us a brief overview for the day. Because of the fog in the valley, we went to an alternate launch site in Winters and flew over different sorts of farms and vineyards. The entire experience was incredible.
Climbing into the 20 person basket was entertaining and once we were floating in the air, everything was quiet and peaceful. I didn't feel one sway in the wind. When it was time to land, the ground crew drove ahead to find a farmer who would let us land on their property. I learned that because you can't really steer a hot air balloon, you never really know where you'll end up. The pilot finds a good spot and hopes the farmer will say yes, you may land on my property. If they say no, they keep floating along for a better spot. We landed with a light touch and two small bounces before crawling back out of the basket and heading back to Domaine Chandon for our gourmet brunch and endless mimosas (I think we had at least 6 a piece). The entire experience was so much fun and one of the highlights of my trip!
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| A View from Above |
We met up with our friends at Domaine Chandon and tried some of the other sparkling wines available there with a 2-1 tasting from Yelp. The Yelp deal must be a pretty good one and relatively unused since the woman at the tasting bar didn't seem to want to give it to me initially until she read it through a few times. Our next stop was Bouchon, a french bakery nearby. There was a bit of a line
when we arrived, but waiting there was easy compared to the difficulty in making a decision on what to order once we got up to the counter! My two friends who didn't eat brunch ordered salads and dessert while I opted instead just to split 4 different macaroons the size of my hand in half. They were so good and while I enjoyed the Pistachio flavor, I was pleasantly surprised by the PB&J as well.
We had a 2:30 tour reservation at Hess Collection, so we did not linger long over the food. One of the things I liked most about driving around the Napa/Sonoma areas is that everything was pretty easy to find. We got to Hess a few minutes early and walked around the inside lobby while the other people who would be touring with us showed up. Our tour guide, Sam, met us in the lobby and took us out to the vineyard to see some of the vines. We were able to eat a few grapes right off the plants that hadn't been harvested yet. From there we went inside to see where they hold some of the barrels and learn about their property and different wines.
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| Champagne Brunch |
We were escorted out to a little garden area to do a tasting. After we finished our tour, some of the girls explored the art museum portion of the building (I opted out since I don't like modern art). After Hess, we went back to our hotel to freshen up and decide on dinner. My wine class instructor from back home suggested we try Morimoto. We were able to get seated right away on their back patio and placed our orders. Sadly, everything was just OK. We all ordered different things (sushi, dumplings, soup, etc) and nothing really stood out.
Sunday
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| Domaine Carneros |
Our last full day in Napa started with a fabulous breakfast in bed. One of the things I didn't mention before is that the Napa River Inn also provides breakfast each morning from the restaurant downstairs as part of their package. I don't know if I liked the breakfast sandwich or fruit & yogurt parfait better. Either way, everything was so good and it saved us from trying to find somewhere to eat each morning when everything outside was closed! I did manage to take a little stroll to the Napa General Store that morning and pickup a few souvenirs. If you are a wine lover, definitely make a point to stop in that store.
We arrived at Domaine Carneros at 11:00 AM for our tour/tasting. I hadn't been to this vineyard before and it was incredibly beautiful and scenic. The main building was an old mansion sitting up on a hill. There were already a lot of people tasting on the veranda with beautiful cheese platters. Our tour guide this time was a little bit bigger than the last one (maybe 10-12 people?), but still manageable. We started the tour tasting some of their sparkling wines. Our guide, Al, was very enthusiastic and walked us through the property stopping to let us taste more wine along the way. At the end we tried a few more bottles with a cheese pairing and I purchased a bottle of their Pinot Noir to bring home. It was a great tour and a good way to start the day.
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| Castello Di Amorosa |
We lingered a little longer than I had planned for so we had to cut out a few stops at this point to make sure we had plenty of time at the next vineyard before our spa appointments that night. We went straight to the Castello di Amorosa for our next tasting. I had heard wonderful things from people back home and on site about this vineyard, so I was very excited to visit. The beautiful castle replica was built from a lot of material imported from Europe and took many years to build. There are barnyard animals, a moat, and a drawbridge. I knew in advance that I wanted to do their reserve tasting, but my only complaint is that the tasting room is kind of far from everything else so you don't get to soak in the atmosphere. We didn't really get a chance to walk around and see the property very well. The tasting was wonderful and the cheese and charcuterie pairings were perfect. I am enjoying a bottle of their Sangiovese as I write this post... yum!
Our last scheduled stop for the day was to the Indian Springs Spa in Callistoga for a mud bath and massage. Before our appointment times, we went to check out the mineral pool. The water seemed nice, but the pool was pretty crowded. I only stayed up there for 15 minutes or so until I had to head back for my mud bath. The entire mud bath experience was very cool and relaxing. I would like to sleep in a mud bath every night if I could. The mud molded to your body and made it seem like a very dirty tempurpedic mattress. After 12 minutes in the bath, I rinsed off in the shower and went in the steam room to unclog my pores. After that was finished, I was escorted to the massage room for 60 minutes of bliss. I'm surprised I didn't fall asleep at the bar when we stopped for dinner at Rutherford Grille. The Spa was a great way to end our stay in Napa.
Monday
We left for San Fran early Monday morning. The plan was to sit in traffic and drop off 2 of my friends before spending the day in the city. Fortunately we made good timing and we able to see some sights together (full house landmarks, lombard street, etc) before they had to leave. After dropping them off, I parked near Ghiradelli square and enjoyed some Irish Coffees at Buena Vista Cafe. While walking toward Pier 39, we came across a sign for GoCars. These little yellow go carts drive on the street and have a navigation/recorded tour guide that takes you through the city. There was a 2.5 hour loop that went to a lot of places I hadn't seen before, so the two of us strapped on our helmets and jumped in! This was one of the other highlights of my trip as we drove through many beautiful scenic points and the Presidio. The Cliff side neighborhoods were breathtaking... and while my hands were not happy about the handbrakes as I drove down Lombard Street in my GoCar, it was such a fun experience.
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| Napa River Inn Hotel |
After we turned our GoCar back in, we met up with another friend for a drink before heading back home to Boston. All in all, it was a great trip!
