The Napa Valley

  

We woke up this morning to rain showers.   We decided after breakfast to just sit tight at our hotel in Santa Rosa till the weather cleared.   Worked out perfectly as they had a guest laundry, so we were able to wash some clothes.    The weather has thrown us a curve-a good curve.   We haven't even used a single long sleeved, cooler weather item!   We certainly could have saved some room in our suitcases!    

We left Santa Rosa about 11 and made our way over the hills from the Sonoma Valley into the Napa Valley.   Our first stop was in the charming town of Calistoga at the Twomey Cellars Winery.   It was a rather unassuming place, but the wines were so amazing! The sun had broken through, they had amazing cheese and bread to pair with the wine and needless to say we were feeling awfully happy when we left.   Headed to a little park in Calistoga for a picnic lunch and then crossed over to the Silverado Trail.   We stopped at several more wineries as we worked our way south.  As you can see in the picture below, many vineyards in the Napa Valley were still heavy with grapes.   So beautiful with the green vines, purple grapes, blue sky, and trees turning color.   Heavenly.

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We worked our way back over to the main highway going south toward Napa.  We passed by so many famous wineries.   Mondavi, Cakebread, and Menage A Trois to name a few of our favorites.   We decided to make two final stops.   First one is pictured at the left.   The Beringer Winery is one of the oldest in the valley and this is their original home. The property was beautiful.

Our last stop took us off the beaten path up into the hills to the Hess winery.   It too was quite amazing and the views down into the valley were wonderful.

We are now settled in our very unassuming Super 8 hotel in Berkeley.   It is not fancy, but serves our purpose as it is close to where we will turn in our rental car tomorrow morning and make our way into San Francisco.   We are looking forward very much to seeing the city.   Our suitcases are a bit heavier with our wine purchases, so we will be enjoying some of that each evening during our stay in Frisco.

Toodles to everyone.   Heard the UW won their football game today.   Go Badgers!   We already have our Packer shirts out to wear tomorrow to hopefully give the Packers our good luck.  

We are California Dreamin'

Bob and Deb