Napa Valley

April 17, 2016

We headed for Napa today. Drove through San Francisco so we could drive over the Golden Gate Bridge. It's a gorgeous day so lots of sail boats on the water and lots of people walking across the bridge. 

 Golden Gate Bridge

 Lots of sailboats out there

 This girl on the sidewalk scared me when she photobombed me

We’re staying in Skyline Wilderness Park; one of the only parks in the area that could accommodate our rig. It’s a tight fit…we’re squeezed in, but have enough room for the slides. I think this is the closest we’ve been to our neighbors in any campground. It’s a nice park though with lots of hiking trails through the mountains. We’re so excited to have great wifi here so we spent the whole rest of the afternoon/evening on the internet…finishing the blog from Pinnacles and booking more reservations at parks.

April 18, 2016

Started off the day at the Napa Visitors Center getting maps and coupons for wineries. 

There's hundreds of wineries to chose from!

Also found out where we could kayak and cycle. Today is supposed to be the hottest day (80’s) of the week so we’re going to spend the afternoon on the Napa River. We got on the water at around 1:30 at JFK park and paddled to downtown Napa. The river is a tidal marsh this close to San Francisco Bay.. It didn’t really offer the best scenery and there was no place to beach so there weren’t any opportunities to stretch our legs. We did see a river otter which was pretty cool and the Napa Wine train runs right along the river so we saw that. We were out on the river for about 3 ½ hours. The paddle back was rough…fighting the wind and the tide. We tied our kayaks together and Dave did a lot of the paddling for about the last half hour.

We launched at Kennedy Park...

 ...and headed for downtown Napa

View of downtown from the water

April 19, 2016

Did a hike in the campground this morning…the skyline trail to the buckeye trail. It was a two-hour hike with an elevation gain of ~1,000’. Nice views of the area from the top. 

 One of the trails we hiked in the campground

 View of Napa in the background

Had lunch at the rv then got ready to do some wine tasting. We drove to St. Helena and went to Twomey which was highly recommended by Diane. The wine was excellent…our favorite was the Merlot. The guy at the counter was very nice and informative. The 5 wine tasting was $15. At the end of the tasting (even tho we didn’t buy a bottle) he gave us two clean wine glasses and a tote bag.

Then we went to Castello di Amorosa in Calistoga. Here we did a tour of the castle and a wine tasting that included tasting a cabernet out of the barrel. We also enjoyed the wine here…especially their sangiovese. Our tour guide was very good…offering a lot of information on the history/building of the castle and the wine making process. The wine tasting here was $25 (5 each; Dave and I shared the tastings, so we tasted 10) and the tour was an additional $15. Probably wasn’t worth $40, but we enjoyed it.

Castello di Amorosa Winery

 Ready to enter and do some wine sipping!

 Waiting for our tour to begin

The main dining room in the castle. They were having a private event during our tour.

 The armory in the castle

 Helmet from 400 AD

 Torture chamber

 Tasting some wine out of the barrel. It tasted a little like 
Dave's homemade wine...not quite done.

Rachel filling our glasses...may I have some more please...

 This long room filled with barrels was gorgeous!

Our tour group

We went to Gott’s Roadside for dinner on the way home (also recommended by Diane). I got a crispy teriyaki chicken sandwich with sweet potato fries. Yum! And Dave got ahi poke crispy tacos. He loved it! We also split a chocolate milk shake for dessert. Everything was delicious! This place was featured on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives under a different name...Taylor's Automatic Refresher. They changed the name to their last name...Gott.

Gott's Roadside was featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. It was delicious!

Thanks Chelsea and Liz for my Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives book!

Loved it!

April 20, 2016

We took a drive today to Point Reyes National Seashore to do some hiking along the coast (one last time before we leave California). This place is beautiful!! We started out at the Visitors Center for info and trail maps. The first trail we took was the Earthquake Trail which is a .6 mile loop that runs directly over the San Andreas Fault. The trail provides descriptions of the fault and the surrounding geology.

 The blue posts mark the San Andreas Fault

This fence was pulled 18 feet apart during the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.

Then we drove to the Pierce Point Ranch to hike the Tomales Point trail. The trail was 6 miles round trip with amazing views of the ocean. This northernmost part of the peninsula is maintained as a reserve for Tule Elk and we saw a lot of them!!

 Pierce Ranch and lunch

The trail we took to see the Tule Elk

 Beautiful flowers lined the path

 Perfect time of year to see all of these gorgeous wildflowers!

 We passed two women who were harmonizing to a celtic tune and walking barefoot. 

I think the beauty of this place reminded them of their homeland.

Love this view!!

Our first glimpse of Tule Elk.

They hung out right alongside the trail.

So fun to watch!

About a mile further on the trail, we found the males.

 He's a beaut!

Eating California poppies

 On our way back on the trail, the ladies were all laying down...

 ...except this one. She was huge with calf.

The path back to the car was thick with wildflowers.

April 21, 2016

Spent the afternoon visiting a couple of wineries in Yountville…Napa Cellars and Sequoia Grove. We knew we would like the wine at Napa Cellars because we already buy it, but they had a new variety we hadn’t tasted so we enjoyed the wine tasting and bought a bottle. The guy pouring our tastings was great! Whenever he got busy and felt like he was ignoring us, he would come over and pour more wine in our glasses and say, “I’ll be right back, but I don’t want to leave you empty handed.” One of the pours was one of their premium wines…it was delicious.

 Tasting menu

We liked the Silk and bought a bottle

Then we went to Sequoia Grove and had a totally different experience. Not a good one. The wine was good, but the pourer was inattentive and offered no information on the wines. Bad experience.

Grilled a steak on the bbq for dinner then had a fire in the community fire pit and met some nice people from Canada.

April 22, 2016

Rainy day today. Getting our hair cut, Walmart, laundry, reading and relaxing.

April 23, 2016

Dave went on a 4-hour hike this morning. Then we spent the afternoon at Napa Cellars. We brought a picnic lunch and spent the afternoon drinking a wine we enjoy in a fun vineyard with great music... and cornhole!

Red-shouldered hawk and some early morning balloonists over Napa.

 Spooked a lot of deer this morning. Not this guy.  I didn't seem to concern him in the least.

Spring-fed trough for the horses, but look closely.

Napa valley in the morning.

 Napa Cellars Vineyard
Nice picnic area to sit in the sun and enjoy wine and lunch.

 The sun was in and out on Saturday, but the temp was in the 70's so it felt great!

The Napa Valley Wine Train is rolling past Napa Cellars

And it just keeps rolling along.

This was the lawn area. There was also a picnic grove with tables and lawn games.

Cornhole - We played, and left it at a tie. One game each.

April 24, 2016 - We're off to stay at National Parks for the next few weeks so not sure about the wifi situation for future posts. We're headed to Yosemite today... then Sequoia, Death Valley, Zion and Bryce Canyon. Hopefully we can find wifi somewhere along the way.