Image Map

Thursday, July 21, 2016

Napa Valley and San Francisco

I am so lucky that I was able to spend 10 days in California, with 7 days in Napa Valley and 3 days in San Francisco. If you've never been to either city, I highly recommend planning a trip! 

Napa is well-known for its wine, but it's also really popular for its food! I wrote about some great food I had here.

Friday

Friday wasn't super exciting since it was the travel day. We did have a great dinner at Napkins Bar and Grill, though! 



We stayed at the RiverPointe, and how cute are these little cottages?




 I didn't take it apart all week, it was just too cute!


Saturday

Saturday brought around the local farmers market, where we stocked up on fresh fruits and veggies for the week. I always like to buy local art when I travel, and when I saw these beauties I knew I had to get them.




After the Farmers Market we wandered around Oxbow Market, and had another great dinner at Kitchen Door. 



Sunday


Sunday we explored Downtown Napa and ventured to their outlet mall. It was a good thing they had an outlet mall close by, since my Coach sunglasses I got 10 years ago broke. Oh, well. At least I was able to replace them within the hour!


After the outlet mall we headed to a restaurant called Tarla. The restaurants in Napa Valley can do no wrong!


Monday

Monday brought about our first wine tasting tour. Our tour guide, Hector, was awesome. We went to 3 wineries, two of which are small while the third was the famous Castello di Amorosa. You can't have a trip to Napa Valley without a trip to Castello di Amorosa!





Before we stopped at any wineries, we took a few pictures with this guy. No trip to Napa is complete without visiting the grape crusher!




We started at a small and inconspicuous winery in a warehouse called Spelletich. I ended up buying a bottle of wine here. 






Our second winery was right around the corner, and they had a little food pairing to go with the wines. Well, it wasn't exactly food.. It was various flavored oils to get the "essence" of food that best pairs with the wine. It wasn't what I expected, but it made the experience even better. This may have been my favorite of the day since they donate 7% to charities. It may not sound like a lot, but it's more than a lot of other places! 






I ended up buying a bottle of wine here, too. 






The third place we went was Castello di Amorosa, which is this gigantic Italian style castle. It was absolutely beautiful, but man was it busy here!








The wine was good, but I did not buy any bottles here. 


I have to say that this was a great first day of wine tasting!


Tuesday

On Tuesday we went on a biking wine tour to three wineries, and biked 18 miles. EIGHTEEN MILES PEOPLE! I hope that burned off some of the calories from all the delicious food I ate this week. 



I didn't take many pictures, but I did stop for a second to snap a quick picture of this grape cluster. Look how big it is! These are Zinfandel, in case you're wondering. 



At the second winery, we did a wine and chocolate tasting. Oh my goodness, if you have never done one of these you are missing out!

This was a tiring day, but well worth it.



Wednesday

Wednesday wasn't that exciting. We planned to go on a walking foodie tour, but it was cancelled because enough people didn't sign up. Boooo! 



Thursday

Thursday we went on another wine tour to 4 wineries in Sonoma. We ended at one of my favorite wineries, which I visited a few years ago. 





Friday



On Friday it was time to say adios to Napa Valley, and helloooo to San Francisco! 


Saturday


On Saturday we took the ferry over to Sausalito. How gorgeous is this view?

Sunday

Sunday marked the end of the trip. How is it that June dragged by so slowly, and then this trip was over in the blink of an eye? 


Well, while that fun is now over, you still have a chance to have some and enter the giveaway! 

No comments:

Post a Comment