Tara!

This past weekend, our 10th as Californians, we had our good friend, Tara Stewart, visit us from her home in Seattle. Tara was not alone as she flew to Napa with some extra luggage, her dog, Kita. Tara arrived Friday afternoon and we wasted no time in showing her around. We loaded up the car with a picnic and the dogs and took off for Dillon Beach. When we left the temperature said 91...when we pulled into the parking lot at Dillon just an hour later the temperature read 61! The weather sure can change drastically as you head towards the coast!

We hung out on the beach for over two hours playing with the dogs, eating our picnic dinner, and enjoying the company. When we left the beach around 8:30pm it had cooled down to 52! However, it was still nice and hot in Napa when we arrived home as the temperature was hovering right around 80 degrees.

Kita likes to sit on your shoulders!

The next morning Katy had us all up and out the door by 8am, even the dogs, so we could get an early start to the day. We started off by hiking to Westwood Hills. The trail runs through a cow field, next to a winery, and up a steep hill that provides a scenic overlook to the city of Napa. After working up an appetite and getting a little exercise we headed into downtown and went to a bakery called Sweetie Pies for breakfast. After breakfast we visited a few shops and went to the Oxbow Market to look around. We mostly just did some window shopping, but we did come away with some chocolate covered gummy bears and some chocolate covered strawberries to pack in our picnic lunch.

Monticello Vineyards

Once back at the house we showered, loaded up the car with some chairs and blankets for our concert and some coolers for our picnic, and then we took off to enjoy wine country. We headed up the Silverado Trail and stopped first at the Monticello Vineyards. These vineyards are run by the Corley family, but are named in honor of Thomas Jefferson. One of the buildings on the estate is actually a smaller size replica of Monticello itself. This turned out to be one of our favorite stops of the day as the wine was good and our host was extremely friendly and even poured us a few glasses from their reserve list.

Silverado Vineyards

Our next stop was the Silverado Vineyards, which is probably the most gorgeous winery we have been to thus far in Napa. It sits up on a hill and has a very scenic view of the valley floor with vineyards as far as the eye can see. They were very busy, being that it was a holiday weekend, and so the service left a lot to be desired. However, realizing that they had neglected us they decided to pour Katy and Tara each a glass of wine (I was DD) and give us a private tour of the estate, which was very impressive. I asked our host if they ever saw any famous people come into the winery, and he said that they see Tamera Mowry (star of the old television show, Sister Sister) all the time and that she had recently had her rehearsal dinner at their winery. She lives in Calistoga and is frequently seen around Napa Valley.

Twomey Cellars

Our next stop was at Sterling Winery, which was jam packed with tourists so we decided to head somewhere a little quieter. We went to Twomey Cellars, which was also a favorite stop of the day. They not only had some good wines, they also had some delicious cheeses set out to sample, which we certainly did, and they had a very nice sitting area outside where we put our feet up and enjoyed our picnic lunch.

Picnic at Twomey

Castello di Amorosa

After Twomey we went to Castello di Amorosa, which is a castle. Yes, literally a castle. We then drove to Del Dotta Vineyards which is another vineyard that is well known for its ambiance as it is an extremely extravagant place complete with caves! After visiting these two impressive places we drove to the Alpha Omega Winery to do some more tasting.

We ended our full day in Wine Country at the Robert Mondavi Winery to eat dinner and listen to Gavin DeGraw in concert. It was a gorgeous setting for a concert with the vineyards and rolling hills serving as the backdrop. The concert was wonderful and had us standing up and dancing most of the time. We actually saw Tamera Mowry at the concert, and even though we did not say hello, she did come to chat with some people who were sitting about 10 feet from us. After the concert ended we were treated to a fireworks show. It was a wonderful day, but we were exhausted. The good news was that the Robert Mondavi Winery is only ten minutes from our house, so it was a quick trip back home!

Sunday was another early morning as we left the house at 7:45am to drive to Vallejo and catch the ferry into San Francisco. After an hour ferry ride we arrived in the city. The first thing we did was rent some bikes and bike across the Golden Gate Bridge. It was a beautiful ride, but the bridge was packed with pedestrians and other cyclists, so was a little crazy. After biking for two and a half hours around the city, we returned the bikes and went to the famous Boudin Bakery for lunch. After lunch we walked, and walked, and then walked some more around what seemed like the entire city of San Francisco. We walked through Little Italy, Chinatown, beside the AT&T Ball field where the Giants play, under the Bay Bridge, and finally after several hours of circumnavigating the city, we ended up at the SF Ferry Building where we hopped back on a ferry and headed home. San Francisco, which never gets too hot, was having a heat wave and so the temperatures were up around 80 degrees for the day, which was very nice.

Once back to Napa we headed downtown to the Normon Rose Tavern to grab a burger and then we called it a day. After a very packed weekend I drove Tara and Kita to the airport on Monday morning. It was a wonderful couple of days and now I am readying the house for our next visitors while Katy is at work. On Thursday Dave and Sherry will arrive and then next weekend we will head to Lake Tahoe with them. California has been a whirlwind so far, and with every weekend from here on out booked with visitors, it promises to be a sprint to the finish line!