Last week in Napa

tasting at BV

On Monday night, July 25th, Josh arrived in California and we greeted him like we have most of our visitors, by going to In and Out to grab a burger and fries. Tuesday I only worked half a day and then met up with Josh so we could spend the rest of the day together enjoying Napa. We started off by grabbing a bite to eat at the Rutherford Grill, and then we headed over to the Beaulieu Vineyards tasting room to begin sampling some wine. I learned quick how nice it is to have Josh tagging along as our tasting was comped due to him being in the "industry." Josh works part time at King Family Vineyards in Crozet, Virginia in the tasting room. Due to this, Josh is able to use his business card showing that he works in the wine industry to gain himself (and me) free sampling of wine. After leaving BV we headed over to one of my favorite spots, the St. Helena Olive Oil Company, where we did some shopping. We then drove north up the valley towards Calistoga and went to Sterling Vineyards where we rode an aerial tram up to the vineyards and were able to enjoy the stunning views of Napa Valley that being at Sterling provides. We did a self guided tour with tastings of Sterling's various wines along the way. Our final stop of the afternoon was at Mumm. Mumm, which was the 17th and last vineyard I would visit while in Napa, will definitely go down as one of my favorites. Mumm produces sparkling wines, and not only do they have delicious wines, they also have a wonderful patio with gorgeous views to sit on and enjoy their wine. It was a nice end to mine and Josh's afternoon together. All in all we saved $136 by having Josh's industry discount! So, my advice to anyone interested in visiting Napa...start working at a vineyard before you make the trip!

view from Sterling

Sparkling wine at Mumm

Once back home after our afternoon of wine drinking, we loaded up a cooler with picnic supplies, grabbed Katy and the dogs, and then headed down to Dillon Beach. Once again there was a drastic change in weather between Napa and the coast. When we left Napa it was 88 degrees and sunny, when we got to the coast an hour later it was 60 degrees and overcast! We hung out on the coast for a while, eating dinner and letting the dogs run and swim before calling it a night.

On Wednesday we started off the morning by going to one of mine and Katy's favorite spots to grab a bite to eat, Sweetie Pie's. After breakfast, Katy took off for work and Josh tagged along with me to run some errands before I dropped him off with some friends and I headed to work. One of Josh's co-workers from King Family Vineyards, Judy, happened to be in Napa as well, so her and Josh had decided to team up and visit some wineries together. While Katy and I were at work they visited several wineries where they had private tours set up. Judging from their stories and the pictures we saw, they had a wonderful time. 

Bone Marrow!

After Katy and I got off work we met up with Josh and went downtown to eat dinner at a place called Morimotos. Masaharu Morimoto is a famous Japanese chef who was the very first Iron Chef. He is famous for fusing western cuisine with Japanese style foods. We ended up being at the restaurant for over three hours and had one of the most incredible meals I have ever eaten. We started off by ordering a couple rolls of sushi and some Japanese beer. After our sushi we ordered bone marrow...that's right....bone marrow that is cooked and served still in the bone! We were a little skeptical, but willing to branch out and try it, and we sure are glad we did because it was delicious! For our entrees I got ishi yaki buri bop, which is yellowtail over rice that is cooked in front of you in a hot stone bowl...it was incredible! Josh got a pork chop that was served with kimchee, bacon, and ginger apple puree. Katy ordered a whole roasted lobster with garam masala and lemon creme fraiche. Everyone's meal was delicious. We were having such a good time that we decided to ignore our full stomachs and order desert. We ordered doughnuts that were served with Japanese molasses, lavender honey, lavender sugar, green tea sugar, lime sugar, and soy bean sugar to dip the doughnuts in. Once again, delicious! Katy and I have been able to experience some excellent restaurants while living in Napa, but this one definitely wins the prize!

On Thursday we did the same deal, Katy and I took off for work and Josh met up with Judy to spend the day visiting wineries. Josh went to the Black Stallion Winery and then visited one of our favorites, the Robert Biale Vineyards. After work we met up with Josh and walked downtown to enjoy the Chef's Market and grab a bite to eat. We got some drinks and some pizza and walked around enjoying all the different booths, especially the food booths that we could sample from! We then walked over to one of our favorite Napa spots, the Oxbow market, where we grabbed some ice cream from Three Twins Ice Cream (which rivals Kline's Dairy Bar in Staunton, its that good!).

Friday was both mine and Katy's last days of work. Katy had a stressful three months, working long hours as the only full time physical therapist at Golden Living Nursing Home. She loved her patients and got very close to some of them, but the reality of how money driven our health care system is was hard for her to take and the company she was a part of was not very supportive, so while it was a good experience for her in some regards, she was also happy to see it come to an end and know that soon we'd be back in Virginia with family and friends. My experience working as a program manager for the city of Napa summer programs was a wonderful experience in many ways, one being all the great people I had the pleasure of working with. It was a tough day saying goodbye to some of the good friends I had made over the past three months.

Josh visited the Kunde Family Estate in Sanoma on Friday.

Friday afternoon we finished packing the house up and loading the cars, and then we headed to Oakland to meet up with some of our California family, Tod and Bradley, to catch the Oakland A's play the Minnesota Twins. It was very nice being able to see Tod and Bradley one last time, and while the game wasn't the most exciting of ball games, the fireworks afterwards were great!





So, after three months and trips to San Francisco, San Diego, Lake Tahoe, Fresno, Los Angeles, Yosemite, a 400 mile road trip on Highway 1, and various day trips through Napa and Sanoma, we'll soon be saying goodbye to California. While we loved our time here we are anxious to start our trek home to see our new niece, Kylie, along with all our other friends and family who are waiting on us. Virginia, here we come!