Northern Cali trip

The trip

So as the pictures below will attest, Dara and I took a brief jaunt up north to Napa Valley and San Francisco, respectively. The latter was a great opportunity to relax and tease our taste buds, while the latter was the perfect substitute for our yearly trips to New York. Here’s a brief rundown:

We arrived in Napa on Saturday afternoon, got settled in, and walked the downtown area. We stayed in a bed-and-breakfast called “1801 First,” which is a beautiful century building. I had never stayed at a b&b and wasn’t totally comfortable with the idea, but the hosts put us totally at ease and we had a good time. See the pics below for some views of the room. That first night, we walked the downtown streets, had some Italian (which was a little weak) and had a nice sleep.

The second day, we visited Domain Chandon vineyard and winery, which is known for their sparkling wines. We shot 100 barrel pics, tasted some tasty sparkling wines (which I usually don’t like), and drove home.

I can already see that this play-by-play is going to take too long, so here it is in point form:

-Then went home and had a nap.
-Then ate at a great little restaurant called “Brix,” where I tried halibut.
-Then had a couples’ massage, which was a first for me, but was very enjoyable. No, George, “it didn’t move.”
-Had a nice sleep.
-Woke up and went to Rutherford Hill Estates, to view the manmade caves and attend a tasting
-Drove to Sterling Vineyards to ride the cable car, taste the wine (bought a really nice malvasia bianca, which is possibly the best white wine I’ve ever tried).
-Drove to Calistoga, a boring little town.
-Ate at Graystone culinary school, which had tasty food and featured little viewing areas to watch the chefs.
-Slept somewhere in there.

Drove to San Francisco
-We stayed at the JW Marriott, in Union Square.
-Viewed several art galleries; had one art dealer try to sell us a $20,000 painting (which was beautiful. About $20k beautiful). She had us in there for over an hour.
-Ate at a nice meal at a place called Farallon, which had jellyfish up on the roof.
-Slept.
-Took a driving tour of the city, where we witnessed Frisco’s various sights and sounds (including Union Square, Haight-Ashbury, Twin Peaks, Golden Gate Park and Bridge, and many other icons of the city).
-After the tour, we met up with people we first met in Napa- a nice couple from L.A. We had dinner with them and had a great time. They’re from Pasadena, so we’ll be hanging with them in the future.
-Slept
-Woke up early to see Alkatraz, then took a tasting tour. The former tour was interesting and somewhat creepy, and the second tour was… well, it was the same. The tour guide looked like Bronson Pinchot, with no eyebrows and a keen ability to create awkward pauses. This tour was designed to show us some fine bay-area dining (specifically the north beach area), and we tried some premier coffee and truffles. We also visited a bakery, the smell of which is still swimming around my head (it was beautiful), a pastry bakery and some cafes. It was a strange tour, but it rounded out our trip in a nice way. Unfortunately, I got a bit of a burn on this day, got sick and went to bed.
-Ate some Italian food.
-Slept.
-Woke up and had a quick breakfast with the previously-mentioned friends we met in Napa. They’re a very sweet couple and we had a great time. It was a nice way to end our trip.
-We then drove home and met our very lonely cat.