Vacation! Part 2, Napa

After 2 fun days in San Fran, we headed north across the Golden Gate Bridge to wine country. After all the amazing things we have heard about Napa we finally got to see for ourselves. We didn't waste any time after checking into our resort, the Vino Bello Resort, we headed out for some lunch at the Oxbow Public Market. Then it was time for some tastings!

First, we went to Darioush at the recommendation of the concierge. Very interesting Perisian themed winery with pretty good wine (the most interesting was a Viongier which neither of us have ever tried, we liked it and bought a bottle). Next we went to Hagafen, a kosher family run winery right next door. It was a lot smaller, and in my opinion a lot more fun. We really liked every wine we tried there and they were very generous with the number of wines we tasted. What was also interesting was all of the letters from the White House framed all around the tasting room. Apparently this is the winery the White House calls any time they have any dignitaries from Israel in town for a meal! Very cool. Next was the winery I had been looking forward to ever since Emily told me about it. Del Dotto has two locations and we went to the historic caves location. On the tour we learned about the barrels and how they effect the taste of the wine. They only do reds, and boy do they do them well. We had so much fun tasting the wine directly from the barrels and exploring the original caves built in the 1800's they use for storing the barrels. Highly recommended! We finished the day with dinner at Fume Bistro, really good food and close the the resort.

Persian themed Darioush Winery

Hagafen, the kosher winery

The historic caves at Del Dotto, happy to get out of the rain!

Day 2 in Napa was also Super Bowl Sunday. I totally forgot about it when I booked the trip, but luckily JJ wasn't too upset about it. We were still able to watch the game after a few tastings. We went to Artesa first down in the Carneros area of Napa and stumbled on to a sale for industry people. With a little effort we were able to get an invite and take advantage of 50-70% off the wine that we had just tasted. Talk about good timing! We were able to taste about 8 more wines for free and buy some really great wine at crazy low prices. The view from the winery was spectacular! Next we went to Domaine Carneros to taste some sparkling wines. I love sparkling wines and theirs were no exception! Also, the building was modeled after the family chateau in Champagne, France. Not too shabby! After watching the game at our resort, we went to dinner at Taylor's Automatic Refresher and had fabulous burgers.

The Carneros area of Napa Valley

Artesa winery, built into a mountain

Domaine Carneros, really good bubbly!

Day 3 we hopped in the car and drove up to Calistoga at the north end of the valley. The drive was gorgeous! I can't wait to go back to see it during the fall when ll the grapes are grown. We went to Sterling Vineyards first, where their claim to fame is the arial tram ride up to the winery on top of a mountain. That was the highlight of the tour because the wine wasn't necessarily the best. Still worth it to see the valley from up high though. Next we went toCastello di Amorosa (this is the castle that Jake took Vienna and Gia to on this season's Bachelor!!!). It is a recreation of a Medieval Castle and we realized quickly that it wasn't going to be enough to just taste the wines here, we decided to come back later to take a tour of the entire castle. AMAZINGLY beautiful! To fill our time until the tour we went to V. Sattui for tasting and a gourmet lunch at their deli. After lunch we decided to try some of the wineries of the beaten path and ended up at August Briggs (recommended by Emily). Very tiny family run winery with fantastic wine. We liked it so much , we signed up for their wine club! Another speedy tasting at Cuvaison before heading back to the Castle. Great chardonnay at Cuvaison! The tour at the Castle was worth the wait, and so was the wine. We really liked everything they had. On the way back to the resort we stopped at Redd and ate a quick dinner at the bar. Their bar menu was recommended to us by one of the locals who did our tasting at Artesa. Great fish tacos, but not as good as Fuzzy's in Fort Worth

Driving in to Sterling Vineyard

On the tram to the top of the mountain at Sterling

Castello di Amorosa

In the Queen's chair at the Castle

JJ's new friend

The last day we stopped at one winery before driving back to SF. We went to Domaine Chandon for some sparkling wine. It was a beautiful winery with great bubbly. We had a relaxed tasting and then headed back to the resort to pack up all the wine we bought throughout the trip. We ended up bringing 4 cases home!! Good thing we flew Southwest where they don't charge for checked bags! It was a perfect trip and I can't wait to go back to visit during harvest!

Vacation! Part 1, San Francisco

JJ's birthday was at the end of January so we combined that celebration with an early Valentine's Day celebration and headed to San Francisco and Napa Valley Feb 4-9. Seriously one of the best vacations ever! And only like the 3rd or 4th time JJ and I have flown together! We are usually flying out to visit each other or I am trying to keep up with all his football travels.

JJ's actually birthday- I made Texas Sheet Cake!

Again, thanks to Trip Advisor and Emily (who lives in the Bay Area) We had an amazing trip planned out and I just have to share all of the activities!

We got in Thursday morning and spent the day wandering around Fisherman's Wharf (right near our hotel). It is totally touristy, but it was nice to walk around near the water and see the sea lions too! Obviously, we had to have clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl at Boudin, the go-to for sourdough bread in San Fran. JJ did point out something that I had never really thought about...why is New England clam chowder one of the things that San Francisco is known for? My only thought is because they are known for sourdough bread there, and what goes better with sourdough bread than clam chowder? If anyone knows the real answer I would love to hear it!

Next we wandered up to Ghiradelli Square and sampled and purchase some delicious chocolate to bring home to my parents. We also walked right by the most adorable tea place Crown and Crumpet. Yes, it was quite possibly the girliest place in SF all decorated in pink and flowers, but JJ being the good husband he is joined me for afternoon tea. Really good tea, and fabulous scones. Life doesn't get much better than that.

After a brief nap back at the hotel we headed out to Pier 33 for our bout ride and night tour ofAlcatraz. Of course, it was pouring rain and we had prepaid for our tickets, but other than that I was really excited to go! I thought the tour as really interesting, glad we had the audio guides otherwise it would have been really boring. Because of the rain and the fact that we had to walk back to our hotel, we just ducked in to a random restaurant near our hotel for dinner, it was nothing special so i won't even bother linking it.

View of Alcatraz from the boat

Friday we got up early to try to find a battery for my camera, luckily there were about 6 different camera stores at Fisherman's Wharf. We then "hopped on" our tour for the day, Mr. Toad's Tours (and yes, I did chose it because of the name, but it had awesome reviews too!). We rode around in a funky 1930's open air bus. The weather was gorgeous and this tour was a perfect way to see the city. We drove around for 4 hours through downtown, Chinatown (if you go, try the House of Dim Sum near the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory for killer shrimp dim sum and awesome egg rolls!), Golden Gate park, Nobb Hill, Presidio, Pacific Heights and much more. The guide was very fun and knowledgeable so if you go, ask for John Francisco, no joke.

Mr. Toad's tour bus

Golden Gate Bridge

Postcard row, perfect!

That afternoon we met up with Emily and a few of her friends from law school. She took us on an amazing culinary tour of SF! We started out in Union Square and enjoyed some cream puffs at Beard Papa's in the mall. If you go, vanilla was my favorite, but we also tried chocolate and caramel. Next we went for some fried rice at Katana-ya. Seriously far better than any other fried rice I've ever had. It wasn't greasy at all! Next we went deep into the heart of Chinatown to the Vital Tea Leaf and sampled about 20 different Chinese teas. The hostess who was serving us did a really good job of telling us about the teas and all of the health benefits of each one. Very interesting!

Even after all of our snacking, we were ready for dinner at Incanto. A restaurant that features a Food Network chef and boasts about using the whole animal in their cooking. This was pretty adventurous for both JJ and I, but we really loved everything we tried! (I did have to pass on the duck brain though...I just couldn't do it)

Happy to explore one of the most beautiful cities in the country and so happy to visit Emily in her new surroundings! Next, we were off to Napa!!

So far behind!

I think life moves at warp speed when we are back in Phoenix, because I just realized its been a month since I wrote anything! And there has been plenty to write about! I guess I will try to fill in the gaps with the next few posts...

Right after all of my TCU friends left (after a disappointing Fiesta Bowl) JJ came home for the off-season. We had about a day or two before Molly, one of our closest friends from Green Bay came out to stay with us for the Packers/Cardinals play-off game to watch her husband. Phoenix was football central for us this year but I guess I am bad luck for all the teams I support because the Packers lost to the Cardinals in one of the craziest games I have ever watched. Well, we were disappointed for Molly and Mason for about 15 minutes after the game, because then we realized that this meant their off-season had officially started. And that means its time for the fun to begin!

Originally Molly's trips was scheduled for 4 days, enough time for her to escape the snow in Wisconsin and have some fun with us in beautiful sunny Phoenix. After the Packers lost we decided that it was not in her best interest to go back up to the snowy north and that she should just stay here with us and have Mason fly down after wrapping things up in Green Bay. So Molly's trip was extended by 10 days. Once Mason got into town, the vacation began! The weather was perfect, so we spent the days golfing, playing tennis, hiking, shopping and exploring all of the fine culinary options Phoenix has to offer. It was like a vacation for us too, and we didn't even have to pay for flights!

Now, let me just say, there are VERY FEW people in the world that you would be able to deal with as house guests for 10 days. I mean, in all reality after about day 4, people stop being polite and start getting real (where have I heard that before?). But we really had fun the entire time they were here. Probably because after a few days, Molly and I realized we could yell at each other's husbands the same way we yell at our own to clean up their dishes/pick up their laundry/take a shower/get off the couch. I have always wondered what communal living would be like, so I guess that answers that!

We had so much fun that we are already discussing our trip up to stay with them this summer when Phoenix is 112 degrees and you burn yourself on the steering wheel every time you get in the car. Ah the benefits of having friends all over the country, vacations are so much cheaper when you don't have to pay for a hotel!