I don’t know how we did it but we had 2 PERFECT days in a row!!! I think God knew we needed it or something but what a fabulous time we have had in California!!! On Sunday we met our beautiful niece, Rebekah, who is getting her masters in choreography and performance (I think those are the official terms) at Mills College in Oakland. She is on her second semester of 4 and doing fabulously and it was incredible to be able to spend an entire day with her. We met her in Napa and then headed up the valley to explore. First stop was the Pioneer Cemetery which was incredible. Chris and his eagle eyes spotted it—it was a challenge to get in and out of it as I suspect they do not really have a lot of folks who traipse around in it but it was so worth it. Chris got some really great pictures and most of the ones in the slide show are his.
From there we wandered down and stopped at the Castello di Amorosa winery where they were having a big event so we could not take the guided tour but instead did the self guided tour and wine tasting. It was a pretty incredible place complete with a chapel and torture chamber which unfortunately we were not able to tour. I wanted some ideas for our basement. The wine tasting was good and our wine dude, Pallo, was fairly good at the spiel but it was very busy when we were there and not a lot of personal attention. But it was fun and well worth the trip there.
From there we traveled on for a bite of lunch at Farmstead and Long Meadow Ranch which was fabulous! All organic and fresh and yummy. Food was fabulous and we enjoyed a short walk around checking things out. Then it was on down the road for our favorite stop of the day! We went to Peju Winery (we had gotten a wonderful list of recommendations from one of Micah’s friends) and this was the absolute best place ever. The grounds had wonderful sculptures and a koi pond and once inside we were greeted by the most personable and fabulous vintertainment ever. Our wine guy, Alan Arnopole, is quite an accomplished man and totally entertained us not only with the fabulous wines but with his singing, rapping, guitar playing, etc. He made the day for me!!! Chris video taped him so one of these days I will post that video but suffice it to say—he made the experience.
Finally we headed to Napa to stroll around a bit –there were art displays in empty storefronts which were quite interesting and several fabulous art galleries and co-ops which we enjoyed. I finally got to see first hand an example of yarn bombing—remember I had blogged about that a while back? Very cool!!! Outside a yarn store, of course!!! We ended the day with a fabulous dinner at Fish Story where I had the most delicious trout ever. Yum.
The day was perfect. We had so much fun with Beka and are so glad that she wanted to spend the day with us. Our trip is winding down–no calls from the vet so I guess Buddy is doing okay while we are gone and tonight I get to sleep in my own bed for the first time since the first of September. I can not wait. Two nights there, two nights back in Lima and then I will officially be back in our own home until I choose otherwise! I am one happy girl.
Let me know what you think of the slideshow!!! And tomorrow is the big reveal of how much $ I will be donating to KIVA and what my new “cause” is! I am pretty darn excited about it, let me tell you, so come back!!!!
