My recent trip to the Bay Area would not have been complete without a trip to Napa. Thankfully, Uncle Eric volunteered to be both our travel guide and activities director despite the fact that our road trip to wine country was the day after his wedding. Don't worry, we took his new bride too. They've already traveled the world a dozen times over during the past 16 years, so I suppose a honeymoon didn't even occur to them.
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| The evening before... |
Anyway my brothers Karl & Kevin, Dad, Uncle Eric & his new wife Sue, my niece Katelyn and I all piled into a "family" van and headed north. Since our rental car only seated 4 and my uncle drives an Accord, we considered renting a van. Turns out thriftiness runs in the family, because as soon as Dad & his brother saw the going rates of rental vans, they opted to use none other than my deceased grandfather's van. I had no idea that van was still around, but leave it to the Blums to hold on to a rickety 2001 mini van because it was free. Grandpa would be proud.
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| Squeeeezed in. Good thing Aunt Sue is tiny. |
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| My kind of road trip.. |
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| Bed & Breakfast in Napa |
I was a bit nervous about taking a 7 year old on wine tours, but luckily my niece's maturity level is mind-boggling and she was thrilled to spend the day learning about vineyards and wineries.
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| Hat shopping in the gift shop |
We stopped for lunch at Gillwood's Cafe in Napa and just as I had started munching on some yummy fresh fruit, Katelyn turns to me and proudly proclaims that she has in fact lost another tooth!! Oh boy! Not really knowing what to do with it, but knowing that tooth fairy duties were on me tonight, I wrapped it in a napkin and swiftly deposited it in my change purse. Katelyn thought it was hysterical.
After lunch we walked around the quaint but deserted town center. I guess Sunday is a sleepy day for that town? I decided to
treat spoil Katelyn with some Ben & Jerry's because that's what Aunts do.
Our next stop was the Robert Mondavi Winery, which was
breathtaking to say the least. My brothers aren't big on wine, but they seemed to enjoy themselves nonetheless. The rest of us adore wine but are far from being wine snobs, which is why I'm glad we chose Robert Mondavi... which covers the entire spectrum of wine drinkers.
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| Bucket List Check Off |
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| I'd like this in my nonexistent backyard, please |
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| I love Napa! |
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| The teensie grapes |
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| Meandering.. |
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| Shopping.. |
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| Dreaming.. |
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| Photographing.. |
True to form, Katelyn hung on every word our tour guide uttered. She was at the front of the group and asked more {intelligent} questions than anyone. I'd like to remind everyone she is barely 7.
I asked her what the most interesting fact she learned was and she replied that all the pretty roses around the grapevines were very sensitive so that the grape farmers would know if the roses got sick that the grapes might get sick too.
She also enjoyed the fact that Mr. Mondavi's wife was an artist and the winery was full of sculptures, paintings, & pieces from Mrs. Mondavi and her artist friends.
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| The Mister |
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| The Missus |
I couldn't get over just how beautiful everything was... which explains the gazillion photos...
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| In my defense my uncle handed her an empty glass... |
Our next stop was a tasting at Beaulieu Tasting Room. At this point I was really happy Uncle Eric was was the DD. Nothing relaxes me like wine, and I was on Cloud 9.
We headed to Yountville for dinner, which is a gorgeous little town that almost seems too perfect. It's the type of place with perfectly manicured landscaping, picturesque homes and businesses, and restaurants that demand reservations. Luckily Uncle Eric knows what he's doing when it comes to road trips {especially in Cali} and we had reservations at Bistro Jeanty.
This adorable little French bistro was just amazing. I had to giggle when I watched my brothers read the menu (pigs feet, lamb tongue, rabbit pate... it was like all the characters from our favorite childhood stories were for dinner). I went to France in high school and sampled all kinds of incredible French dishes such as these, but now that I am a pesceterian, I had the trout we shared for an appetizer (which was theeee best I'd ever had) and ordered the tuna salad. Katelyn thought the tomato soup in a puff pastry was the coolest meal she'd ever seen.
After dinner we did a very French thing: we went for a walk. Sunset in Napa Valley... I can check that off the bucket list!!
