More Wine, Please

A few weeks ago, Julie and I took our first trip to Napa Valley, CA. This was probably the nicest vacation I’ve ever had. The rolling hills, scenery and landscape were all incredible. Even the people were impressive, as everyone was so friendly and helpful.

We arrived in San Francisco, rented a car and headed straight to the famous Ike’s Sandwich Shop. We had done some prior research for local restaurants and found this tiny gem. It lived up to the hype 100%. I ordered the Al Bundy and Julie had the Napoleon Complex. These massive sandwiches were probably the best subs I’ve ever had. Ever. Later that evening, we had drinks at Top of the Mark and dinner at Frascati. Both were equally impressive.

The following morning, we took our tiny Ford Focus and headed north toward Napa Valley. Unfortunately, it started to drizzle, but didn’t stop us from beginning our wine tours. We stopped at many vineyards and tasted incredible wine. After spending the entire day hopping around, we stopped over at Sequoia Grove to visit with my mothers friend, Michael, who is President of the vineyard and also owner of Karl Lawrence, Napa Valley. Michael gave us a tour of the facility and even a private tasting down in the cave where the barrels were stored. Later than day, we checked into our hotel at Indian Springs, cleaned up and headed off to dinner at Tra Vingne for some delicious Italian.

The next morning, we headed over to the Spa at our hotel for mud baths, which had to be the strangest experience of my life. I expected this to be a couples thing, but soon found that we were separated immediately. We were both forced to strip and jump into a concrete bathtub full of volcanic ash (they call it mud). After sitting in this goop for 10 minutes, you shower off and then sit in another bathtub, which is full of spring water. After soaking, you’re brought into a steam room for another 10 minutes. The steam room is hot as hell and I felt like I might pass out. The tough guy in me forced me to stay and suck it up. Afterward, we met with my fathers friends who took us on a full day tour of the area. We enjoyed new vineyards and private tasting rooms.

On our final day, I rented a Harley Davidson for us and we toured the countryside. Spending 4 hours in the saddle, we headed toward the Redwood Forest, rode past vineyards and even stopped to sample more wine.

We had an incredible time and already looking forward to going back next year. Tons of pictures from the trip can be found on my picasa account.