Friday Night
Bridget and I jammed down to Napa after work for our anniversary and stayed at the Hawthorn Hotel. This place was decently priced (for Napa with only a few days prior to booking) and the hotel was clean. We booked two separate reservations because of availability. The first night we booked directly through the hotel, and the second night we booked through Expedia because the hotel said they were sold out.
Expedia Did It
When I asked about our reservation for Saturday night, the hotel didn’t have anything on record. Expedia forgot to send the reservation to the hotel. The next day Expedia changed our hotel reservation to another place downtown, call the Avia, and picked up the difference. They also gave us a $25 credit on our hotel and said they’d give us a $100 coupon for our next Expedia booking, but I haven’t seen that yet.
Napa Valley Wine Country Tours
Instead of driving around the Valley, Bridget and I decided to book a tour through Napa Valley Wine Tours, and a limo arrived in the morning to pick us up. We didn’t anticipate that at all, and our driver, Glen, couldn’t have been any better. We picked up a few other people, which we’re oddly all somehow related to the medical field. One physician, one wife of a pharmacist, one traveling nurse, one med-school student, and some Texans.
Hagafen Cellars
This winery was cool, and a good place to start. It’s a small winery, and the coolest thing about this place is that they use the grape seeds as compost. And Bridget and I are going to steal their patio setup for our own in the next few years.
Jessup Cellars Winery
This winery was by far my favorite. They sat us down at a table and we tasted six different wines, including an amazing dessert wine and a chocolate port syrup. The atmosphere is cool, as you are surrounded by different pieces of art that range from $4K to $18K. The lady was very good at explaining the details of the wine, and overall everyone left extremely happy.
Regusci Winery
This quickly went from amazing to “we paid for that?” This winery I could’ve skipped and been okay to live life forward. They had some pretty views, but I wasn’t happy about going through the tastings, and then them surprising us with a $15/person bill. Keep in mind, the past two tastings were free.
Castello di Amorosa Winery
This winery you had to pay to get in ($15/person), but I thought it was worth it. This not only gives you a tasting, but allows you access to the castle. The castle itself was really neat since it was made to mimic a real castle. And while the service here leaves much to be desired, I still enjoyed the atmosphere. This winery definitely had the most personality, and you can’t help to think to yourself about how people lived in the Renaissance.
The Ride back to the hotel
Bridget gets claustrophobic and car sick. With nine people crammed in a limo, Bridget facing the wrong way, and the addition of wine ended up in one result – the limo driver having to make the quickest stop he’s had to make in quite some time.
Too late.
We stopped at the closest possible place, and the driver, Glen, left us with the Boston nurse to help get Bridget’s feet back. Carol, was really great to have around with us. While Bridget had her head down, getting the nastiness out of her stomach into the parking lot, Carol and I touched on a lot of topics, such as the Sox, Nomah, the Boston Wel-fay (welfare) system, the Boston health cayre (healthcare) system, good bee-yah (beer), bubblahs (fountains), and other subjects. She really helped Bridget feel better and was a crack-up to hang out with. And about 90 minutes later, Glen dropped everyone else off and came back to pick us up.
Our New Hotel
Since Expedia upgraded our hotel to the Avia Hotel, which was right downtown Napa, I couldn’t be happier. Bridget on the other hand, could’ve cared less if we stayed at a Motel 8, as long as it had a bed. Either way, the place was freakin’ awesome. It was completely designed in a modern style, and the whole place was cool and trendy.
Bridget soon got hungry around 10pm, which gave me an excuse to walk downtown to grab some food for her (and sneak in a beer while I waited).
Heading back home
The next morning, Bridget, who felt much better, and I grabbed some breakfast downtown. And then headed back home. The only strange thing that really happened was some guy, with a cell phone in one hand and a bag in the other, darted across the freeway as fast as he could. And Bridget nearly hit the guy as she was going 75mph. I still have no idea how that guy ran through three lanes of traffic to get to the median in the short amount of time he did. You’d think Michael Lewis would have better things to do in his retirement.
