Luckily, Jax redeemed himself by insisting on accompanying Anh to the airport to pick me up. He greeted me with a huge smile despite being exhausted because I didn't get in until after 11pm, and after giving me a big hug, Jax hung a little purple Mardi Gras necklace around my neck. Evidently, he found it laying around somewhere while I was gone and insisted it was a present for me when I got home. I guess Jax didn't dwell on my absence, but appreciated that I finally came home.
Baylor was sleeping soundly by the time we finally made it to the house. Aunt Nguyen tried to keep him up, but he just didn't make it. In the morning, he greeted me with extra clingy hugs. What a relief! He hadn't forgotten his mommy! Baylor also had a surprise for me when I returned. He had 4 more teeth! FOUR! His two front teeth finally broke through on top, plus 2 more on the bottom. He now has a total of 5 teeth, and he's ready for a big, juicy steak.
Now, that I've posted the really interesting news about the boys, I'll share a few details about my trip. Months and months ago, one of my Kansas friends, Misti, called me to see whether I'd be interested in going on a "Girls' Getaway" to Napa. Having been to Napa back in the Fall of 2006, I couldn't pass up an opportunity to return to such a beautiful area of the country with some of my friends.
In total, there were 5 of us. Another Kansas friend, Amy, joined us. Plus, my sister, Kelly made the trek to the west coast from NYC. The 5th member of the group was Anne, a friend of Misti's from Vancouver. Luckily, we can all claim Anne as our friend now. We were an eclectic, but fun group that made the most of our time together.
The time difference and a long day of traveling took its toll on all of us. After meeting at the airport, we piled into the rental car and headed to our hotel. We checked in and then met up at the hotel bar to finalize our itinerary. It was raining and that wiped out our plans to explore the cute shops and boutiques downtown, but no one was too disappointed. We were pretty tired and enjoying a nice glass of wine in front of the hotel's huge fireplace was a nice backup plan.
We did brave the rain for dinner at Celadon. The atmosphere was nice, and the food was delicious which made it the perfect place to spend our first night together. With our bellies full, we made our way back to the hotel and retired early. Everyone wanted to be well rested for our first day at the wineries.
Sunday morning, we woke to beautiful skies, but it was a bit chilly thanks to a brisk breeze. Nothing was going to slow us down though. Bright and early, we headed to Oakville Grocery to stock up on picnic foods. I had been there before during my previous trip and couldn't wait to once again enjoy their yummy sandwiches. It's the sort of store where you can really get carried away with your selections.
From there, we made our way to our first winery, Far Niente. To say it was beautiful would be an understatement. I can only imagine how amazing the landscape will be a little later in the Spring when more is blooming.
From the moment we walked through the front door, we felt like VIPs. Our tour guide, Walt, made us feel right at home as we toured the winery grounds and the storage caves filled with thousands upon thousands of wine barrels.
Far Niente Winery is known for their cabernets and chardonnays, but they also produce a sweet dessert wine, Dolce, made from late harvest grapes. Dessert wines are some of the very few white wines that actually taste better with age, and they can be aged up to a hundred years. Most white wines need to be consumed within 5 to 7 years. How's that for a little lesson? I did manage to retain some knowledge gained along the way.I ended up buying a 2005 bottle to put away for Jax's 21st birthday. Before my last Napa trip, Kelly came up with the idea as a way of celebrating at Jax's special birthday dinner. At that time, I bought a nice 2005 bottle of red wine from Vincent Arroyo, a small boutique winery that we visited in Calistoga, but since then, it occurred to me that the chances of Jax enjoying a red wine at the age of 21 are pretty slim. A think having a second sweet option like Dolce is a good idea.
After touring the caves, we headed back outside to enjoy some of the beautiful scenery. It was still pretty cold though, especially when the wind picked up. So, Walt decided to share a different type of beauty with us.
We walked over to a beautiful, rustic barn at the rear of the property, but when Walt rolled back the barn door, we realized the barn was actually an extremely nice garage housing a rather extensive car collection. I think there were about 16 - 18 cars total, mostly sports cars from various eras, but there were a few boats, motorcycles, and race cars thrown in to provide some variety.
As I walked around checking out the cars, I couldn't help wishing that I had Jax with me. He would have loved those cars!
The owner's pride and joy was this extremely rare Ferrari. It's worth a whopping 14 MILLION! Upon hearing that, I promptly thanked God that Jax was not with me. He would have loved that car, and it would have been hard to keep his little hands off of it.
From the garage, we headed back into the main house to taste a few wines. Walt lead us to a small dining room with a beautifully set farmhouse table. Again, the VIP treatment was very much appreciated.
We hated to leave our little paradise, but after a few more pictures, we made our way to the next stop.
We enjoyed our gourmet picnic lunch on the sunny hillside of Diamond Oaks Winery. It was the perfect backdrop. So, despite the chilly air, we lingered and enjoyed the view.
Next on the agenda was St. Supery Winery. It was nice, but nothing special. We did stroll their little museum and taste a few of their wines. I probably wouldn't recommend it. Good wines, but there's nothing on the grounds worth seeing. Sorry, St. Supery!
By this point, we had sipped quite a bit of wine and decided we should probably move on to a new activity. With 5 women, it's not too surprising that the plan we settled on involved a little retail therapy. We made our way to V Marketplace in Yountville to check out the little shops and boutiques. Given that we were in wine country, there were a few tasting rooms and wine stores among the clothing and gift shops. So, we ended up tasting a few more wines. We didn't want to be rude. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.We weren't offered any cheese pairings, but we did stumble upon an awesome bakery, Bouchon, that more than made up for it though. Talk about heaven!
From there, we wandered up the road and wound up in another tasting room. Surprise! Surprise!
Continuing our theme for the day, eating and drinking, we made our way to dinner at the cutest little French restaurant, Bistro Jeanty. The decor and menu were straight out of Paris. We enjoyed their signature dish, tomato soup in puff pastry, along with a few other dishes, and then struggled to roll ourselves out at the end of the evening. We were all so full we swore not to repeat our gluttony the next day.
From there, we wandered up the road and wound up in another tasting room. Surprise! Surprise!Continuing our theme for the day, eating and drinking, we made our way to dinner at the cutest little French restaurant, Bistro Jeanty. The decor and menu were straight out of Paris. We enjoyed their signature dish, tomato soup in puff pastry, along with a few other dishes, and then struggled to roll ourselves out at the end of the evening. We were all so full we swore not to repeat our gluttony the next day.Stay tuned to find out if we were successful...
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