Napa Vineyards are Plentiful
On the road with sunshine and snow-capped mountains in front of us. We were on I-5 driving to Sacramento Valley. We made a stop at Redding and checked out the Sundial Bridge located at Turtle Bay Exploratorium. We passed Shasta Lake, which was absolutely stunning with the contrast of the dryness of the valley. The grass is brown and the creeks are dry. We passed by several firefighters who were out keeping an eye on the dry conditions.
We knew we were in Napa when we drove past vineyard after vineyard. The vineyards were beautiful and perfectly lit by the sunset hitting the valley with vivid purples and pinks. We stopped by the Napa Valley Wine museum, and by the time we left, it was getting later than we expected, so we figured we would get a room for the night. We found a nice place to stay , and we’re surprised by just how tired we really were, as soon as we got into our room, we went right to sleep.
The next morning, we were up bright and early, we drove on to Petaluma and we stopped to take a hot air balloon ride. It was windy, so we had several false starts, but we finally got up in the air. Even with the wind though, it was misty over the vineyards, giving them a peaceful look. After our balloon ride, we found a diner serving a very traditional American breakfast, eggs, bacon, toast and coffee. We did manage to make it to a couple of vineyards and our favorite was the Robert Mondavi Winery , it was pretty commercial compared to the other smaller vineyards we toured, but it was a better and more informative tour, plus the wine was superior. We ended up buying a case of wine from each vineyard, so I think we’re stocked up for quite a while.
It was getting late again, so we headed back out on the road to make it to our next destination, Sausilito, which is just north of San Francisco. We really wished we had more time to visit more vineyards, but as it was, the wine we tasted already gave us a bit of a buzz.
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