Napa Valley Day 3

I couldn't think of anywhere I'd rather be on my birthday than in this beautiful paradise with my wonderful husband. I awoke to another overcast day to sort of match my feelings on this milestone birthday.

We headed down for breakfast. We just love the waffles!!! We decided to head out on our own today.

Tim wanted to go down Silverado Trail ( a road that parrallels highway 29 all the way down the valley to the town of Napa) to look for the Stag's Leap winery. This is the winery that back in the '70's beat the french wines in some big thing. We found the place and the grounds were absolutely beautiful. We went in and Tim did the tasting. I tried a couple but drinking wine at 10 a.m. (even though it was noon back home) just didn't seem right. Very Very pretentious place. The bottle Tim liked was almost $100. Now I like wine but I don't want to pay that much for a bottle. I talked him out of buying one.

Next we headed back over to Hwy 29 to Folio a Deaux. This is a winery of wine we drink back home. This is the winery that makes Manage a Trois. It was a really neat place and they had some awesome extra stuff like picnic baskets etc... The wine was really good here too.

Our next stop was Peju. This is the place that Kimi had recommended and boy was she correct. I liked almost all of their wines. I even signed up for their wine club. So every other month or so I'll get 3 bottles of wine. They also had some neat extras like dips and picnic stuff.

Our next stop was V. Sattui winery and deli. They are the only winery in the valley that has a full deli and cheese shop. It was extremely busy so we didn't try the wine. We ordered sandwiches and went down in their wine cellar and had a picnic lunch. They had outside tables but the weather still wasn't clear. It was really pretty in here. We didn't know it at the time we were there but this is the most visited winery in the valley. He started the deli and then the county decided wineries couldn't serve food. He was grandfathered in so it is the only place to buy a bottle of wine, a sandwich and go out on the lawn for a picnic.

Our next stop on the trip back up the valley was at Castello De Amarosa or Castle of Love. We made arrangements to take the tour of the castle tomorrow morning. It really looks neat. The sign indicated that this was where the castle scenes in the Adam Sandler "Bedtime Stories" were shot. Kind of cool.

We headed back to the hotel to rest a bit before dinner. Now remember all I asked for dinner was a restaurant that had real food. I didn't want to eat a pretentious place that served meal like on that commercial where there is one carrot, two peas, and that's it. For some reason Tim got it in his head that he wanted to eat at the Culinary Institute of America's Greystone Restaurant. Now what about that name doesn't sound pretentious? I tried to dissuade him but he was adamant about making reservations yesterday. We pull up to this huge building. It is a cooking school. We walk up the walk towards the entrance and like many restaurants there is a menu out front under glass. I look at it and can't read the items names much less want them for my birthday dinner. I even looked at him and said in the most polite way I could. "What exactly am I supposed to order to eat?" He didn't take the hint or chose not to listen and in we went.

It was a beautiful place. If you were into culinary arts you would have loved it. I was enjoying it but the kitchen area, the salad prep area, and the desert area were all open to view from your seat which was a little weird to me. I ordered the hanger steak. Now I'm from beef country Oklahoma and I've never heard of a hanger steak. It was basically like a filet only lots smaller. There were approximately 3 bites of meat on the plate with about 4 quarter size potatoe halves. It was all very tasty but I could have eaten 5 plates of it.

The best part was with Tim's order. He ordered a pork loin thing. At the bottom of the menu they had a few vegetable items a la carte. So he ordered a side of potatoes. Now sounds good to me right. What self respecting Oklahoman doesn't eat potatoes with his meal right. They brought us our dinners and I saw the waiter whisper something in Tim's ear. I assumed he had forgotten to put the potato side dish in the order and he would bring it out in a minute. Tim was about 3/4 done with his meal and I asked, "Is he bringing your potatoes?" Tim replies "No the chef didn't want to pair the potatoes with her pork loin!" At this point I completely loose it. I started laughing and laughing, and laughing. At this point tears are coming. I can't stop laughing. People are looking at me, I'm still laughing. I'm sure the a la carte potatoes were probably $10 or $ 12 dollars that the waiter is getting screwed out of adding that to the check because "The chef didn't want to pair them" I guess we really are backward hicks to think we should pair potatoes with pork loin. I am still laughing I can't stop long enough to finish the last 2 bites of my 10 bite meal. It was hilarious!!!! Of course Tim got mad at me because I was bitching about the place in a fun way but it was bitching. I really did appreciate the effort to take me somewhere really nice. And thanks to the pretentious chef I will have a wonderful memory of my 40th birthday dinner. I'm laughing again as I write about it.

We had great wine, the food wasnt bad just too little of it and the desserts were very tasty too. All and all a great day and evening with the most handsome man around. I loved it and thank you so much for bringing me here on my birthday!

Napa Valley Day 2

We awoke the next morning well refreshed because we went to bed around 8:30 Pacific time and woke up aound 7:00 pacific time so we had 10 and 1/2 hours of sleep. The hotel has a continental breakfast where they make fresh waffles. We enjoyed a pleasant breakfast and then waited for our tour.


I found this place called Platypus tours on the internet before we left. They take 4 -5 couples on tours to some off the beaten path wineries. We rode in the bus called Elvis which Tim just loved. It was kind of like a limo's seating in a small bus. It was really nice. There were two very young couples, and older couple, and a couple from Japan whom I don't think spoke much English at all. The older couple was from California, the younger couples were from Boston and Florida. It was a great mix of people. We really enjoyed the company.






Our first winery was a wonderful place called Bennett Lane. The owner has a Nascar team. It was a neat winery and it had a wonderful Chardonnay. In fact it was my favorite wine of the whole trip. Tim bought a couple of bottles here. The day was overcast and a little misty but it wasn't bad.





Next we headed off to a place called Graeser winery. It was up a hill and a beautiful setting. This guy was older and hilarious. He was quite a character. We really liked one of his port wines. We had lunch here. Our tour guide fixed up a nice sandwich lunch with a great salad. We enjoyed getting to know the other couples here. This place was neat because they had a couple of dogs. A really old black lab and an adorable Great Dane.






Next we headed to a place called LavaVine. This guy was younger but still quite a character. They had only been open since December. I wasn't crazy about his wine but I think Tim bought some here too.


The last stop was a really nice place called Summer Vineyards. It is up on a road by the Geyser. A retired couple were the tasting people here and boy were they funny. I liked it here because they gave you samples of foods that went with the wine. We had a cherry tomato, some chocolate chips, and some white chocolate chips. There wines were pretty good also.










One thing Tim learned today was to ask to revisit a wine. That means you get another 1 ounce pour of a wine you would like to try again. Basically you go into the winery and try the wines. You usually get to try 4 to 5 different wines. The cost is anywhere from $5 to $15 with most being $10 per person. You are allowed to share however since we had a driver today we chose to each have our own glass. They usually took the tasting charge off if you bought a bottle of their wine. So that is what Tim did at almost all of the wineries we visited for the week. After this first day we usually shared the tastings.


After this stop we headed back to the hotel. It was great not having to drive and our guide was very knowledgeable. It was really a great experience. We rested for a while and then decided we'd go back to the little pizza place up the road. It really hit the spot.

Napa Valley Day 1

We were up at 6 a.m. and at the airport by 7 a.m. Thanks to my mom for letting us stay at her house and taking us to the airport!!!!

The first thing you want to hear before you get on an airplane is it is having mechanical problems and the your flight is being delayed. Then about 15 minutes later they tell us that the mechanic is on the phone with another mechanic and is waiting on some instructions to be faxed. Tim doesn't like to fly to begin with so he was even more uneasy. Fortunately we were only about 20 minutes late taking off and the pilot made up the time in the air so we were only about 10 minutes late getting to Denver. During the flight the pilot told us the problem was the cargo door hydralic thingy wasn't working right. So nothing major which made me feel better. However, we hit a patch of really bumpy air. I mean bumpy!!! At one point I thought Tim was coming out of his chair. I know it seemed like a long time but the pilot got us out of it in about 3 minutes. He made up for it by the best landing I have ever experienced. We never even felt the wheels hit the ground. Not even a slight bump. It was incredible.

We ate a quick lunch in the airport and then boarded our plane to California. We flew into Sacramento at 1:20p.m. Pacific Time. It was a really small airport which surprised me. Sacramento is the capitol of California. We got our bags and headed to the rental car place. One side story You know how they charge extra for baggage now. In OKC when we checked in I had some cash in my pocket so when it was $30 I handed the counter guy a $20 and a $10. You would have thought I was giving him mud. He looked at me and said with a questioning look, "Your paying with cash." Yes it is still legal in the country isn't it? He had to completely redo the entire check in because I was using cash. I made him do it. It really makes me mad when you are looked down upon when you use cash. Why should someone be able to trace my every expenditure.

So we ride the little bus around the corner to the rental cars. I told Tim to see if they had a corvette or something sporty and nice. They had a bright yellow corvette with a black stripe down the center. Not quite my style. The agent told him they had a nice BMW with a moon roof. So off we go to find the car. They had all the luxury cars up front and of course there were two Black BMW's sitting there. We didn't know which one was ours so I said pop the trunk. Well BMW trunks don't pop open. So we hit the unlock button and stood between them to see which one unlocked. Thank goodness we didn't take the vette. Not only was it ugly but we barely got our two suitcases in the BMW trunk.

So off we go. Thank goodness we brought "Rita" the GPS system. The agent that gave Tim directions was sending us into downtown Sacramento to then turn around and go back the way we came on a parallel road. I'm sure it was to add mileage. Shame on them. We drove along an interstate for about 45 minutes before we headed off on the less traveled road leading us to Napa Valley. It was beautiful weather. A little overcast but really nice. We pushed the top back and really thought we were Californians.

Tim had been really concerned about the Hotel. It was beautiful. Our room was really nice. It looked like it was recently redone. We found it with no problem and the drive up Napa Valley to Calistoga was awesome! Vineyards on both sides and beautiful mountains on each side. Quaint little towns and lovely homes. Calistoga reminds me of Eureka Springs. The downtown is really quaint with cute shops and restaurants.

After settling in and getting unpacked, we headed to downtown Calistoga for dinner. We walked up and down the street and decided on Brannan's. It was a wonderful restaurant with cloth table cloths. (You won't find that in Enid) Our waiter was from Marseilles, France. We had a wonderful dinner. Tim always makes fun of me because I always order beef. It was delicious! Tim had a pork loin. We both of course ordered some wine.

By the time we got back to the hotel we were exhausted! We turned in both anxious for the tour tomorrow.

The Meaning of Love

Ok so I finally had time today to make up the cute LOVE shirts and take their pictures. They turned out awesome!

Here are a few!

Dog Tired!

Well today and I mean to whole day was spent designing art, burning screens, and screening t-shirts for the elementary classes at school. We are going on a field trip next week and each class did their own design shirt. They all really turned out cute. But I started at 8 a.m. and am just now shutting things down. Being self employed with a home business isn't all its cracked up to be. It's really hard for me to set work hours and time limits.

Oh well. Hope you had a great day!

Evening Walk

I talked the kids and Tim into going on a walk with me. We put Roxi on a leash and headed for the corner.

The kids rode their bikes and they probably went back and forth 3 times as Tim and I walked along.

I was afraid Roxi would poop out before we got back home. She stopped a couple of times. I thought we were going to have to carry her.

Busy Weekend!

Wow, I wish I was more consistant with this blog!

Jess and I had quite a weekend! She had a softball tournament in Broken Arrow. Tim decided he should stay home because we have a great deal going on. (Boys had birthday party and baseball practice) Jess and I left at 7:00 on Saturday morning.

We got to the ball field and they were delaying the games 2 hours because of rain the night before. Once we got started the girls played 2 games. The first one they looked really good. They won and Jessi caught two line drives. She has great reflexes. This picture was about two seconds before she caught the ball. If I had only known it was coming I could have taken a second shot but I didn't.

The second game wasn't as good. They lost. A ball was hit toward first, Jessi snagged it and was running to the base going from field to out of field over first, the runner was running from home to first and they collided on the base. Both went down, mom's heart stopped, Jessi jumped back up and looked at the girl on the ground and gave her the look like come on get up you weiny! It took the girl a little bit to get up. Jessi's shoulder was sore yesterday. Scary stuff!

Meanwhile, I called Tim to priceline us a hotel so we didn't have to drive back late at night. Then get up and drive back over early in the morning.

The next game was at 4:30 about 9 minutes into the game it started pouring. Jessi was making the funniest faces. They finally cleared the field and then cancelled the rest of the days games. So Jessi and I headed to our room. It was at the Raddisson on 71st. It was totally awesome. Our room was beautiful. We went out to eat at Zios' and then shopped a while. We bought bathing suits and came back to hotel and sat in the hot tub. It was a great night for us. We went to bed about 10:30 and slept like pampered babies. They called around 8 and said they had cancelled the rest of the tournament so we didn't even have to get up early. It was a great time. The room only cost us $75. Tim called to price their regular price and it was over double that so I am a new believer in Priceline!

We leisurely made our way back home. It was a great weekend!