Napa Day 5...

Today started off a little rough.  I got no sleep.  The hotel was right on the busy and apparently very loud street (why does everyone honk in SF?!) of Columbus.  The man above us had a squeaky floor and there was some dude who kept having a very weird coughing fit.  I also haven’t slept with a person in a very long time and Lib and I had to share a bed.  It was hard and horribly uncomfortable and I woke up with the worst pain in my neck I’ve had in a long time.  So unfortunately this horrid pain has not left but I did not let it ruin what turned out to be a rad day!

We checked out and got the hell out of there.  We yelped a good place for breakfast in Sausalito called Lighthouse Cafe.  It was a mainly Danish little place with very Dutch breakfasts but also other choices as well.  It was down a beautiful hill right near the bay.  Super tiny and super cute.  Lib got the standard bacon and eggs and myself a Lox Bagel.  Outstanding coffee, nice ladies and yummy food.  We headed back to Napa on our beautiful drive.

On our way into the city we had noticed this really weird artwork that I had mentioned I wanted to stop and check out on our way back.  As we came up to it, we pulled in and it ended up being one of my favorite stops of the trip so far!  It was called CornerStone Sonoma.  It was awesome!  You will see my shit ton of pictures below.  It was this really cool little place that had a huge sculpture garden, landscape art, little cute shops, some cafes and a couple of wine tasting rooms.  We happened to roll upon it right when it opened so no one was there.  Lib and I went crazy playing around with pictures and taking in the absolutely super cool art and sculptures.  It reminded me of this little artists commune where a bunch of people live and make stuff!  In fact, one of the galleries had the artist there and it was also his studio and there was stuff everywhere.  He just made these super cool sculptures and things.  We had a fantastic time and spent almost 2 hours wandering around in awe. 

He's made of pebble stones!

This tree was made of steel!

Puzzle Rock

I loved this.  You wrote your wish on these tapes below and added it to the "tree".  So rad!

Lib adding her wish!

I love my auto timer



See the photo above this one?  That's a lot of little leaves with nails through them!

Best Friends Forever

This was Axel

This guy had a working gallery and his place was full of junk that he created into awesome art pieces!

We headed out, thrilled we had stopped, and defiantly wanted to stop at Domaine Carneros.  We had gotten a few suggestions to stop there because of the views and Pinot Noirs.  So glad we did!!  It was gorgeous!!!  We took some great shots as well.  This place only had a sit down wine tasting so we got a great little spot outside overlooking the view.  Libby just ordered a glass of white and I got the Chateau Sampler.  It had two champagnes and two Pinot Noirs.  OH. MY. GOD.  Best wine I have had yet!  I got 2 bottles of the Pinot and a bottle of the Brut.  I plan to drink the Brut here with Lib and the Pinot’s will come home for a special occasion.  Our waiter was an older man named Charlie who used to live in Huntington Beach and shared with us the sweet story of how he and his wife lived apart for a while and then he was finally able to move up here to be with her.  They’ve been married 34 years.  So awesome.

My purchase!

We got back to our condo and I kissed my bed.  I immediately popped some Aleve hoping to dull the pain and we decided to just relax a bit and hit the pool.  We threw on our suits and made use of the last good sun rays.

We had dinner reservations at Bistro Don Giovanni and freshened up to head out.  It’s a great little Italian place a co-worker of mine had mentioned and a couple we met here had also raved about.  It was just off Highway 29 and so kitschy and cute!!!  There was lots of artwork and we felt like we were eating our dinner out in someone’s backyard.  There was an old as dirt Mancoon cat that was wondering around and a few patrons had their dogs with them.  I had a couple of glasses of their house Cab which was decent and a pesto pasta dish.  All of their pasta is handmade there and you can taste it!  It was so good and so fresh!  I also ordered a side of sautéed spinach that was very tasty.  Libby ordered a spinach ravioli with a herb lemon butter sauce that was also to die for.  We both got desserts – she a tiramisu and I a cookie plate.  Both so damn yummy!!!!

We got back to our condo and our full fat bellies decided to take a walk.  We’d been meaning to check out this nature trail we’d seen along our resort and so we threw on some walking clothes and off we went.  It was so beautiful!  It runs along the Napa Valley River and it’s so lush and green!  It’s also so neat to see random sites of vineyards too as your trekking along.  A perfect walk to end a perfect day!

Another day down and only 2 more to go!!! Sad face.