Ramblings....: Napa Day 7...

I cannot believe I am already typing my last blog of my amazing Napa trip! I knew this week would fly by and boy has it!!! Today was no exception in the fantastic days that Libby and I have experienced on our vacation together!

We got up and lazily got ready, fighting gut issues, slight hangovers, and basically just our bodies not enjoying the vacation as much as we have. But we rally, force down a bit of breakfast and off we go!

I had to take a shot of what I looked at every morning. These were such peaceful starts to the day. A cup of coffee, sitting outside listening to the quiet whispers of the morning in a beautiful location.

We arrive in Sonoma right on time for our Sonoma Bike Tour. We opted for the Self-Guided Tour that included lunch, a map, and any help we needed along the way. The bikes were typical hybrids with little pouches for all our crap, free water bottles (that say “I bike for Wine” Love!) and helmets. We got the run down, signed our life away, ordered our lunch and off we went.

As soon as we started were instantly thrilled we did. It felt so good to actually do something active. Libby and I are both very active people and were actually missing the feeling of doing some sort of exercise. The walk a few nights before was nice but this was a bit more. We got a little turned around right off the bat. The map was good but not great, there was a few areas that were a little fuzzy. We snapped a few shots then called “Holly” our gal for help.

She got us back on the right track and off we went. We both were going on and on about the beauty of the area, the huge sprawling landscapes, the amazing homes, the vineyards, just gorgeous! I seriously want to move up here and live in this particular area!!! I would be out and about on a bike or walking every single day!!! We rode along enjoying the ride and found our way to our 1^st stop which was Gundlach-Bundschu Winery. At this point the sun was starting to beat down, my empty belly was getting pissed, my slight hangover was kicking in and the “casual rider” option we had chosen was starting to sound like a fucking lie. Ha ha!! Up a ferocious hill and we found ourselves at the winery finally. The clientele that was arriving seemed snooty and rich and annoying and I was starting to get quite “hangry”. We decided to not bother going into the winery and ended up spending a ridiculous amount of time trying to find our turn off. I was useless at this point because I was blinded by heat and hunger but Libby found our way.

As we rode through the hilly portion of our trek I laughed at myself thinking of my cyclist friends and how much they would shake their heads and laugh at me. I was shouting this to Lib and we laughed and groaned and ached our way through the beautiful portion of our ride. That’s the thing – the beauty completely out did the pain. You could not, not enjoy this ride. It was a bit more difficult than we were planning yes – but stunning.

We made our way to Buena Vista Winery. This is where we had planned our lunch stop. See, how it works is the bike folks bring your lunch to your chosen winery at a certain time. A cooler will be there with your name on it and bam – lunch is served. This is all I could think about at this point. We parked our bikes, realized we were too early for lunch so decided on a wine tasting while we wait. This turned out to be one of my favorites to date! We had a gal named Amber (Named after the Amber Beer) who not only understood us bike tour nuts and immediately gave us water, but she was super knowledgeable and awesome with the wines and gave us the entire history of the winery! It’s the oldest in California. Started by a self-proclaimed Count. She told us how he moved here from Hungry, tried to start a winery in Wisconsin, finally came out here and opened the winery, told us about the history of the building, his entire life story, including how he died by getting eaten by an alligator – no shit, and interjecting this with our wine tasting. I fell in love with the Pinot Noir and Zinfandel which I purchased and Lib actually tasted a Sherry wine that she loved and bought. The other cool thing about this tour is if you buy wine you text Holly and she picks it up for you! Amber also filled me in on the character actors that portray the count and his daughter. I made a mental note to look for work here when I move! Ha ha!! We thanked Amber and walked outside to find our cooler!

It was so awesome! Our lunch was in there, extra cliff bars, more water, some candy and all the extras we needed. Libby and I hungrily sat down and devoured our lunch. It was freakin amazing!

The "Count"!

She just had to climb the tree

I text Holly a huge thank you and told her to come get our wine and off we were again. We opted to skip the 3^rd winery on the tour since it seemed a long road and not easy and lolly gagged our way over to Ravenswood. I was excited to do a tasting here since I was familiar with the name. We walked in and were helped by a lovely older man who ended up giving Libby a couple of free tastings of white and I purchased a Zin taste. They were all so yummy and of course I bought one. I also got myself a little half carafe because I’ve been wanting to get one and this one had the nifty Ravenswood logo on it. We text Holly we had another pick up and we were on our way.

She was always taking pictures of the trees

By this point we were feeling pretty good, laughing, buzzing, and happily sweating through the bike ride. We landed at our last stop – Sebastiani. This is another name I’m familiar with. It was a more corporate feeling place but the grounds were gorgeous. We shared a tasting, nothing of note, and wandered around a bit taking some shots.

I would like to point out that this was a shot that took work. I put my camera on a post and on the third attempt with my 10 second timer got this shot! I really wanted one of us riding together!

We headed out back through the beautiful landscape and neighborhoods and back to the bike shop. We thanked the staff, took our wine and off we went.

Now at this point Lib and I are realizing it’s the end of our trip. We decide instead of going out let’s stay in and BBQ steak like our night one. We swung by the grocery store and got a few things then back to our condo to get settled. Lib BBQ’d the steaks and I made a fruit salad and side of rice. I popped open the Chardonnay I purchased from Rutherford Ranch and we were set. We sat out on the patio with some piano on the iPod and toasted to a fabulous week.

We of course both got emotional and shared our love for each other and toasted many more times. Our dinner was amazing and we finished it off with a cupcake each from our favorite Kara’s.

This week has truly been an amazing experience. What has made it even more special is I shared it with my best friend. As we get older time gets more precious. We look at things different, we are grateful for more, annoyed with less, love more, and hate less. I love it. This has come out this week. It was a true testament to the exceptional friendship I have with Libby. Our week could not have been better. I came in so excited with expectations of an amazing week with my amazing friend and that’s exactly what happened. We spent too much money, ate too much food, drank too much wine and regret not a single moment. We vacationed like you should! Our week was filled to the brim with great things to do but not too packed that we didn’t relax here and there. We ate some ridiculous amazing food and drank some fantastic wines. We shared stories, talked, and bonded even more. I’m of course sad this week is coming to an end but I am grateful for every second we had from morning until night. I can honestly say that this is one of the best, if not the best, vacation I have ever taken in my life. I am so happy and bursting with gratitude!!