Napa Valley

So this year my very bestest friend Julie turned 25!! WOOHOO! We are reaching a quarter of a century old...YAY! Oh my gosh we are old. Well it seems like it since like my husband, her and I have known each other for 12 years. She really wanted to do something special this year so I (and another friend) planned an amazing trip to beautiful NAPA VALLEY! It should be a requirement that all women visit this place before they die because it is so breathtaking! I don't even like wine lol. We spent 4 days there, which by the way is not enough time. You need at least 5. Bryan's amazing Aunt Donna Lee Kreutzer helped me book the flight and hotel. She is a travel agent at Cruise Holiday at the Ranch. WONDERFUL! Worked with our budget too.

We arrived Thursday to our hotel Marriot Napa Valley Hotel and Spa. Beautiful hotel. We meet Blossom at the front desk who is the manager of the place. She upgraded us to concierge level for FREE, switched our room to one with better views, and gave Julie a free bottle of birthday wine. FABULOUS! Our room was very nice with 2 full beds that were amazingly comfortable. We never wanted to leave them, but I planned a lot of activity on our trip. Thursday night we had dinner at Ristorante Allegria, an amazingly delicious Italian restaurant in downtown Napa. They gave us free appetizers and a free birthday tiramasu. Very yummy!

Friday was my favorite, we bought tickets for the Napa Valley Wine Train!! I had never been on a train before so I was as giddy as a child at Christmas. It was so much fun. I made sure we upgraded to the Vista Dome car, which if you are taking the train you HAVE to do this. It is more private, and sits higher so you get a great view of the vineyards. The food was amazing...a four course lunch. The views were spectacular. And we got to tour the train! It is way hard to walk on a moving train, let alone to pee on a train! It was so much fun.

Saturday was our visits to the vineyards. We tasted at two wineries and toured two. Our first stop was Artesa. Artesa is built into a mountain, and was gorgeous! The wine was ok lol. 

After Artessa was Mondavi. The wine was ok lol. 

After Mondavi should have been lunch at Rutherford Grill, but the wait was too long and we had to be at our next stop at with in the hour. We were very sad since everyone recommended the place with high remarks. So we had lunch at Gotts Roadside which was very good. The garlic fries were VERY garlicky but sooo good. Turns out the tour guide on our next stop, her husband owns the Gotts Roadside restaurants. 

Our next stop was a full blown tour and tasting. We went to Schramsberg, which is the unofficial sparkling wine of the white house. There were pictures of all these presidents drinking their sparkling wine. Schramsberg was located on top of a hill, in such a beautiful location. We went inside the caves and sampled a few of the sparkling wines. If you want real sparkling wine, made just like Champagne that comes from Champagne France then you have to get Schramsberg wine. All others are pretty much just pumped with CO2. Yes, we learned the process and it was the coolest thing ever! Let's just say I will never go into the sparkling wine business. It takes A LOT of work. 

After Schramsberg was Castello Di Amorasa. A replica Tuscan castle finished in 2007 with 121,000 square feet. The wine was actually pretty good. The tour was fun, and the scenery was fantastic! 

Saturday night we had dinner at Coles Chop house which was delicious but the customer service was not great so I do not believe it was worth the meal or the money. 

So that is my trip to Napa Valley!