Fun Friday

Day 2...Or really first full day on the west coast. Started early, but good for the jet lag, we all stayed in bed until about 6:30- which felt like 9:30, which let us make the most of our first day vacationing.

You can tell we are in the middle of wine country when you can take this photo waiting at a red light.

The day started with breakfast at a diner by the side of rt 29. We found it on Yelp, but decided it was worth it when there was an 18-wheeler parked outside.

When in Rome, you decide a 10am tasting is a good idea, so we stopped at Etude for some light pinot noirs.

All was really good,  but decided that they should also apply for a spirit license because in addition to their wines, Étude produces two $150 bottles of brandy,  which you can only smell...and boy did they both seem worth it. Anybody have a spare $300 to loan?

From there we met up with family and had a great lunch by the river in Napa (did  YOU expect Napa to have a river? Lol) it was such a nice visit and I am so glad everybody made the drive to see us. 

We did try to tour the jelly belly factory after lunch, but the line was so long (another surprise) that we just opted for the gift shop instead. 

After lunch and failed jelly beans, the family went home and we decided to rest and game plan the next few days. Around 4:30 we decided it was too late for this lazy town to do much more vineyard visiting, so we opted for a tasting bar instead. Of course the one that the tour book said was located in a Victorian house of ill repute was the one that caught our eye...now dedicated to small batch vineyards, it's called the Vintners Collective. We had an AMAZING time tasting their red wine flight:

All were pretty expensive, but we will certainly be back since it's one of the only places that stays open past normal business hours. We were happy we decided to venture into their construction zone, after being closed due to damage from a 6.0 earthquake back in August,

the tasting room was open even though there was no heat...But it's Ca so we were fine, and the wine was all worth it! 

From there, it was dinner time, but still full from our later lunch, we decided to go to the tapas bar which we had recommended to us from VC called Zuzu.

Another place worth the wait. Once satiated we slowly made our way back to the hotels, full and happy. 

But it's early to bed early to rise, as we want to make it to Calistoga tomorrow for an early morning gondola ride to Sterling for another full day in Napa Valley.