Weeks = 25, Adventures = 25 | Napa

As I shared in my last post, I love San Francisco.  Love it.  Probably my favorite big city in the states.  I haven’t spent too much time on the west coast, but to my delight, I have logged 2 trips to San Francisco in the past few months.  But on my most recent trip, I was lucky enough to make it up to the Napa/Sonoma region.

My trip to Napa was a celebration for my sister’s 40th birthday.  We headed to Napa/Sonoma because it is one of my sister’s favorite places – she loves wine and has raved for years about the scenery.  And after our trip, I totally get why she loves it.  It is a gorgeous party of the country, with small town charm, close to an amazing big city, and overflowing with delicious wine.  I mean, what is not to like?!

Over the course of 2 days, during the time of year it is usually cold, gray, and dreary in Kentucky, I had the privilege of basking in the warm California sun will drinking copious amounts of wine and champagne.  The wine was all delicious.  So incredibly delicious.

I learned several things while in Napa …

1. I have been selling myself short with the wine I drink at home.  Prior to Napa, I felt as if I was being extravagant when I purchased a $14 bottle of wine, what I learned while in Napa … my $14 bottle is basically swill … how could i dare to drink something so cheap and low brow?!  It may be pretentious, but I must admit – Napa wine is waaaay better than what I had been purchasing, even cheap Napa wine.
2. “Cheap” wine is apparently the cause of wine allergy.  Normally when I drink wine, after 2 glasses I end up with fire engine red cheeks that are physically hot.  However – this did not happen at all when i was in Napa, and I drank much more than 2 glasses of wine!
3. When drinking champagne or a sparkling wine – pay for quality to avoid headaches.  Apparently, little bubbles = little troubles = little headaches.  And little bubbles come with better champagene.
4. If making mimosa’s or some other mixed drink with champagne, don’t waste your money with good champagene, instead go with prosecco or cava – they have a shorter shelf life, also have small bubbles, and work just as well as “true” champagene.
5. I could handle being wealthy enough to have an annual trip to Napa to sit in the sunshine and sip wine on a gorgeous weekend afternoon.  (I would have to be pretty darn wealth to make that a routine event!)

But Napa is totally my kind of place – its okay to sit in the sun and drink wine and the small little towns shut down early, so there is no shame with going to bed incredibly early!  It is almost a peaceful place, where you can leave fully recharged (definitely when you partake in the wine and visit a local spa!).

I am really looking forward to when I can make it back to Napa, until then, I will have to keep myself content with the wine and wine-chocolate sauce I flew home to Kentucky!  Wine and chocolate sauce that I havent been willing to open up yet, because I want to savor it and share it with someone that really appreciates wine!  Doesnt make any sense does it?

Will I go to Napa again?  Yes.  Totally, can we leave tomorrow?

WIll I start buying more expensive wine?  Eh.  We will see, I can be cheap.  But, for special occassions, I may splurge!

Anyway, Here are few pictures to temp you to schedule your own trip, and believe me when I say, the pictures do not do it justice!

Thanks for hanging with me, and reading along!

Ali