Napa Valley

We celebrated our 5 (yes, that's five) year anniversary in Napa Valley this past weekend. We went with some of our best friends, The Cahill's,  to help Tim celebrate his birthday too. It was a fantastic trip and I'm already thinking about when we should go back next year! Any takers? Here is what our itinerary consisted of. I'm quite the planner so we had all intentions of throwing this plan out the window the second we got there but I wanted to have reservations at each place just in case. Surprisingly we stuck to it and the itinerary was a hit :)

Thursday:
Fly into SFO
Be a tourist and hit up Fisherman's Wharf
Anniversary/birthday dinner at a "nice" restaurant. We picked Alfred's and we all have no intention to ever go there again. If that's the best steakhouse in San Fransisco, then maybe I should open up my own and claim that its good.  The only thing wonderful about dinner was the bottle of champagne that Tim's parents had delivered to our table :)

Friday:
Drive to Napa
10:30 am- Seqouia Grove Winery (one of our favorites)
12:00- Cakebread (way overrated and too commercialized)
Taylor's Refresher for lunch
3:00- Silver Oak (amazing, beautiful grounds and gorgeous building not to mention the wine was fantastic and the hospitality even better)
5:00- Chandon Champagne (probably shouldn't have done that because it put us over the edge....ask Jeni...)

Saturday:
11:00- Monticello Vineyards
Andretti
Grgich (recommended by everyone but probably wouldn't go back. Very crowded, not personal and the wine wasn't great...I think this is the only place we didn't buy wine to bring home with us)
3:30- Rubicon Estates
5:00- Peju (another group favorite....very informative and we all loved every single wine that we sampled...that's rare!)
7:30- Dinner at The Greystone Culinary Art Institute (Fabulous!)

Sunday:
10:30- Joseph Phelps (absolutely stunning view and amazing wine! I think this was one of my favorites for sure)
V Suittui Winery for picnic lunch. They have there own deli/market...It was very inexpensive wine that was delicious... 6 tastings for $10...heck ya :). After tastings we bought a bottle then had a picnic. Pure joy!
Reguisi Wine (besides it being really hot inside the building it was still delicious and I bought a coffee table book :)
Trefelthen (geez, another favorite for me!)
Conzentino Winery (next to Mustard's)  Cheap tasting walking distance to dinner so we decided to pop in.
Dinner at Mustard's (amazing....omg, the mac n' chesse)

Monday:
Fly home....Back to reality

As you can tell it was a jammed pack but still relaxing vacay to the wine country....The best part about it.......drum roll please.....................................
JUSTIN DRANK WINE AND ENJOYED EVERY SECOND OF IT :).

Here is proof of just how awesome this place is (I know there are lots of pics but this trip was truly beautiful):

Celebrating 5 years!

San Fransisco 

Watching the seals (stinky!)

Lombard Street

Our first stop in Napa (Sequoia Grove)

Silver Oak Vineyards

The entrance into The Silverado Resort where we stayed

The view from Jospeh Phelps

Happy Anniversary Justin! Thanks for all the wonderful memories... You are the best husband, partner, father and best friend that any girl could ever dream of. Here's to many, many more years together. (and lots more trips to Napa!)

August 26, 2006