Take Me to your El Capitan!

Day 12 ~ Yosemite National Park

From Redwood City we had crossed the bay and driven through miles of farmland in the Central Valley, stopping at Manteca for some groceries and gas.  Leaving the valley floor we started climbing and came to an overlook above Don Pedro Reservoir. 

Don Pedro Reservoir

Again, the extent of the CA drought was obvious.  We met a local who said the reservoir is so low the original town site of Jacksonville, which had been flooded for the reservoir, was now visible.  

CA-120 climbs steeply and is one hairpin turn after another, no guardrails, and quite frankly it was scary.  Reaching the top and entering the trees, we enjoyed a picnic lunch in the charming village of Groveland – Big Oak Flat.  A short time later we arrived at the entrance of Yosemite National Park. www.nps.gov/yose/index.htm

Our campground for the next three nights was Hodgdon Meadows, just inside the park entrance.  The entrance was posted that all the campgrounds were full so we were feeling happy that we had made reservations (back in January) for our campsite.  It was early afternoon and we decided to drive on into Yosemite Village and get our bearings before check-in time at the campground.

The views of the park as we drove were beautiful; I don’t think we knew what to expect being only familiar with the major sites from postcards and photos.  Yosemite National Park is worthy of the designation, and far more beautiful than we had expected. With all the spectacular rock formations and waterfalls within a few miles, it was like it was designed by Walt Disney.

Our first view; Half Dome & El Capitan

It took about 45 minutes to drive into the Village.  Yosemite had about 4 million visitors in 2014; it employs 1200 people in the summer but is open year around, and has a 2015 budget of $29 million.  The Village itself is central to all the major landmarks and the NPS has done a wonderful job of providing shuttles and excellent signage to enable people to move around easily. www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/publictransportation.htm

During the drive we admired the territorial views of the Sierra Nevada wilderness and then Yosemite Valley opened in front of us ~ El Capitan, Half Dome, waterfalls, and meadows.  All of the familiar sites of Yosemite are visible within this small valley only about 7 miles long.  Our first stop was the Ansel Adams gallery where we admired his beautiful photographs of Yosemite and other areas.  The Village also houses a post office, NPS visitor center, a gift shop, restaurants, and the historic Ahwanee Hotel and Yosemite Lodge, as well as park headquarters.  The visitor center offers lots of information on camping, trails, climbing, road and weather conditions, history, tours and other useful information. 

After getting an understanding of the layout of the Park, it was time to go back to Hodgdon Meadow and set up camp.  We stopped at Crane Flat to buy some ice and firewood, and check-in at the campground.  Hodgdon Meadow is a tent and RV site campground with limited facilities.  There are no showers or utility hookups, but all the basics are provided.  It is imperative to use the bear-proof food lockers at the campsite, and we actually had to sign and display on our car dashboard a document stating we were aware bears had frequented the campground.  Our campsite was conveniently located equal distance from two restroom facilities but we agreed that neither of us would walk alone to the restrooms during the night.  Flashlights and bear whistles would be mandatory accessories!  www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/hodgdoncamp.html

Hodgdon Meadows

Bear Box

Bob established camp and we enjoyed a family favorite camp dinner of Potato Grande – potatoes, carrots, broccoli, onion, and cauliflower stir-fried and topped with cheddar cheese, sour cream and salsa.  Yum!  It had been a long day and we turned in early.  No sign of bears and we slept well.  The next morning we headed back into the Village to explore and admire the valley wonders.

We signed up for a valley floor tour later that afternoon. 

Valley Floor Tour

In the meantime we went to the museum, an interesting display of Native-American culture of the valley.  It was especially nice to watch an elderly Milwok woman making baskets.  Later we learned that she had begun working at the Park at age 18; now she is 83 and will retire within a couple days!  What a treasure of history she must be!

Niwot  Basketweaver

Basketry

 

The Ahwanee Hotel (www.yosemitepark.com/the-ahwahnee.aspx) is classic old national park lodge, and was perfect for lunch.  Afterward we enjoyed walking around the beautiful lobby and public areas.  The hotel was completed in 1927 and blends Native American with Art Deco and Arts & Crafts design elements.  Beautiful! 

The Ahwanee Hotel

Arts & Crafts/Art Deco styling

 













The Ahwanee and Yosemite Lodge (www.yosemitepark.com/yosemite-lodge.aspx) are very different in style with the Lodge (recently remodeled) blending into the natural landscape and convenient to the Yosemite Falls trails.

It was time for our valley floor tour and this turned out to be the perfect way to learn about the Park and enjoy stunning views of the major sites.  The ranger who narrated the tour was informative, entertaining, and the tour provided ample opportunity for photo stops.  One by one, the landmarks came alive as we learned about the history and geography of the Park, the geology of the land, and culture of the Native Americans.  Several groups of climbers were on the 3000 ft. high face of El Capitan, and even after seeing them we couldn’t quite believe what we’d seen!  They appeared as no more than specks on the cliff, even using binoculars.  The massive granite monolith of Half Dome dominated the eastern end of the valley.  Bridalveil Falls on one side of the valley and Yosemite Falls on the other provide magical views from every angle.  The Merced River winds its way through the valley.  The granite cliffs dominate the landscape.  All of this carved by glaciers thousands of years ago.  The overlook at Tunnel View presents the classic post card image of Yosemite National Park; the one we will remember forever.   Thank goodness Teddy Roosevelt and John Muir shared a campsite in 1903 and were inspired to save this wilderness!

El Capitan

 

Half Dome

 

 

 

Bridalveil Falls

Upper Yosemite Falls

Tunnel View

 

Where it all began

Day 13 ~ Yosemite National Park – South Lake Tahoe, CA

After having spent a day and a half admiring Yosemite Valley’s sites, history, geology, and culture it was time to explore more of the wilderness.  Tioga Road (continuation of CA-120) runs across the entire Park, from west to east, and is normally closed until late June due to snowfall.  However, there had been so little snow this winter that the road was open which was to our advantage.  We decided to break camp a day early and begin our drive eastward, viewing and exploring the vast Yosemite wilderness.  Let’s keep in mind that “exploring” actually means drive through the area, admire the views, and maybe take a reasonable hike on a well-marked trail.  We are roadside tourists on this trip, not wilderness backpackers. 

Be sure to buy gas, maybe some food at Crane Flat before taking off on Tioga Road.  It’s not a long distance but it takes a long time to drive, and if you are going over the pass and back again to the Valley it’s a long day with only one place at Lee Vining to top off your fuel.  Tioga Road is breathtaking!  It climbs in elevation, reaching nearly 10,000’ and every curve presents another vista of alpine country, lakes, wildflowers, snow-capped peaks, and a few remaining fields of snow.  There are plenty of pullouts, lots of opportunity for photos, and many hiking trail heads including one that is part of the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail.  The road was undergoing some construction so there were a few delays but they provided more opportunity for appreciating greater Yosemite.

View from Tioga Road

A word about geology, and my traveling partner Bob . . . he is a mining engineer (ourretirementinsight.blogspot.com/2015/03/flexibility-key-to-multiple-careers.html) by education and half of his career.  Along with that comes a strong knowledge and keen interest in geology.  I feel so blessed to view the Park with Bob because he was able to explain the geology of what physically happened in this region, making it Yosemite!  I think an understanding of the geology truly enhances the view and splendor of the experience.

Spalling layers of Granite

About halfway along Tioga road, we reached Olmsted Point, named after Frederick Law Olmsted the famed landscape architect who had served as a Commissioner over the original land grant protecting Yosemite.  The views are stunning, and a special surprise is seeing the soaring backside of Half Dome.  Along Tioga Road the expanses of bare granite cliffs and exposed domes dominate the landscape.  

Back of Half Dome

Soaring Granite Cliffs

View from Olmsted Point

Leaving Olmsted Point you soon encounter Tuolumne Meadows, left behind from the ice age and now a sea of wildflowers and if you are lucky grazing wildlife.  Bear are frequently seen in this area; be careful and respectful.

Tuolumne Meadows

Insight into retirement . . . no matter how beautiful your surroundings life sometimes chooses to insert itself into your experiences.  I think we may have mentioned this concept in an earlier post.  But here we are in beautiful Yosemite, amid grandeur we cannot adequately describe, and I swear the only place in the Park where suddenly a slew of text messages drops in on the cell phone.  FYI, cell coverage had only been available in the Village and several hours had elapsed since we'd been able to check messages.  We rounded a curve on Tioga Road, came into a high elevation clearing, and ping, ping, ping!  Our neighbors who had generously been keeping an eye on our house in WA had called and texted several times.  We have a koi pond in the back yard and apparently the pump gave out.  The neighbors' fear was that the koi were dying and algae was growing rampant.  No sooner than the messages coming in, the cell coverage was gone.  It would be a few hours before we could deal with this crisis.  It was hard to not let real life put a damper on the rest of our time in Yosemite, but there wasn't anything we could do except keep driving and enjoy the view.

Tioga Road continues to climb until you cross Tioga Pass, the highest driving road in CA.  The views of the Sierras and the memories of Yosemite will stay with you as you leave the Park at the east gates and drive down toward Mono Basin Lake.   Reaching US-395 at Lee Vining, there is an interesting USFS visitor center, which provides a convenient spot for a rest and also to learn about the basin and the importance it plays in the long battle over water rights to lower CA. www.monolake.org/visit/vc

Mono Lake

We turned north on highway 395, and would briefly enter Nevada for the remaining drive to South Lake Tahoe, CA.  We were arriving a day early and needed to find a room, but were successful in getting lodging at a very nice Holiday Inn Express.  It was a pleasant respite, allowing us to do laundry, wash the car, and get organized again for the coming week.  Our camping days are over on this trip so now the rooftop carrier will not be unpacked and reloaded with every stop.  Dinner was a pub meal at McP’s Taphouse & Grill, and we made an early night of it.  

As soon as we had reliable cell service Bob was able to make some calls and line up pond service.  We called the neighbors and thanked them profusely.  Yes, we had had a good trip so far . . . tomorrow will be two weeks on the road.  We've enjoyed wonderful weather and seen so many beautiful sites.  And tomorrow, some of Le Anna's family will join us for a week in beautiful South Lake Tahoe.  The adventure continues!

The Elusive Cable Car

Day 8 ~ St. Helena – Redwood City, CA

The Memorial Day weekend began with us departing the El Bonita Motel in St. Helena (Napa Valley)

El Bonita

and driving to the greater San Francisco Bay area.  The towns and landmarks ticked by on our GPS ~ Yountville, Napa, American Canyon, Vallejo, Pinole, El Cerrito, Berkeley, across the bay on the Oakland Bay Bridge, look at that skyline!  Once on the San Francisco side of the Bay, we followed US 101 thru South San Francisco until turning west toward Half Moon Bay.  The road became a curvy twist of turns up and over the coastal range until dropping down to the coast at Half Moon.  We were still seeing the occasional Redwood trees, which continued to impress.

Our daughter and son-in-law had stayed at Seal Cove Inn at Moss Beach (sealcoveinn.com)  so we made it our destination for mid-day.  It’s a lovely inn but we were not staying so chose to have lunch at the nearby historic Moss Beach Distillery.  (www.mossbeachdistillery.com)  High on a cliff, overlooking the dynamic Pacific Ocean, the distillery was the ideal secluded location for rum-running bootleggers and a speakeasy during Prohibition.  Once known as Frank’s Place it is now on the list of CA historical landmarks, and interestingly it was never raided during its speakeasy years.  Frank was well connected socially and politically and continued to run a highly successful business after the repeal of Prohibition.  In a nod to its history, the distillery continues to be home to its very own Blue Lady Ghost, who has been featured in spirit related documentaries and on the television show “Unsolved Mysteries.”  We had a very nice lunch at the distillery and also a pleasant walk through the small community before heading back over the mountains toward our home for the next few days. 

Moss Beach Distillery

Seal Cove

We traveled south toward San Gregorio, and over a very curvy road through the hills to the lovely community of Woodside.   There were some beautiful homes and small estates in Woodside but our four-day rental was listed on VRBO (www.vrbo.com/625757) as being a Quirky Floating Studio, located on Redwood Creek at Redwood City.  Let’s say that it was not what I expected; we took to calling it a floating box.  The best thing about the floating box was its owner, Tania, who was probably the most communicative and helpful VRBO host we have ever experienced.  She instilled enough loyalty in us that we chose to sort of overlook the poor condition of the quirky floating box and instead of walking away from our prepaid rent we stayed.  It did fulfill our needs of providing beds, limited cooking, a shower and a place to brush our teeth, and the infamous marine toilet.  Needless to say, I’m not a boater so didn’t really understand the marine toilet (really, we had to pour pitchers of water into it to flush!) and suddenly I was actually missing our camping nights from a few days prior.  However, the floating box was right on budget and in a very good location only a fifteen-minute drive to the Millbrae BART station. (www.bart.gov)  We stayed four nights in the floating box and we both bit our tongues, leading to one of our insight into retirement moments a few days later.  Details to follow! 

Quirky Floating Box

 

Marine toilet

Day 9 ~ Leaving our hearts in San Francisco!

We set out early riding BART into the city, getting off at Union Square. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Square,_San_Francisco )  It’s a popular tourist center with several hotels within walking distance and also the top of the cable car lines for two of the most popular cable car routes.  (www.streetcar.org/wheels-motion/ride-cable-car-lines)  We were told there was about a three hour wait for the cable car and wanted to get on with our sightseeing rather than stand in line for the car; we’d catch it another time! 

Cable Car

Because the floating box had internet (that was a plus!), we had been able to purchase tickets online for the City Sightseeing Hop On – Hop Off Tour; we had two-day unlimited tickets and were excited to be able to experience seeing the sights and having transportation too.  (www.city-sightseeing.us/index.html)

Tour Bus

It was our understanding (printed on the voucher) that we needed to make our way to Fisherman’s Wharf to pickup our bus tickets and catch the first bus.  What we didn’t realize was that City Sightseeing also had a ticket kiosk at Union Square.  Yes, we walked up the hill, across the hill, and down the hill to the Wharf for probably well over an hour and had actually been within a block of the kiosk when we got off BART.  Oh well, we got our heart rate up!  There actually is a big heart sculpture at Union Square painted by Tony Bennett himself, to reflect his famous song "I Left My Heart in San Francisco". (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hearts_in_San_Francisco)

Once on the double decker bus we saw all the familiar sights . . . the Ferry Building, Market St., Union Square (been there!), Civic Center, Chinatown Gate, the Financial District, Transamerica Pyramid, Lombard St., Pier 39, and Fisherman’s Wharf to list some.  We didn’t hop on – hop off while on this initial ride, just trying to get our bearings and decide where we might want to go again and visit in depth.  After walking around Fisherman’s Wharf we enjoyed a nice fish taco meal at a local eatery and then went over to the swimming beach at Aquatic Cove Park, just below Ghirardelli Square.  This accomplished two things at once; we ate yummy ice cream sundaes while watching swimmers train in the cold bay waters for an upcoming long distance swim from Alcatraz.  I enjoy swimming so this was actually one of the highlights of the day for me!

City Hall

Coit Tower & Transamerica Pyramid

Federal Reserve

Stock Exchange

Fisherman's Wharf

Ice Cream!

After talking to some people we learned the cable car route up California Street was not normally very crowded and would top off near Union Square, where we needed to go to get back on BART.  So we thought we would hop on the sightseeing bus and ride it over to the Ferry Building; get off and walk a couple blocks over to the cable car.  However, the sightseeing bus was not coming for another hour so once again we took off walking across the neighborhoods, getting our heart rates up, and reaching the CA St. cable car turnstile only to find it busy with a long wait.  Oh well, we will catch it tomorrow!  Bob suggested we go into the Hyatt Regency and have a look (he’d stayed there years ago) and then we spotted a BART station, got on it and stayed all the way to Millbrae Station.  Home again for another night at the quirky floating box!

Day 10 ~ Golden Gate Park, Golden Gate Bridge & Sausalito

Once again we headed to the Millbrae Station and took BART to Union Square.  As mentioned earlier, there are several hotels near Union Square and fortunately for us the Westin Hotel is directly across the street.  We needed to use a restroom and never found any public ones at Union Square so headed to the hotel lobby; also purchased coffee and warmed our selves up before heading out sightseeing again. (www.westinstfrancis.com).

This time, we used our hop on – hop off tickets and got directly on the City Sightseeing bus for the Golden Gate Park loop.  Again, this was a very interesting route allowing us to see the Civic Center area again, the Palace of Fine Arts and Theatre,

Palace of Fine Arts & Theatre

and some of the beautiful Victorians in the Haight Ashbury district.  We got off the bus at Golden Gate Park and enjoyed an hour of exploring the Japanese Tea Gardens.   

Japanese Gardens

Koi Pond

Golden Gate Park

The bus was supposed to make a return in an hour but we waited nearly an hour and a half for one to come by; it took us back to the Westin Hotel.  Once again, we used their restrooms (thanks Westin!) and went out to wait for a bus to come by to return to Fisherman’s Wharf.  After a considerable wait the bus came but it was full; there’s no guarantee of getting on a bus so we tried the cable car.  Nope!  We’ll have to catch it another time.  So, we took a taxi ~ the cost was minimal and we were able to line up for the next sightseeing bus out to the Golden Gate Bridge and across to Sausalito.

Lining up for the bus is not the same as getting on ~ we waited about an hour despite being told the bus would be there in about 20 minutes.  Finally the bus came and we headed out to the Bridge ~ beautiful, of course!

Golden Gate from San Francisco side

Golden Gate from Sausalito

It should be noted that our bus driver was very aggressive; some Europeans on the bus commented that his bully-like behavior was exactly what they had read about being prevalent in the US.  That’s not a good impression to have left them with!  You might sense some frustration on my part with City Sightseeing . . . it's true.  There is a lot of competition for bus tours and I don't think we'd use this company again.  (www.tripadvisor.com/members-citypage/leawatkins/g60713)

We did cross the Bridge and go into Sausalito, which is charming. 

Sausalito Waterfront

We left the bus, enjoyed dinner and a couple hours of exploring the town and admiring San Francisco 's skyline, and then took the ferry across the harbor back to Fisherman’s Wharf. (www.oursausalito.com/sausalito-ferry.html)  Once again, we took off walking toward the BART station near the Hyatt Regency and called it a day.  We never did get to ride a cable car!

About the weather . . . San Francisco in May is generally cold, windy, and has a high chance of fog.  And, that is exactly what we got!  We are pretty familiar with the Seattle area in May and it can be similar so we should have been better prepared.  But we weren’t, or at least I wasn’t.  Let’s just say that capris and cute sneakers are not warm enough for SF in May, especially on the top of a double decker bus.

Day 11 ~ Silicon Valley

Our last day in the Bay area and we decided to explore Silicon Valley.  The community names were familiar to us; Cupertino, Mountain View, Palo Alto, and Menlo Park.  We started driving on a self-guided tour of company headquarters; Apple, Google, and Facebook.  Also drove and walked around Stanford University and while a bit lost we stumbled across the NASA Ames Research center and its impressive wind tunnel and blimp hangars, visible from the road.  It was interesting to see the tech companies, the university, and NASA and appreciate the collective impact they have made on the world . . . all in our lifetime!  Rather than list all those websites, we will let you, the reader, Google that!

Apple

NASA Ames Research Center

Facebook

Google

Stanford University

We returned to our quirky floating box and got ourselves organized for the next day’s journey to Yosemite.  At this point our patience with the floating box, the rooftop carrier, and with each other had started to wear thin . . . as we approached retirement we were concerned that we might not like each other all day every day.  My insight into retirement now is that is a valid concern!  All in all though, we enjoyed our few days sightseeing in San Francisco and the greater area.  It has a reputation of being a romantic city and it might have been if we were not staying in that quirky floating box!

Wine, wine, and more wine!

Day 6 ~ Fortuna – St. Helena, CA

We broke camp early on day six of our travels and continued south on Hwy 101, driving along the Redwood forests.  This route parallels the Avenue of the Giants so our minds knew the wonder “just over the ridge.”  It had been such a powerful experience to visit the Redwood State and National Parks; one we won’t forget.  We didn’t have a clear itinerary for the day (one of the benefits of retirement traveling), only to reach Napa by late afternoon.  While researching this trip we’d seen there were several resorts on Clearlake and decided we’d like to see the area for possible future travel.  Turning off 101 at Ukiah, we entered a beautiful valley of farms and ranches.  It was an enjoyable drive over to Upper Lake, where we promptly became confused about where we wanted to go.  We headed south on CA-20 toward Lakeport and found a wonderful visitor center overlooking the lake.  Lakeport is a charming community on the west side of Clearlake, the perfect spot for a picnic lunch and a walk around the marina and small downtown area.  As it turns out, Lakeport is not where the resorts are; they are on the east side of the lake but we saw enough to agree Clearlake is a very pretty area of California and worthy of consideration on another trip.

Clearlake

 

Clearlake

 

Leaving Lakeport we went southeast toward Kelseyville and turned onto CA-29 for what became a long, twisty road down through the hills toward Napa Valley.  We commented that the locals didn’t seem at all phased by the road as we noticed several cars driving way too fast up the hill; we were relieved to reach the valley floor!  Our family has been to Napa Valley but this was our first visit and we were immediately taken by it.  Despite California’s severe drought (we saw evidence of it everywhere), the Valley was lush with green vineyards rolling on the hillsides and the wine estates were beautiful.  We drove into Calistoga and were immediately charmed by the town, choosing to walk around town and enjoy drinks and appetizers at the historic Calistoga Inn.  www.calistogainn.com   Beautiful and relaxing!

Historic Calistoga Inn

Patio at Calistoga Inn

A few miles down the road was the town of St. Helena, and our destination for a couple nights, the El Bonita motel.  The motel was a pleasant change from camping, and delightful in all the other aspects also.  It was reasonably priced given the relatively high prices of Napa Valley.  While walking around town we spotted a street sign; it sort of says it all!  The El Bonita has kind of a retro feel to it, and is much bigger than it appears.  We had reserved a poolside double room but next time (hopefully) we might prefer a garden room just to be away from the street.

Expensive St. Helena!

El Bonita gardens

  Our son has visited Napa several times and recommended St. Helena to us.  We were grateful as the town is central to many wineries, restaurants, and is very charming.  The Culinary Institute of America at Greystone is located on the main street, and the kitchens are behind glass walls so it was interesting to observe the students at work. Greystone is a solid stone building, formerly the winery Greystone Cellars.  It’s quite impressive, and worth a visit. www.ciachef.edu/california/

Culinary Institute of America @ Greystone

Students at work

 

It had been a long day of driving so for dinner we chose a casual patio setting at the Pizzeria Tra Vigne, with a nice variety of authentic pizza and pasta dishes.  Tra Vigne also offers a more formal restaurant with a menu of traditional Italian cuisine.  Our waiter at the pizzeria made the evening with his winning personality and attentive service. travignerestaurant.com/

Day 7 – St. Helena and surrounding Napa Valley

Our day started with a visit to one of St. Helena’s best-known (over 90 years) establishments, the Model Bakery.  www.themodelbakery.com  The coffee and artisan breads and pastries were the perfect way to jump-start our day of Napa Valley wine tasting.  We also needed to do some laundry and found a coin-operated laundry, which turned out to be a delightful experience.  A lady from Fiji started a conversation with us and the time at the laundry flew by.  One of the things we have learned through our years of living internationally and traveling is that while you are out “seeing new places” it is most fun to be “meeting new people.”

Our area of WA State is also a viticultural area so we were curious to see how Napa Valley wineries compare with those near our home in the Yakima and Columbia River basins, Walla Walla valley, and Red Mountain vineyard districts.  www.washingtonwine.org/explore  The first stop was V. Sattui, a California winery with a three hundred year history of winemaking.  www.vsattui.com/  One of the slogans for V. Sattui is “come for the wine and stay for the food’ because in addition to having a big variety of wines available for tasting, V. Sattui has an impressive marketplace, deli and picnic grounds.  We enjoyed a couple hours visiting the winery and having lunch on the grounds and people watching.  It was interesting to watch the bottling process at V. Sattui.  This winery only sells their wines direct to customers through their wine club, online sales, or at the winery shop.

Beautiful V Sattui

V Sattui Tower

V Sattui barrels

V Sattui bottling line

After lunch we headed to Beringer and took a tour that included visiting their caves. www.beringer.com/  Beringer is known as the longest continuously operating winery in Napa Valley (since 1856); it was also the first winery to offer public tours after the repeal of prohibition which brought an increase in tourism to Napa Valley.  The winery was actually allowed to operate throughout prohibition under a special license allowing it to produce wine for sacramental purposes.  In all likelihood that may have been “loosely interpreted.”  The grounds were lovely and we also enjoyed a walk-thru of the historic Rhine House, a lovely Victorian with impressive stained glass windows.

Beringer

 

Old wine; dusty!

Beringer Caves

Beringer Caves

Rhine House

Rhine House

 We knew we were pressed for time as most of the wine tasting rooms close by late afternoon but we were able to make a short stop at Rutherford Hill and also a brief drive on the grounds of Duckhorn.  Rutherford Hill is best known for their Merlot, with the geography of their vineyards closely matching the merlot-growing region of Bordeaux, France.  Hopefully we will visit Napa again and would probably return to Rutherford Hill to have more time to enjoy their impressive tasting room and nearly mile-long caves and oak grove. www.rutherfordhill.com/ Duckhorn is known for its varietals, and the winery has some beautiful gardens.  www.duckhorn.com/  The drive to both Rutherford Hill and Duckhorn was very pretty and we enjoyed being out in the rolling hills of Napa.

Rutherford Hill Winery

 

Duckhorn Vineyards

While in Napa we also visited Dean & Deluca, the gourmet culinary shopping experience, well respected for carrying only CA wines, local produce and many cheeses from local artisans.  www.deandeluca.com/  We bought a few fun things and wrapped up our evening with a deli-style dinner at our El Bonita motel room.

We have been traveling a week now, four nights camping and three motel nights.  The weather has been beautiful, the scenery amazing, the time together precious (but not without its moments!), and our insight into retirement is that everyday life still goes on while traveling.  I found myself concerned about things at home like mounting mail, paying bills, and some “what if’s?”  Bob rarely worries about the administrative details of life but he was concerned with the garden and our koi pond, and yes, he’s still wrestling the rooftop carrier!  We have another two weeks to go!

Next stop, the greater San Francisco Bay area . . . thanks for traveling along with us!