We’ve really been enjoying our stay in the Napa Valley! It’s been a wonderful birthday getaway. I’ll have more details soon, but wanted to share this fabulous wine country view with you.
Our drive up was relatively quick and uneventful, until just north of Concord on the 680 freeway. Suddenly, a loose wheel (complete with tire) came flying over the median and into our lane, landing immediately in front of us. We had no room to swerve to miss it. It bounced once before hitting the front of our car. I saw glass go flying and knew we’d lost a headlight, but was so relieved that it hadn’t hit the windshield or caused worse damage.
You can see exactly where it hit our car. Fortunately we were able to keep going to our destination, but the next morning le Monsieur took our car to a nearby body shop, and was told it probably wasn’t safe to drive. So the insurance company is having the car towed back down to Southern California. In the meantime, the rental car company was out of everything except for this behemoth…
which, fortunately, we were able to exchange for a smaller car after a couple of days. Always an adventure.
Weather’s been a real smorgasbord: sun, rain, hail…and sometimes all three within a 10 minute period. On the chilly side too. After checking the forecast one last time before we left, I subbed out a couple of warmer jackets and was glad I did.
We didn’t sign up for any pre-arranged winery tours this time, just took our chances and stopped into a few tasting rooms based on labels we were familiar with and recommendations from the hotel concierge. While we didn’t visit as many wineries as on past trips, we’ve tasted some fantastic wines and explored a couple of new-to-us labels. Yes, we’re bringing home a few bottles of our favorites.
This puffer jacket has earned its keep once again. (Plus and Petite Plus here.) Above, our wine tasting was held in the barrel room (about 55F), where the wine is aged.
Do you enjoy wine tasting excursions? Do you have a favorite region?
