Go West Young Woman

So I just got back from a week in Northern California.
Why do I live in Iowa?

Allow me to explain a little about the trip, what we did and where we chose to spend out time....

Wednesday, Jan 26, 2005: Nate, Martine & I board a plane heading west. First stop, Denver. Brief layover, fly onto San Jose, CA.
Get the rental car -- the car that would become affectionately known as the "CoRo" -- as in Toyota Corolla. And head north to Napa.
Get to Napa -- check into the B&B.
AMAZING!!!
Seriously, check this place out:
The Daughter's Inn
I stayed in the Lord & Ladies room. I was alone -- long story, will get to that later.
But this room is off the hook.
So we grab some dinner, decide to make it an early night so we can get a fresh start in the morning.

Thursday, Jan 27, 2005: After spending a glorious evening in my personal Jacuzzi hot tub, fireplace in the room and a HUGE down filled king size bed, woke up to a great breakfast and a map of the Napa valley.
Perry (the innkeeper) was armed with a few suggestions and highlighters -- which it turns out, was a lethal combination. So after a hearty breakfast, a few cups of coffee and armed with our freshly highlighted map -- we were off.
For the record, it was overcast, but warm and that part of the country is so scenic... really. So we were off to the vineyard races as it were.
And here they are, in order:
Peju -- pretty grounds, wine um-impressive.
Rombauer -- nice zinfandel if you like a big, jamy zin.
V. Sattui -- nice table red. Madeira was pretty tasty. Got some freebies to other vineyards for tasting
Del Dotto -- AMAZING. Worth every freakin' penny. Soooo educational. Loved it. Can't say enough. oh yeah -- not cheap wine.

We had planned on a big dinner for Martines' birthday, but alas Del Dotto -- which summarily became "El Blotto" -- kicked her butt. So she yakked, we chilled out and got some food from the local taqueria. Yum.

Friday, Jan 28, 2005: Same routine at breakfast. Perry wished us well -- great place, can't say enough good things about it. And we jumped right back into our wine tasting habits... this time with a sunny day on our side.
Mum Cuvee -- Sparkling wine. Don't know enough about sparkling wine. but nate's reserve tasting was MUCH better than mine. Also VERY cool photo exhibit of Ansel Adams work and a local photographer -- Art Woods, i believe his name was. Great, great stuff to see.
Niebaum-Coppola -- Great grounds, wine sucks -- didn't even try it. But have a "Movie Museum" all of Coppola's stuff -- Oscars, movie props, etc. Pretty neat to see.
Costentino -- Great little winery. Good Zin & table red. One of the better cab's we tried.
Folie A Deux -- Another great little winery. Good jammy zin and some nice table reds. Very laid back group -- lots of fun.

Then we drove to San Francisco. But we took the long way -- through Sonoma and came in on the north side of SF to cross the Golden Gate.
Dinner in North Beach and an early night.

Saturday, Jan 29, 2005: ZAP -- not sure i need to say more. Breakfast at the little Irish place with the great soda bread and by 11 AM we were tasting Zin. LOTS AND LOTS OF ZIN.
Good crowd, Dave, Erin, Ingrid, Nate, Martine, myself, Bonnie & Rob. Good, good times.
Dinner, more wine, more drinking at the bar. stumbled home late and pretty intoxicated.

Sunday, Jan 30, 2005: Greasy recovery breakfast in the Castro -- beautiful men there. And they will NEVER find me attractive :). Quick stop at Dave & Erin's house up on Telegraph Hill and we were on our way to Santa Cruz. Where we proceeded to stop by two more vineyards on the way ...
Grabbed some sushi on Sunday night, walked around a bit and headed back to the hotel. Right on the beach. I mean, you could hear the sea lions barking the whole time. pretty impressive view.

Monday, Jan 31, 2005: Two words: BIG BASIN. Holy crap. State park with all the redwoods you could ever imagine. Redwoods, for the record, are unbelievable. We walked and walked and walked and walked and did I mention, walked???
Somewhere in the neighborhood of 12 miles (5 hours) which at some points were practically straight up the canyon wall. Calves and ass HURT at the end of the day.
Did some shopping that night and went to a local bar.

Tuesday -- flight home.

Wednesday -- back to reality. Too many emails to talk about. Gray, brown, snowy and cold when I woke up on Wednesday morning. WHY? why do i live in Iowa??

Ugh -- so good trip. Very wine filled. All in all goodness.
I will get into the whole solo aspect of the trip later -- too much typing for one day.

So there it is. Meghan's vacation for the year. Pretty happy with it.
Now -- just need to pay the credit card bills :)