Blogs from Napa Valley, California, United States, North America - page 8

Calistoga to Petaluma to Napa Sunday 10/15 is an organization day. Just biked to Mass, had breakfast at “Sarafonia”, biked around town and to the Laundromat. The convenience of being home and doing laundry is a luxury, but on-the-road it is a pain in the butt. Monday, 10/16, We drove to Petaluma to have the Bothan repaired at a five star Chrysler/Dodge dealer where our turbo-resonator was efficiently and rapidly replaced. We both wonder why this isn’t a recall item since so many people with this Mercedes Benz diesel engine have had the same problem. The warranty took care of the cost, but it would have been more difficult in Labrador! Back to the wine country, Napa, and we have signed up for a wine tour tomorrow. Just wandering through the town of Napa, and the ... read more

Before driving off to Napa Valley (inspired by the little filmette Sideways), we went to have some high-octane fun at an aerial display of the US Navy Blue Angels. Shit those planes are LOUD - I´m sure it´s the pilots who took the silencers off like the boy racers of Essex in their Ford Fiestas. There we were, just moseying along after our quiet tour of the SF Museum of Modern Art, when KA-BOOOM....ROOOAARRRR!!! comes screaming overhead. Never heard anything quite like it, and that second (these days whilst visiting a major American city) goes like this: "WTF was that....oh no not 9/11 again.... whilst ducking in reaction, look up tentatively see 3 small silhouetted shapes darting across the skyscraper rooftops ....fook, it's the air force.....what're they bleedin' doing scaring the crap out of people..... .... ... read more

Never being one to pass up a glass of wine, our arrival at the Sonoma and Napa Valley regions was akin to landing in paradise. Ahead of us lay 2 full days of sampling the best that the USA has to offer, and if you believe the California hype…possibly the best in the whole world, although I suspect the French may have something to say about that… Now, I could go into great lengths describing the outstanding natural beauty this area of California has to offer, the glorious rolling hills, the amazingly lush valleys filled to the brim with carefully manicured vines, the quaint villages lining the scenic highways…blah, blah, blah. Not in this blog. We are here to talk about wine, loads of wine, wine seeping out of every pore, enough wine to fill ... read more

Starting out on Saturday in San Francisco, on sunny-blue-sky-and-cool-air morning, I took the F Line from Fisherman's Wharf down to the Embarcadero and the Ferry Building. How do you eat the best peach in your life... three times in one week (each one being better than before)? Well, you start by buying an organic peach at one of the Ferry Building shops over lunch. Then go to the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market on Saturdays and buy one there. http://www.ferrybuildingmarketplace.com/ (Read on to find out about the best peach) I toured around the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market for a little bit... bought some fresh juice, a peach :), a carrot muffin, and a cookie. I then took BART across the bay to the Oakland city center, where I picked up a car I reserved on the Internet ... read more

California was great. I'm such a fan of northern California. It's incredibly laid back and oh so very quaint. We both began and ended our trip in San Francisco, a city that I would go back and visit today if I could. After a long, but enjoyable flight, we got to California late at night; that in itself was spectacular. All I could see for the longest time were dots of light in the hills from all the surrounding homes and whatnot and black water below. It was like landing in outerspace where all you could see were stars. Once we landed, we waited in line for what seemed like an eternity to get our rental car. By time we got the car, all of us were extremely tired and just went to our first ... read more