Last stop: Napa Valley

Nancy and I met in Berkeley, California back in 1968, when I was stationed at Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo, and our first date was in Napa Valley.  At that time the area was a culinary wasteland, with few good restaurants, and it wasn't yet known as one of the great wine regions of the world.  Times have changed.

In 1976 there was a blind tasting of wines in Paris, Napa vs France, and Napa won.  Since that time the reputation of Napa wines has soared, as have their prices, and Napa Valley has also become a foodie destination.  We like going there. 

Our campground was a state park at the fairgrounds in the city of Napa, with nice big level well-maintained sites.  In most of the campgrounds we visit our rig is in the upper echelon, but here we had enormous diesel coaches on either side of us, each a million dollar unit, give or take $500,000.

Napa itself is a great little city, with lots of good restaurants.  Back in 2001 COPIA: The American Center for Wine, Food, and the Arts was established as a non-profit, with Robert Mondavi and Julia Child among the principals.  Alas, attendence didn't support the enterprise, and COPIA went bankrupt in 2008.  The buildings are still there, and it's now a site for high-priced dinners and cooking demonstrations by well-know chefs. 

We drove alongside the pretty vineyards, and explored the towns of Yountville, St. Helena, and Calistoga.  We did a wine tasting at St. Clement Vineyards, one of our favorites, and visited the architectural marval called Castello di Amorosa, built between 1995 and 2006 by Dario Sattui, the owner of V.Sattui Winery, using medieval techniques where possible, running out of money as the end was near.  One hundred seven rooms and 121,000 square feet.  As a modest fellow castle builder, I am in awe of his accomplishments and even more so at the size of his ego.  V. Sattui wines are, I believe, very good, and those produced under the Castello di Amorosa label are even better.  The photo below doesn't do the castle justice.  It's quite incredible, really.

For our last night on the trip, we had dinner at one of the great Napa Valley Restaurants, Mustard's Grill.  The fantastic grilled quail appetizer will live in our memories as long as we have any.  Highly recommended.

The next morning, back to the real world and its problems.  We arrived back in Ben Lomond to find that our tenants' hot water heater wasn't working, our own hot water heater was leaking and needing replacement, our water supply well pump was dying, our driveway gate was broken, and the pickup truck was making funny steering noises.  Welcome home!