Travel
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Napa Valley/San Fran
Hi Nesties!
I'm looking for guidance on planning a Napa Valley vacation with my DH this summer. I'd love to go on wine tours, go biking, hot-air ballooning, and also take a day or two to explore San Francisco and other areas. I'm from NJ, however, and I have no idea where to start! Anyone with any input to share?
Thanks!!!
Re: Napa Valley/San Fran
We went to San Fran/Napa last year, I loved it! We stayed in Cottage Grove Inn, in Calistoga. It was awesome. Beautiful cottages, nice and roomy...and then they have a seperate cottage that has nice breakfast, plus evening wine and appetizers. We traveled with another couple, and it was great to meet up in there. We did rent a car, as Calistoga is a smaller town and we drove to the wineries etc. Most days we just chose which wineries we wanted to go to, most are on a walk in basis. There are some that you need to call ahead, which we just did that day. One that we did call ahead for was George Hendry Vineyards.It's a much smaller place, more personal feel. It was the most in depth tour we had, George himself gives you a tour of the vineyards and barrels, etc.
We had a hot air balloon scheduled. You have to get up really early for those, as they go out at sunrise! Our weather wasn't right, so after getting up and on the shuttle, it was canceled. Have a backup plan for the morning, as they tend to get canceled often...weather has to be just right for safety reasons.
I could go on and on and on....
Oh, we also really like Castello di Amorosa wineries, very pretty...ended up ordering a case of wine from this place. It's a huge castle type property.
Any specific questions you have? I'll try and help!
Links to related posts in my blog:
San Fran: http://sunshinenwine.blogspot.com/2012/07/san-franciso-california.html
Wine Country: http://sunshinenwine.blogspot.com/2012/07/napa-valley-california.html
Tastings can be anywhere from free to $25pp. On my Napa link I have tips about how to save money here. Also, Happy Hour specials at the downtown Napa restaurants/bars can save you money. We stayed at a vaca rental (Villa Murialdo) and went to the grocery store so we could cook at home and take sandwiches for lunch. The place we stayed had a styrofoam cooler and plastic containers with lids.
You can usually apply your tasting fee toward your purchase of wine, although not always. Something to take into consideration also when looking at costs is the price of wines from places you visit. It can be very annoying to try a place because you heard it was great then realize their cheapest bottle is $70 or something.
I have a whole bunch of Napa/Sonoma posts in my blog if you'd like to take a look.
http://marylandgirl.wordpress.com/category/wine-country/
Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.
Mark Twain
My Travel Blog
This line really made me curious to see if you had mentioned a specific one that annoyed you on your last Napa post, and when I saw Cakebread, I smiled to myself. This winery is always hyped up because the wine is pricey and featured on many hearty restaurant wine lists. This may very well be one of the biggest disappointments of our trip over the summer (in 2008 it was Trinchero). OUR guide was nice, but wow is that wine overpriced for the quality. I wish we hadn't wasted a trip there...live and learn.
Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.
Mark Twain
My Travel Blog
I visited Napa Valley and Sonoma County a few years ago and have a blog entry from the trip here: http://wanderlusttraveler.blogspot.com/2012/04/napa-valley-and-sonoma-county.html
My husband and I were in Napa in August and are going back in June for our wedding anniversary. Yountville is an amazing town to stay in! If you can swing it, stay at either Villagio or Vintage Inn. You receive a comp bottle of wine, afternoon tea and comp breakfast with omelet station and champagne every morning! It is a savings and ensures that you eat before tasting all the amazing wine!