Napa Anniversary Trip 2018 - Trip Report

Beautiful View of the San Francisco Bay

Itinerary:

Day 1 - Flight, San Francisco, Scoma's, Bridge, Drive to Sonoma, House, The Pig and The Fig

Our flight to San Francisco was very uneventful.  We changed planes in LA and got Chick-fil-A for breakfast.  We got to SFO and made our way to the rental car pickup.  We found the pickup and then got to the 15 passenger vans.  Oh mama.  Those are some large vehicles.  I have driven some large vehicles (trucks, vans, tractors, etc), but this thing was like driving a bus.  It was huge.  And there was no truck space so we had to put all of our bags on the seats.  It worked, we had lots of room.  Once we got settled, we drove to Fisherman's Wharf for lunch at Scoma's.  It was a gorgeous day on the pier.  Clear and great temperature.  Scoma's was amazing as usual.  I got the cioppino, which I have not had before.  It was really good.  Lisa got the mixed grill, which was really good too.

After lunch, we drove across the Golden Gate bridge and stopped on the north side at the look out point and took some pictures.  Then we headed to Sonoma.  There was some traffic, but not too bad.  We did take a little different route to get around the traffic.  We made it to our VRBO house, which was not easy to find.  Wine country seems to be mostly country roads with little organization so the roads don't make sense to me.  The house was on the east side of Sonoma almost to the edge of town.  It was a nice house with a gated entry.  The property was much larger than expected.  They had a vineyard onsite and a pond, which was dry.  The neighbors were really cute:  piggies.  The house was nice with lots of room.  I don't think this is my way to vacation.  I am more of a hotel guy than a rental house.  It worked really well for this trip, but it was too much work.  It felt like going to the lake.  

Dinner was at The Girl and the Fig.  This place was delicious.  We got a cheese tower, with meats, pate, olives and others.  I got a duck liver mousse, which was delicious.  The cocktails were very good too.  I got a fig old fashioned and Lisa got a Bee's Knees.  She really liked her drink.  I got the duck confit and she got the short rib risotto.  It was really good.  The table only ordered three entrees:  duck confit, short rib risotto, and flounder meuniere.  Dessert was really good too.  We had Cookies and Milk, which was two very large chocolate chip cookies and a vanilla milkshake.  I got fig and port ice cream in a cookie cup.  The cookie was probably the best chocolate chip cookie ever.  Overall, it was a great meal.

We walked through the square briefly and then went to the grocery store to get stuff.  It was a really good first day.

A quick taste of San Francisco

Still looking good after 10 years

 

Day 2 - Breakfast, Schramsberg, Gott's Roadside, Ceja, Scribe, House Bottles, FARM

On next day started with breakfast in the house.  We had bacon and eggs.  It was pretty tasty, but there was some controversy over how to cook bacon.  After breakfast, we met our driver, Barry, who was awesome.  He was very friendly, helpful, and informative.  We really enjoyed him being part of our trip.  We piled in the van and headed to Calistoga to visit Schramsberg.  Schramsberg specializes in sparkling wine.  This was a great tour.  Our tour guide was awesome and we got to go inside their caves, which are over 100 years old.  We all enjoyed this visit and would do it again.

After Schramsberg, we went to St Helena to eat at Gott's Roadside, formerly Taylor's Refresher.  This is a burger place that has been in the valley since 1949.  It was delicious.  It was nice to have a change of food.  They were fancy burgers, but still very good.

We then headed back south toward Ceja.  We have been members at Ceja for a long time and love their wine.  We had been to the Napa tasting room in the past, but not the farmhouse.  We found out that the Napa tasting room is no longer there and they have moved to Sonoma.  At the farmhouse, they have a great outdoor area with seating, a chapel, bocce ball, and plenty of entertaining space.  They showed us where they are planning to build their winery, and it is going to be quite large.  They gave us a tasting of chardonnay, pinot noir, and cabernet.  We asked of others and they brought out pretty much anything we wanted.  We even got to taste the dessert wines, which we delicious.  I got to try their port which I've been wanting to try for a long time and it was really good.  After our tasting, we ordered 2 bottles to just sit and drank and we got to hang out and play bocce ball for a while.  It was really nice.  We all enjoyed this spot.  We also drank a lot of wine.

Our next stop was Scribe.  We had heard this was a hipster winery, and that couldn't have been more accurate.  It was on a pretty location, but we were not overly excited.  The service was fine and the wine was ok.  That was our last tasting and we headed back to the house.

We had a couple of hours until dinner and decided to drink some wine and hang out.  This turned into a party.  We had a great time before dinner.  Dinner was at FARM at Carneros.  This was our nice dinner and we had drank way too much to be at a nice restaurant.  We did the tasting menu with wine pairings.  It was delicious.  There was a foie gras that was incredible.  Lisa even said she liked it a lot, but doesn't generally like foie gras.  We all enjoyed dinner, but it was very expensive.  We were not in the right condition for that kind of dinner nor did we think it was worth that much money.

We went back to the house and hung out for a while before bedtime.  It was a really fun day.  To cap off the night, we received an envelope under our door.  We opened it and it was an invitation to a vow renewal.  How sweet!  Our friends planned a vow renewal for us to honor our 10 year anniversary.

Schramsberg, Gotts, Ceja and Scribe

10 years of Ceja culminated at their farm house

Day 3 - Breakfast, Repris, St Francis, Lasseter, Dinner at house; Ambush vow renewal

We started with breakfast at the house.  Barry picked us up and we headed to Repris.  This day was set on the Sonoma side so we were closer to the house.  To get to Repris, we drove up the mountain to the top through some narrow roads.  It was a pretty drive with some great overlooks.  When we got there, we stopped at a private gate and let them know we had reservations.  They let us through and we made our way to the facility.  This is amazing site.  We had been here before, and there are some amazing views of the valley and depending on where you are you can see all the way to San Francisco.  We were greeted by a guide and we started in their caves.  We also got to see their crush because we were their during harvest.  After a walk-through of the caves, we went outside and hopped into some 4 wheelers and headed up the mountain.  We went to a look out for a great view.  It was gorgeous up there.  We couldn't see quite as far as before, but we could see more of the fire destruction for the year before.  After that, we headed back down to the winery and went back into the cave.  They had set a table up for us to do a tasting in the cave.  This was very cool.  It looked like a setting from Game of Thrones.  We really enjoyed this place.  One of our friends is a member and I think they was the only reason we were able to go to this location.  Oh, and the wine was delicious.

After Repris, we went to St. Francis.  We have been here before as well and love this place.  They have great wine and also a beautiful setting, but they are down in the valley.  We were also having lunch here.  They do an amazing wine pairing lunch that we had reservations for.  This meal was amazing.  We had a lobster Asian noodle dish, a meatloaf that was really good, duck confit and calamari.  This meal was really good.  It was my favorite of the trip.  I was so full after it.  I was actually full the rest of the day, almost uncomfortably.

Next we went to Lasseter Family Winery.  This was a new spot for us.  I had heard about it from our trips to the Disney parks.  We have had their wines in the parks and it is delicious.  I was really looking forward to this stop and they did not disappoint.  They were very friendly and welcoming and a much more low key, comfortable setting.  I loved the architecture and they had some small connections to Disney and the parks that was interesting.  The wine was wonderful, we ended up joining their club.  They had a tasting of all of their wines with bites with it.  The wines were all blends, which was a nice change and they were delicious. Also, because we built some good rapport and 2 of us signed up for the club, we were able to try all of their wines, even the more reserve wines.  I also found that the more we bought or the more we shopped meant we liked the stop a lot.  We bought a lot at both St Francis and Lasseter.  

Our only other activity planned for the night was dinner at the house.  Because of this, we went to the square in Sonoma and visited Pangloss.  Pangloss is part of Repris and they have a tasting room in the square.  This was a really cool spot and we really enjoyed it.  They had some really good whites and Pinot Noirs.  We had a really cute fun waitress here that was fun too.  I was so full at this point, I didn't try very much of the wine.

We went back to the house and had dinner.  My friend made beef bourguignon and it was very good.  We had some wine to go with it and some shenanigans ensued.  We also had the surprise vow renewal, which was very nice.  Our friends did a great job with it.  It was a fun day and a wonderful evening.

Day 4 - Bouchon, Round Pond, Mumm, Pine Ridge, Oenotri

We started our last Napa day with breakfast at Bouchon.  This is a Thomas Keller restaurant.  It is located in Rutherford, which is a very nice area to visit.  Bouchon is a bakery with amazing baked goods.  We waited about 20 minutes and then got our food.  I got a croissant and cheese danish.  They were amazing.  

After breakfast, we went to Round Pond.  Lisa and I have been here twice and are members of their wine club.  We had reservations to do the olive oil tasting and wine tasting.  We love the olive oil tasting.  It is a great change from all of the wine tasting.  Their food pairings are delicious.  Our whole group really enjoyed this stop.  After our olive oil, we went across the street to the wine tasting.  We have done this before and we love the location, it is beautiful, but the wine tasting has never been anything more than just a tasting.  This time was different.  I don't know if it was because we had a group or it was our anniversary or we have been members for 10 years, but we got to taste a lot of wine and they were all delicious.  They even let us try some of the reserve cabernets.  We got to try their desserts wines which were wonderful.  My friend talked our server into letting us try a cab called "The Vow".  It is a very limited production wine that is $225 per bottle.  It was very good (we did not buy any).  When we were done with the tasting, several people in our group bought some bottles and we were just walking around.  I walked by their bar area where they pour the tastings and found a bunch of wines I did not know they made.  We tried a malbec and a syrah (syrah is one of my favorites).  I bought 3 bottles of the syrah and a couple people bought the malbec.  This was our best visit to Round Pond.

Next we went to Mumm.  I did not have any expectations for Mumm.  It was a very casual, gorgeous spot.  And they gave us quite a few tastes as well.  We really enjoyed this spot as well.  I am not really a sparkling person, but they were very good and all different.  The group started to loosen up at this point.  

Last for the day was Pine Ridge.  This was really just a filler spot.  We didn't know what to expect.  It was not our favorite.  It was more of a corporate, typical wine tasting.  Not our speed.  We did enjoy the wine, but not much was purchased.  The wheels started coming off the bus though.  We started to get a little silly.

That ended our wine tasting.  Dinner was at Oenotri.  This is an Italian restaurant in Napa.  The had delicious pizza and the pastas were very good too.  It was a little more casual than the previous restaurants.  After dinner we went back to the house and hung out in the hot tub.  

Day 5:  Drive to San Francisco, Muir Woods, Airport

On our last day, we packed up our stuff and headed back to San Francisco.  We had to clean up the house a little before we left, but there wasn't too much to do.  We had partied a little hard the night before so we were moving a little slow.

We decided to find some food and head to Muir Woods on our way back to the airport.  There was not a convenient fast food stop any where between the house and Muir Woods.  I had also forgotten about the drive there.  There was some mountainous areas and I had a little trouble driving (see previous trips for history).  

We made it to the entrance and found that they require reservations for parking.  Really??  We were talking to the parking attendant and he basically snuck us in for whatever reason.  It was really weird.  We found a place to park and walked in.  The 3 friends with us had not been to Muir Woods nor seen redwoods before.  Lisa and I had been on our honeymoon.  We all loved it.  Being in this setting is one of my favorite things in the world.  All of the senses are in their happy place.

We spent about an hour there and then headed to the airport.  We ran into some traffic and were a little nervous about getting to our flight on time.  In the end, everything worked out.  We made our flight and finally got some food at the airport.

California New Year January 2019 - Planning

Disneyland in Anaheim, California has become one of our favorite place to go.  My side of the family is a Disney family and we have been telling them how much we love it there.  Well guess what?  They want to go with us now.  So January 2019, the Holk family will be going to Disneyland!  We are all getting really excited because we are getting close.  The planning for this trip has been a little different, mainly because there are more people going with us.

When and Length of Stay:
When to go with this group was a little more difficult.  We wanted to go close to Christmas so we could use the trip as most of our Christmas present.  My brother works at a restaurant and is not allowed to travel from Thanksgiving to Valentine's Day.  He had to get an exception for the trip.  My dad is usually busy this time of year with his job as well, but he was able to schedule it in.  Our first trip to Disneyland was in January and we really enjoyed this time of year to travel.  The weather was nice and it is a good time to get away from the cold here in Kansas.  The crowds were very light in January as well.  We have also found that there is plenty to do for 5 days in the parks.  We are not adding extra days to see other things in the area this time though.  We are only going to Disneyland.

Transportation:
We found some really good airfare on Southwest for non-stop flights to LAX.  They are good times in the morning so we will still have a full day in the parks.

Since we have so many in our group, we chose not to use a rental car this time.  We are going to try the Disneyland Express, which is a coach bus service.  This will be a little different so we'll see how it works.

Accommodations:
We loved staying at the Courtyard by Marriott Theme Park Entrance last time, and we planned on staying there again.  I had booked three rooms for us to stay there in January.  We had some issues with dates, but it worked out.  Around Christmas my brother called me saying that Disney released a discount on their hotels for while we are there.  We looked into it and found that we could stay at the Disneyland Hotel for about the same price.  It is a little bit more, but comparable.  This made my wife and I very excited.  We have gone to the Disneyland Hotel to eat or walk around or even get a Dole Whip on our past 2 trips, and we have wanted to stay there.  We are going to get our wish.  My wife is very excited about the headboard and I am excited for the history.  We might even get to try out Trader Sam's this time.  The one drawback is the rooms look a little smaller and are setup more conventional compared to the Courtyard.  A big bonus by staying at the Disneyland Hotel is we get early entry to the parks every day.  This will be huge, especially since the parks open later.

Our biggest change this trip will be taking our son Grady on his first trip.  This will be an adjustment, especially with sleeping.  Our first trip with Ellie was tough getting her to sleep.  We'll see how it goes with him.  We are also going to have a LOT of stuff in the room with us (4-5 suitcases, 2 strollers, backpacks, etc).  We'll see how it goes.

Food:
We are planning a couple more sit down reservations this time.  We did not have enough rest during park hours on our last trip so we are trying to change that.  We are starting with Blue Bayou for a Fantasmic dining package.  Then we have reservations at Cafe Orleans, Carnation Cafe, Lamplight Lounge and Carthay Circle.  There are plenty of quick service restaurants and snacks that we shouldn't have a probably eating.

We are all looking forward to trying the new Tropical Hideaway.  It sounds delicious.  We are hoping that Tangaroa Terrace re-opens while we are at the Disneyland Hotel.

Entertainment:
We have purchased 5 day park hopper tickets with MaxPass.  MaxPass was the best add on we used last time.  It is a great addition to a Disneyland vacation.  We are little concerned because of all of the refurbishments/closures going on.  Small World closes while we are there.  The castle is undergoing a major refurbishment and you can barely see it with the fencing up.  They are replacing the roof.  Because of this, the Sleeping Beauty walkthrough is closed.  A Bug's Land closed this fall (changing to a Marvel land).  Star Wars Land is still being constructed.  We will still have a great time, but it will be a little different.

Ellie still doesn't know we are going, which is a big surprise.  We are telling her at Christmas that we are going.  Our trip is really close.  We are getting really excited.

Update:  We told Ellie at Christmas.  She opened her new Minnie suitcase and I told her she could use it on our trip to Disneyland with our family and she said "Oh."  Great reaction.  No more surprise trips for our kids.