I love being a Nia teacher and teaching Nia classes, however, it nets more of a “cosmic salary” than one that allows for vacations. The last time we went on vacation was before I lost my corporate job. We took a BIG vacation in 2006 and 2007. We have been to my father’s house, which is pretty close to a vacation because we don’t do any household chores and we just relax in a BEAUTIFUL lake community. But I still work. Since I only teach six classes a week, it might appear as if I only work six hours a week, but I am always writing a blog post or learning a routine, checking e-mails and creating flyers and marketing material. So when the idea to go away for a weekend to celebrate my husband’s birthday was suggested it sounded intriguing. We thought about Napa. We like bed and breakfasts. I found one for less than the cost of many hotels in that area. So we decided to go! For my hubby’s birthday we spent a wonderful weekend in Napa. We had such a good time I wanted to share a story or two and few pictures. It has been a long time since we vacationed!
My hubby gave himself a birthday present of taking three days off from work! Good boy. Did I catch him working during the weekend? Well, I shouldn’t be a tattler. His first day off was Friday. I taught my Nia class in the morning then at 1:30 we were off to the land of the vines! We arrived about 3:30 and were able to check in. It was a cute little room. Which I did not think to take pictures of until we were on our way out so . . . the room is not as spiffy in these shots as it is when you first arrive. It was a perfectly fine room for the price. It even had a little fridge! I love that because we always have leftovers.
We didn’t make reservations for dinner on any night so John looked at Yelp for places that were closest to the place we were staying. We like to be able to walk to downtown Napa. The very closest place was Tarla. I would DRIVE from home to eat there. It was that good. We called first but we were told that a party of two did not need reservations. So when we walked in and he asked I said we were told we didn’t need any. But then I also said that if it would get us in faster we would be a party of four and I patted the arm of the man standing next to me. 🙂 So that couple was whisked off to there seats. As the host was telling us how long our wait would be (10 to 15 minutes — no biggie!), the man came back out and told the host that we could sit with them! How FUN! We ended up having a great time with a great couple. It was really nice. The man owns Wine Country Helicopters. I would have loved to book a tour, but I didn’t think my hubby would do that. But now that he knows the owner he said he might. So next time! Dinner was really yummy and the company was great.
Saturday was our wine shuttle tour. Where we were surprised to be with ten other people. But they were all great so we had a really nice time. We met three young attorneys, a mother-son-daughter trio, and a foursome of “mom friends”. It was really nice. The weather was perfect. We actually didn’t end up with a lot of wine because three out of the five stops we had made we had said seven years ago that we never needed to visit them again. And we were right! We didn’t actually get to the ONE winery that we wanted to go to.
So that was the trip we made on Saturday. We drove out to the winery we (I) wanted to visit. Then we dropped off the car and headed back to town to hit a restaurant and some of the wine rooms. The first “room” we came to was Prime Cellars tasting room. We had a GREAT time with the young woman (Christine) pouring the wine. She poured, we purchased . . . it was a nice visit. We ate at the Bounty Hunter – the only place I will order a pulled pork sandwich. Although it is in a different location than when we last visited, it is still a nice place to eat with great food.
We stopped at Tarla on our way back to the room. The bartender made me one of her own concoctions — which tasted a bit like a Moscow Mule with out the heat. We had a snack then headed back to our room.
The weather was GREAT all weekend. A bit windy on Sunday, but that is ok. The sun was shining and the sky was blue. It was fantastic. I am going to sub as much as I can so that I can get us back up there before 2021! It is such a great place to visit! My hubby said he had a GREAT birthday weekend and that is what is most important.
Happy Birthday, Hubby!
Have you ever been to Napa? Do you have wine tasting in your area? Do you go?
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