Honeymoon in the Wine Country and points south. With pictures.
Jun 22, 2007, 12:46 am
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Join Date: Jul 2004
Programs: NW Gold, '06. Good times.
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Honeymoon in the Wine Country and points south. With pictures.
When planning our honeymoon, I asked my sweetheart where she would like to go. Good FTer that I am, I suggested London or Hong Kong as possibilities as I’d never been to either city and she’d enjoyed her visit to the UK a few years before (in BA C, no less). But she shot both ideas down. Planning the wedding was stressful, she said, especially since she was doing the bulk of the work on her own and the rest with her parents.
We were living apart at the time, some 1200 miles between us. Putting the wedding together, since we were doing it in her parents’ home church, was her project. The honeymoon was mine. After all the work on the wedding, she said, she wanted to do something relaxing, enjoyable, and as stress-free as possible. I interpreted this to mean no languages she didn’t speak, no long-haul international flights, and no visa hassles.
A few weeks of planning ultimately led to my booking a pair of domestic award tickets on NW, SHV-MEM-SFO-MSP-MEM-SHV with the MEM-SFO segment in F. Given that I got the dates and flights I wanted (I believe for the first time ever on award tix), I was quite happy with the result. I suppose I could’ve bumped us to F on the way back but since the SFO-MSP-MEM segments were a redeye and early morning no-breakfast flight respectively anyway, we were happy with the exit row in Y and saved the miles for a trip overseas. Maybe London awaits us, after all.
The wedding was… well, I’m still not quite sure what it was besides a blur of activity and emotion. The only people with cameras were our official photographer and his assistants but they did a good job of capturing that blur and even slowing us down for an occasional portrait.
Following the reception, we returned to her apartment to pack for the trip and, um, rest.
After dinner out, we drove to Shreveport and stayed the night at the SHV Hampton Inn. The Days Inn, just next door, was roughly half the price but (a) the Hampton Inn promised to be much quieter and (b) who wants to spend their wedding night at the Days Inn? We checked in the evening of May 12 and brought our bags up to room 422. The room was quiet, clean, and a wonderful place to unwind after the flurry of wedding activity. We were off to a good start.
May 13, 2007
Northwest Airlines Flight 2836
Shreveport-Memphis
Scheduled: 0630-0750
Actual: 0644-0735
Seats 2C/D, Canadair Regional Jet CRJ-200
Gate 11
May 13, 2007
We’d arranged a 0500 wake-up call from the front desk, which had us up as requested. I'm not a morning person but this was our honeymoon and not a second was to be wasted. We checked out at 0530 and were checked in at the airport by 0540. Our flight was listed as on-time so we had a very light breakfast at the little landside deli.
Security was a breeze, the gate area fairly clear, and we boarded at 0620. I signed both NW magazines – a habit I’ve gotten into since reading this thread – watched the bridge pull back at 0635, and the door close at 0640. We were wheels-up at 0652 and were soon over Shreveport in the hazy, sunny May morning. The FA announced that the drink service would be by request only since the flight time was only 40 minutes. We arrived in Memphis fifteen minutes early and pulled up to gate B25.
Northwest Airlines Flight 269
Memphis-San Francisco
Scheduled: 0851-1115
Actual: 0848-1050
Seats 2A/B, Airbus A319
Gate B33
May 13, 2007
The gate area at MEM was packed so we passed the time at a rest area about 50 feet away, writing and signing thank you cards. We boarded at 0825. Watching the morning activity, I had a ginger ale, she had a virgin Bloody Mary while we waited for the poor souls stuck in coach to troop to the back of the plane. The door closed a few minutes early and we were wheels-up at 0900.
As we leveled off, the flight attendants began breakfast service. Our options were Cheerios with a fruit plate, yogurt, and a bagel or scrambled eggs with sausage and cinnamon coffee cake. I ordered the Cheerios and my bride sighed. She had wanted the scrambled eggs but now, she said, she would feel guilty for not eating healthy. I said she should order the scrambled eggs anyway if that was what she wanted. She ended up getting the cereal. Women.
The milk was a bit warm but the cream cheese was, too, so it was easy to spread on the untoasted plain bagel.
We rested and read for most of the flight. The main cabin was full so we were happy to flying in the slightly larger seats of NW’s domestic first class. I snapped some pictures as we flew over Oklahoma, past one mountain range after another. We passed south of Denver, where I got this shot of a UA bird on climbout. The snack basket came around – meager by any standards with pretzels, granola bars, and nuts – and we had a little nibble and shared a glass of Chardonnay. We flew over the Rocky Mountains, the Nevada desert, and began our descent over Yosemite National Park. We approached San Jose – the airport runways point south to the city itself – and overflew the colorful palette of Bay-cleansing bacterial pools.
We landed nearly half an hour early and pulled up to gate 45. I got some shots of the new Virgin America A320s from the terminal train platform before we headed out to the rental car center, located a fair distance from the terminals themselves. We’d made our reservation through Thrifty, which generally rents Chrysler products, and expected our convertible - a honeymoon splurge - to be a ho-hum Chrysler Sebring. So imagine my surprise when I saw a lovely red Ford Mustang awaiting us!^
SFO is south of San Francisco proper, bordering the towns of San Bruno and Millbrae. We checked our maps, inspected the car’s physical condition, and quickly hit the road. We followed Interstate 280 up to 19th Street/Route 1 in western San Francisco, which led us through some very slow traffic all the way to the Golden Gate Bridge. It was for shots like this that we wanted a convertible. ? Halfway across, we found the source of the delay: a Mother’s Day anti-war rally. Traffic moved smoothly after that.
We cruised up Route 101 until we caught Route 37, which in turn carried us east to Route 121 to Sonoma. We checked in at the Sonoma Valley Inn (Best Western), where I’d booked a king room with a fireplace. (I wasn’t borrowing from this guy’s playbook, I swear!) Once checked in, we walked the two blocks to Sonoma’s main square where, after examing our meal options, we popped into a Mexican/Mayan restaurant on the square's southeastern corner. I had pork, she had the shrimp ceviche. Delicious. We walked back to the shopping center across from the hotel and had dessert at the Baskin Robbins.
Later that evening, she was sleepy so I headed out on my own to take some night shots of Sonoma. Since almost every shop closes at 1800 - which struck me as very odd for a tourist town - the streets were fairly empty and the city hall was lit up nicely. I then returned to the hotel and curled up with my wife.
May 14, 2007
After the complementary breakfast of juice, fruit, and pastries was delivered to our door, we hopped in the Mustang and struck out for Napa. Our plan was to follow Route 12 up the Napa Valley and then work our way back down, visiting vineyards and enjoying ourselves.
We arrived at the quaint house of St. Clement Vineyard in St. Helena at 1000, half an hour before their 1030 tour. Of course, it was only then that we learned that their tours are reservation only and no openings were available that day. The gift shop proprietor nonetheless invited us to poke around on our own and suggest Beringer, next door, if we wanted a formal tour without an appointment.
So we poked around. St. Clement is a small vineyard that grows olives and oranges in small quantities as well as grapes.
We soon left and drove sixty seconds south to Beringer Vineyards, where its lovely mansion greeted us as we drove up. We arrived in time for the 1045 “Introducing Beringer Tour” which, at $10 apiece with a complimentary tasting included, was a terrific deal. Our tour guide showed us a bit of the vineyard’s history and part of their cave, where barrels of (presumably white) wine are stored at a steady 60F/16C to encourage fermentation.
The tasting, our first, was also fantastic. The tour gave us a free tasting of the less expensive of the two available flights and we were able to split and share glasses of pink a pink Zinfandel-Chardonnay blend, a Cabernet Sauvignon, and a couple of others I can’t recall. Our host, who doubled as our bartender, gave us a few samples from the pricier list at no charge. The highlights: a jammy 2003 Pinot Noir and their fabulous Nightingale Semillon/Sauvignon Blanc dessert wine. A smart move on our host’s part, as I will explain later.
We then checked out the vineyard’s signature Leaning Oak, posed in front of a fountain, checked out the demonstration vineyard, and smelled a few flowers before leaving.
With lunchtime approaching, we drove south to Yountville. We skipped past the town's most famous restaurant, the Michelin 3-starred French Laundry, and had lunch at the Michelin 1-star Bouchon. We were seated outside on the patio and ordered what we quickly discovered would be a fabulous lunch. Watercress and endive salad for me, salmon tartare with crème fraîche (the day’s special) for her to start, followed by the truite aux Armandes for me, moules au safran et a la moutarde for her. For dessert, we shared a pistachio-infused pot de crème and mousse au chocolat noir. It was easily the single best meal of the trip.
On the way back to Route 12, we paused in front of the French Laundry for pictures of the restaurant and its vegetable garden across the street.
Our next stop: Robert Mondavi. At $25 apiece, this was the most expensive winery tour we took. Our guide, the bald fellow in the white shirt, spoke at great length about the different soils in Napa Valley. Apparently, the red soil in the mountains east of Napa has a pH of 8.5 while west of Napa, the mountain's light brown soil has a pH of 5.5. This huge swing in pH in such a small area evidently has a profound effect on the wines produced throughout the region. He showed us the different grape varietals in the vineyard. I understand that the grapes will be a little bigger than this come fall. We then went inside.
The two-story fermentation tanks are made of French oak and the barrels themselves bear a lovely red stripe down the middle to mask spills from periodic tests and the later addition of albumin (in the form of three beaten egg whites per barrel) to draw sediment to the bottom. We then saw the bottling room and yet more barrels.
The tour concluded with the tasting of Aranchi – fennel risotto balls stuffed with smoked mozzarella – paired with four wines: a grapefruity 2003 Stag's Leap Sauvignon Blanc served properly at 62F, a densely sweet 2002 Carneros Merlot, a dry 2004 Oakville District Cabernet Sauvignon, and a deliciously peachy 2005 Muscat’ d’Oro. This last was Mrs. Hoyateach’s favorite.
My sweetheart was less than impressed with our guide, however, finding him rather patronizing. I agreed but I think I learned more on this tour than I did on any other. In particular, I learned three things. First, after swirling the wine in the glass, the "tears" or "legs" that run down the side of the glass are the alcohol evaporating, which makes the wine very dry. Second, one can counter this by "volatizing the esters": tilt glass on its side and roll it back and forth for 10 seconds. Supposedly, this takes 60 minutes off the wine, sparing the need for it to breathe. Third, aerators are a handy way to quickly aerate the wine when pouring it into a carafe.
By the time the tour ended, it was late afternoon and we were getting tired. We drove back to Sonoma and had dinner at a small Indian place, where we each had lentil soup. I had the chicken tandoori – I so hungry, I finished it before I thought to take a picture – and she had the potato and eggplant curry.
May 15, 2007
We drove into the Sonoma Valley with the same game plan as the previous day: drive as far as we could, turn around, and then slowly work our way back. We started with an early-morning visit to the St. Francis vineyard and repeated the previous day's pattern: tours were by appointment only and we didn’t have an appointment. Nonetheless, we briefly toured the vineyard's lovingly sculpted garden before heading out.
The folks at St. Francis recommended a visit to Benziger and its biodynamic, environmentally friendly vineyard. For $10 apiece, we hopped aboard a tractor-pulled tram for the Biodynamic Vineyard Tram Tour at 1100. We toured the vineyards, checked out the local soil profile, saw the destemmer and storage tanks,, and toured the cave. It was cool and dark and was, in its own way, the nicest storage cave we visited during the trip. I'm hard pressed to say why this is so, however.
A complementary tasting followed the tour but none of the wines really stood out. Perhaps I was experiencing palate fatigue. I’d been drinking a lot, after all. My wife was especially pleased with the vineyard’s commitment to environmental preservation. As a chemist and the daughter of a farmer, she was especially interested to hear about their non-pesticide-based methods of pest control and water recovery techniques. Myself, I was more interested in the finished product. And it was good. I’ll have to go back since I’d like to give their wines another try.
Our tour included a ticket for a complementary tasting at their sister vineyard, Imagery. Owned by the artist and daughter of film director Francis Ford Coppola, Imagery is apparently as much about art as wine. We popped into their tasting room and sampled our way through their list. Nothing they sell is available in stores; their business is entirely mail-order. My wife enjoyed the port, not only for the nifty little glass it was served in, but for its intensity and relative lack of sweetness. I rather liked it myself, too. We then toured the Garden and got back into the Mustang. It was almost time for lunch.
We went to the Glen Ellen Inn Restaurant, near the Benziger vineyard. Following the delicious breadbasket and house salad with blue cheese, our main courses arrived: Salmon and housemade pasta for me, artichoke and Sonoma Jack melt for her. We skipped dessert.
Our next stop: Valley of the Moon, a vineyard my wife chose for its intriguing name. This vineyard also had some very old, freestanding grapevines on the property. These older vines produce far fewer grapes but lend a depth and richness of flavor that younger vines can’t match. I am embarrassed to admit that it wasn't until this point that it occurred to me to photograph the wine tasting list of any vineyard. And the tasting was free! We appreciated it so much that Valley of the Moon was one of only two vineyards in which we did any souvenir shopping.
We returned to Sonoma and took a long walk, hoping to find a Subway or inexpensive deli for a light supper. Instead, as we approached Sonoma Square, we encountered this unexpected scene. Apparently, every Tuesday sees a farmers market assemble around City Hall. We bought an order of pad thai, settled onto a patch of open lawn, and had a marvelous ending to a great day. And it seems that we weren’t the only ones finding romance that evening.
May 16, 2007
Wednesday morning saw us check out of our hotel and return to Napa Valley. It was still well before 1000 when we got there so we decided to wander down Niebaum Lane, which was specifically marked as having no publicly open vineyards. We took in the lovely architecture before jumping back on Route 12 and continuing north.
We first went back to Beringer, where we bought a bottle each of the 2006 white Zinfandel, 2006 Chenin Blanc, the 2003 Pinot Noir I’d enjoyed so much, and the fantastic Nightingale. Had our host not shared with us the premium stuff, we probably wouldn’t have gone back. I also bought a Beringer baseball cap with a cork bill. Funky.
Next stop: Mumm Napa, a specialized winery a little off the beaten path. We signed up for the complementary group tour but it turned out that we were the only ones. A private tour of a sparkling wine winery. We were happy. We saw the four grape varieties that make up Mumm’s sparkling wine (the Pinot Gris was hidden in the back), baby vines in tubes, the fermentation tanks, the collection hoppers, and the bottling room where Bob the robot crates the wine.
Making sparkling wine is a somewhat messy process. After the first fermentation, a considerable amount of sediment remains in the bottle. To deal with this, the bottles are “riddled,” a sediment-collection technique developed by a French woman who drilled holes in her kitchen table and tilted it on its side. In a modern winery, this is done automatically on a much larger scale. The bottles, capped like beer bottles, are brought back to a second processing room where the caps are blown off, the sediment simultaneously sucked out, and a fresh shot of sugar injected inside. Fermentation then finishes on its own.
After the tour, we walked through the winery's Ansel Adams display and sat down to a wonderful $5 tasting. Overall, this was probably our favorite tasting.
For lunch, we visited the deli at the V. Sattui winery on Route 12. At a picnic table underneath a towering oak tree, we enjoyed: (clockwise from left) Margherita panini, Oreo-crusted cheesecake, Portobello mushrooms with sausage and onion stuffing, potato gnocchi, artichoke rice salad, and Dolmas (stuffed grape leaves). The winery also featured a lovely garden trellis.
With great reluctance, we got back in the Mustang and raced the Napa Valley Wine Train south as we headed for San Francisco. Soon, the Golden Gate Bridge loomed before us. We followed Route 101 along the water and into the city.
When I made online reservations at the Beresford Arms Hotel, I did three things: booked the cheap AAA rate, mentioned in the comments section that we were on our honeymoon, and asked for the quietest available room. So imagine my surprise when I opened the door to a four-room corner suite complete with full kitchen! I stepped into the living room, the bedroom to my right, the kitchen to the left of the windows, and the bathroom to my immediate left. I took this to mean that the towels had not recently seen service at the nearby massage parlor. Our views from the bedroom were terrific.
We passed on the complementary wine and cheese tasting the hotel lobby hosts every afternoon. My sweetheart was in the mood for sushi. We made our way to Japantown by bus, visiting the Peace Plaza and cruising the Japan Center square and adjacent mall. We went across the street to a small sushi-ya called Sanpo (“Stroll”) and had a wonderful sushi dinner. We went to bed happy.
May 17, 2007
The morning started gray but quickly grew brighter. We had a light breakfast in the lobby and she had some bag tea.
We headed out to Golden Gate Park. We visited the Chinese temple at Stow Lake before going to the Japanese Tea Garden. We each paid the $4 entrance fee and found ourselves in a veritable slice of Japan. It was like a hodgepodge collection taken from various gardens around Japan, complete with seated Buddhas, moon bridges, stone lanterns, and pagodas.
Once finished, we took a long walk through the park and paused to watch a pair of hawks frolicking on the wind before catching the bus Chinatown. We went to my favorite Chinese restaurant in the United States, the Great Eastern on Jackson Street. We were escorted to the basement level and ordered liberally from the dim sum menu. It turned out that we ordered a bit too much from the dim sum menu (this was just the beginning) but were able to save room for the coconut jelly and mango pudding for dessert. We bought the leftovers back to the hotel and stored them in the refrigerator.
We passed through a series of street stalls on the way to the Asian Art Museum across the street from City Hall. Once there, we viewed the museum's statuary, golden thrones, priceless jade, copper-glazed Ming vases, and carved ivory.
We returned to the Powell Street cable car turnaround near the hotel and sat near the front. On the way, we were treated to some fantastic views. Our original plan was to visit Scoma’s, a seafood restaurant on Fisherman's Wharf. Since we were still stuffed from lunch, however, we abandoned the plan and went straight to Ghirardelli’s. After checking the front and back of the chocolate shop, I was in the mood for an ice cream sundae. The shop was crowded but we eventually found a place to split some delicious ice cream.
We burned the rest of the available daylight walking along the water and waited in line for the Cable Car back to Powell Street. I snagged a spot on the back of the car, capturing the steep climb uphill and our final views of Alcatraz. For dinner, courtesy of our fully-stocked kitchen, we had the rest of our dim sum.
May 18, 2007
The next morning, we stood in line for breakfast at Sears Fine Foods, across the street from the world-famous Sir Francis Drake Hotel. After perusing the menu and placing our orders, I took a moment to capture our good fortune in getting the best seats in the house.
After checking out, we rode the airport shuttle to SFO, caught the crowded train to the rental car terminal, and rented a four-door Dodge Avenger.
Soon, we were on the twisting roads of the famous Pacific Coast Highway and took in the fabulous views. Two and a half hours later, we checked into the Clarion in Carmel-by-the-Sea. After two nights in a four-room suite, our new room felt a tad small.
Carmel-by-the-Sea is a wealthy art community with several galleries on every block. When we arrived, there was a sculpture competition in progress in one of the small parks near the hotel. We made our way down to the beach where we watched the waves come in and looked across at the world-famous Pebble Beach golf course. My newlywed wife also suggested (and I swear on all that is good and holy that this was HER idea) snapping this picture of a fellow photography buff.
As we walked along, a woman approached us and asked if we were on our honeymoon. When we said yes, she said that she and her husband had honeymooned in Carmel some 42 years earlier and offered to take our picture. My sweetheart wrote a love note in the sand and I tried to take a picture of us as well.
We found a little Italian place with a patio and sat down for dinner. A breadbasket and fantastic dipping sauce were offered, followed by our appetizer order of antipasto. Dinner, trout over pasta for her and poker di mare for me, was followed by dessert. I got the chocolate cake, she got her favorite: tiramisu.
We retired after dinner, tired but happy.
May 19, 2007
We skipped in the morning’s complimentary breakfast offering since the milk had gone sour. We checked out and Walked around Carmel a little more, including paying a visit to the building where Clint Eastwood once ruled as mayor. We then returned to the car and drove north to Monterey.
We had lunch at a kitschy place called Louie Linguini’s on Cannery Row – naturally, we each had pasta – and took in the sea lions basking on a sand bar. My sweetie asked me to pose in front of them. Aquatic life of another sort was also prolific in the area, as were some surface dwellers. My sweetie returned the favor and posed in front of them.
We drove around for a while looking for a suitable parking space and then made our way into the Monterey Bay Aquarium. At $24.95 apiece, it wasn’t cheap but certainly more educational than an hour with the Mondavi folks. We wandered the aquarium for hours, taking in the sea life: jellyfish, ocean sunfish, sardines, sharks, and this charming fellow. The aquarium even had an aviary devoted to aquatic bird life where a young duckling pondered whether or not to take the next great step in his life. The aquarium's centerpiece was a two-story deep-sea tank where I spent some time taking pictures.
The highlights of the afternoon were the sea otter feeding and deep-sea tank feeding. Good work if you can get it.
After the aquarium, we parked at Municipal Wharf in downtown Monterey. We had another sushi dinner, walked past the modest collection of yachts in the harbor, and perused the shops on Fisherman's Wharf.
As the sun began to set, we caught this little fellow swimming under the wharf, strolled along Monterey State Beach and my sweetheart wrote a haiku in the sand.
Once back in the car, we headed off into the sunset and towards SFO. We paused twice along the way to take in the rolling water and sheer cliffs at dusk.
The car returned, we had the tram to ourselves and took one last picture of the two of us in California.
We checked a bag, got our boarding passes, and cleared security after a10-minute wait. I noticed that a “private screening” was taking place. I couldn't help but laugh.
We waited in the deserted Delta/Frontier gate area and soon boarded the flight with the rest of the sleepy crowd.
May 20, 2007
Northwest Airlines Flight 362
San Francisco-Minneapolis
Scheduled: 0030-0557
Actual: 0027-0547
Seats 27A/B, Boeing 757-300
Gate 45B
May 20, 2007
I had booked us in the second of two consecutive exit rows. The rows ahead of us, while boasting plenty of legroom, did not have reclining seats. We had the best of both worlds. We push back on time and took off from runway 28L. The plane itself wasn't that crowded – I was elbowed by my seatmate a few times but this was unavoidable – and I was able to sleep for most of the flight. I awoke only when we touched down. We arrived at gate G6A and took a long walk through MSP to our connecting flight.
Northwest Airlines Flight 448
Minneapolis-Memphis
Scheduled: 0645-0843
Actual: 0648-0845
Seats 19A/B, Boeing 757-200
Gate G18
May 20, 2007
The gate area wasn't crowded and there were plenty of seats on the plane. A fussy, loud two-year-old boy was with his mother in the row in front of us and we later learned that this was his first flight. We pushed back on time and he calmed down once we were airborne. My sweetie and I slept, waking only on final approach. We landed on time and pulled up to gate B38.
Northwest Airlines Flight 2839
Memphis-Shreveport
Scheduled: 0920-1037
Actual: 0922-1027
Seats 2C/D, Canadair CRJ-200
Gate A4
May 20, 2007
We walked through MEM at a brisk pace since we had only half an hour to make our connection and almost no moving walkways to help us. When we arrived at gate A4, boarding was already underway. We arrived at SHV on a bright, hot morning. I walked back to the Hampton Inn to retrieve my car while my sweetie waited with the luggage. She took the final shot of our honeymoon, catching me in my green Honda ready to pull up to the curb and take us home.
Our honeymoon was over. Our life together had just begun.
We were living apart at the time, some 1200 miles between us. Putting the wedding together, since we were doing it in her parents’ home church, was her project. The honeymoon was mine. After all the work on the wedding, she said, she wanted to do something relaxing, enjoyable, and as stress-free as possible. I interpreted this to mean no languages she didn’t speak, no long-haul international flights, and no visa hassles.
A few weeks of planning ultimately led to my booking a pair of domestic award tickets on NW, SHV-MEM-SFO-MSP-MEM-SHV with the MEM-SFO segment in F. Given that I got the dates and flights I wanted (I believe for the first time ever on award tix), I was quite happy with the result. I suppose I could’ve bumped us to F on the way back but since the SFO-MSP-MEM segments were a redeye and early morning no-breakfast flight respectively anyway, we were happy with the exit row in Y and saved the miles for a trip overseas. Maybe London awaits us, after all.
The wedding was… well, I’m still not quite sure what it was besides a blur of activity and emotion. The only people with cameras were our official photographer and his assistants but they did a good job of capturing that blur and even slowing us down for an occasional portrait.
Following the reception, we returned to her apartment to pack for the trip and, um, rest.
After dinner out, we drove to Shreveport and stayed the night at the SHV Hampton Inn. The Days Inn, just next door, was roughly half the price but (a) the Hampton Inn promised to be much quieter and (b) who wants to spend their wedding night at the Days Inn? We checked in the evening of May 12 and brought our bags up to room 422. The room was quiet, clean, and a wonderful place to unwind after the flurry of wedding activity. We were off to a good start.May 13, 2007
Northwest Airlines Flight 2836
Shreveport-Memphis
Scheduled: 0630-0750
Actual: 0644-0735
Seats 2C/D, Canadair Regional Jet CRJ-200
Gate 11
May 13, 2007
We’d arranged a 0500 wake-up call from the front desk, which had us up as requested. I'm not a morning person but this was our honeymoon and not a second was to be wasted.
We checked out at 0530 and were checked in at the airport by 0540. Our flight was listed as on-time so we had a very light breakfast at the little landside deli.Security was a breeze, the gate area fairly clear, and we boarded at 0620. I signed both NW magazines – a habit I’ve gotten into since reading this thread – watched the bridge pull back at 0635, and the door close at 0640. We were wheels-up at 0652 and were soon over Shreveport in the hazy, sunny May morning. The FA announced that the drink service would be by request only since the flight time was only 40 minutes. We arrived in Memphis fifteen minutes early and pulled up to gate B25.
Northwest Airlines Flight 269
Memphis-San Francisco
Scheduled: 0851-1115
Actual: 0848-1050
Seats 2A/B, Airbus A319
Gate B33
May 13, 2007
The gate area at MEM was packed so we passed the time at a rest area about 50 feet away, writing and signing thank you cards. We boarded at 0825. Watching the morning activity, I had a ginger ale, she had a virgin Bloody Mary while we waited for the poor souls stuck in coach to troop to the back of the plane. The door closed a few minutes early and we were wheels-up at 0900.
As we leveled off, the flight attendants began breakfast service. Our options were Cheerios with a fruit plate, yogurt, and a bagel or scrambled eggs with sausage and cinnamon coffee cake. I ordered the Cheerios and my bride sighed. She had wanted the scrambled eggs but now, she said, she would feel guilty for not eating healthy. I said she should order the scrambled eggs anyway if that was what she wanted. She ended up getting the cereal. Women.
The milk was a bit warm but the cream cheese was, too, so it was easy to spread on the untoasted plain bagel.We rested and read for most of the flight. The main cabin was full so we were happy to flying in the slightly larger seats of NW’s domestic first class. I snapped some pictures as we flew over Oklahoma, past one mountain range after another. We passed south of Denver, where I got this shot of a UA bird on climbout. The snack basket came around – meager by any standards with pretzels, granola bars, and nuts – and we had a little nibble and shared a glass of Chardonnay. We flew over the Rocky Mountains, the Nevada desert, and began our descent over Yosemite National Park. We approached San Jose – the airport runways point south to the city itself – and overflew the colorful palette of Bay-cleansing bacterial pools.
We landed nearly half an hour early and pulled up to gate 45. I got some shots of the new Virgin America A320s from the terminal train platform before we headed out to the rental car center, located a fair distance from the terminals themselves. We’d made our reservation through Thrifty, which generally rents Chrysler products, and expected our convertible - a honeymoon splurge - to be a ho-hum Chrysler Sebring. So imagine my surprise when I saw a lovely red Ford Mustang awaiting us!^
SFO is south of San Francisco proper, bordering the towns of San Bruno and Millbrae. We checked our maps, inspected the car’s physical condition, and quickly hit the road. We followed Interstate 280 up to 19th Street/Route 1 in western San Francisco, which led us through some very slow traffic all the way to the Golden Gate Bridge. It was for shots like this that we wanted a convertible. ? Halfway across, we found the source of the delay: a Mother’s Day anti-war rally. Traffic moved smoothly after that.
We cruised up Route 101 until we caught Route 37, which in turn carried us east to Route 121 to Sonoma. We checked in at the Sonoma Valley Inn (Best Western), where I’d booked a king room with a fireplace. (I wasn’t borrowing from this guy’s playbook, I swear!) Once checked in, we walked the two blocks to Sonoma’s main square where, after examing our meal options, we popped into a Mexican/Mayan restaurant on the square's southeastern corner. I had pork, she had the shrimp ceviche. Delicious. We walked back to the shopping center across from the hotel and had dessert at the Baskin Robbins.
Later that evening, she was sleepy so I headed out on my own to take some night shots of Sonoma. Since almost every shop closes at 1800 - which struck me as very odd for a tourist town - the streets were fairly empty and the city hall was lit up nicely. I then returned to the hotel and curled up with my wife.
May 14, 2007
After the complementary breakfast of juice, fruit, and pastries was delivered to our door, we hopped in the Mustang and struck out for Napa. Our plan was to follow Route 12 up the Napa Valley and then work our way back down, visiting vineyards and enjoying ourselves.
We arrived at the quaint house of St. Clement Vineyard in St. Helena at 1000, half an hour before their 1030 tour. Of course, it was only then that we learned that their tours are reservation only and no openings were available that day. The gift shop proprietor nonetheless invited us to poke around on our own and suggest Beringer, next door, if we wanted a formal tour without an appointment.
So we poked around. St. Clement is a small vineyard that grows olives and oranges in small quantities as well as grapes.
We soon left and drove sixty seconds south to Beringer Vineyards, where its lovely mansion greeted us as we drove up. We arrived in time for the 1045 “Introducing Beringer Tour” which, at $10 apiece with a complimentary tasting included, was a terrific deal. Our tour guide showed us a bit of the vineyard’s history and part of their cave, where barrels of (presumably white) wine are stored at a steady 60F/16C to encourage fermentation.
The tasting, our first, was also fantastic. The tour gave us a free tasting of the less expensive of the two available flights and we were able to split and share glasses of pink a pink Zinfandel-Chardonnay blend, a Cabernet Sauvignon, and a couple of others I can’t recall. Our host, who doubled as our bartender, gave us a few samples from the pricier list at no charge. The highlights: a jammy 2003 Pinot Noir and their fabulous Nightingale Semillon/Sauvignon Blanc dessert wine. A smart move on our host’s part, as I will explain later.
We then checked out the vineyard’s signature Leaning Oak, posed in front of a fountain, checked out the demonstration vineyard, and smelled a few flowers before leaving.
With lunchtime approaching, we drove south to Yountville. We skipped past the town's most famous restaurant, the Michelin 3-starred French Laundry, and had lunch at the Michelin 1-star Bouchon. We were seated outside on the patio and ordered what we quickly discovered would be a fabulous lunch. Watercress and endive salad for me, salmon tartare with crème fraîche (the day’s special) for her to start, followed by the truite aux Armandes for me, moules au safran et a la moutarde for her. For dessert, we shared a pistachio-infused pot de crème and mousse au chocolat noir. It was easily the single best meal of the trip.
On the way back to Route 12, we paused in front of the French Laundry for pictures of the restaurant and its vegetable garden across the street.
Our next stop: Robert Mondavi. At $25 apiece, this was the most expensive winery tour we took. Our guide, the bald fellow in the white shirt, spoke at great length about the different soils in Napa Valley. Apparently, the red soil in the mountains east of Napa has a pH of 8.5 while west of Napa, the mountain's light brown soil has a pH of 5.5. This huge swing in pH in such a small area evidently has a profound effect on the wines produced throughout the region. He showed us the different grape varietals in the vineyard. I understand that the grapes will be a little bigger than this come fall. We then went inside.
The two-story fermentation tanks are made of French oak and the barrels themselves bear a lovely red stripe down the middle to mask spills from periodic tests and the later addition of albumin (in the form of three beaten egg whites per barrel) to draw sediment to the bottom. We then saw the bottling room and yet more barrels.
The tour concluded with the tasting of Aranchi – fennel risotto balls stuffed with smoked mozzarella – paired with four wines: a grapefruity 2003 Stag's Leap Sauvignon Blanc served properly at 62F, a densely sweet 2002 Carneros Merlot, a dry 2004 Oakville District Cabernet Sauvignon, and a deliciously peachy 2005 Muscat’ d’Oro. This last was Mrs. Hoyateach’s favorite.
My sweetheart was less than impressed with our guide, however, finding him rather patronizing. I agreed but I think I learned more on this tour than I did on any other. In particular, I learned three things. First, after swirling the wine in the glass, the "tears" or "legs" that run down the side of the glass are the alcohol evaporating, which makes the wine very dry. Second, one can counter this by "volatizing the esters": tilt glass on its side and roll it back and forth for 10 seconds. Supposedly, this takes 60 minutes off the wine, sparing the need for it to breathe. Third, aerators are a handy way to quickly aerate the wine when pouring it into a carafe.
By the time the tour ended, it was late afternoon and we were getting tired. We drove back to Sonoma and had dinner at a small Indian place, where we each had lentil soup. I had the chicken tandoori – I so hungry, I finished it before I thought to take a picture – and she had the potato and eggplant curry.
May 15, 2007
We drove into the Sonoma Valley with the same game plan as the previous day: drive as far as we could, turn around, and then slowly work our way back. We started with an early-morning visit to the St. Francis vineyard and repeated the previous day's pattern: tours were by appointment only and we didn’t have an appointment. Nonetheless, we briefly toured the vineyard's lovingly sculpted garden before heading out.
The folks at St. Francis recommended a visit to Benziger and its biodynamic, environmentally friendly vineyard. For $10 apiece, we hopped aboard a tractor-pulled tram for the Biodynamic Vineyard Tram Tour at 1100. We toured the vineyards, checked out the local soil profile, saw the destemmer and storage tanks,, and toured the cave. It was cool and dark and was, in its own way, the nicest storage cave we visited during the trip. I'm hard pressed to say why this is so, however.
A complementary tasting followed the tour but none of the wines really stood out. Perhaps I was experiencing palate fatigue. I’d been drinking a lot, after all.
My wife was especially pleased with the vineyard’s commitment to environmental preservation. As a chemist and the daughter of a farmer, she was especially interested to hear about their non-pesticide-based methods of pest control and water recovery techniques. Myself, I was more interested in the finished product. And it was good. I’ll have to go back since I’d like to give their wines another try.Our tour included a ticket for a complementary tasting at their sister vineyard, Imagery. Owned by the artist and daughter of film director Francis Ford Coppola, Imagery is apparently as much about art as wine. We popped into their tasting room and sampled our way through their list. Nothing they sell is available in stores; their business is entirely mail-order. My wife enjoyed the port, not only for the nifty little glass it was served in, but for its intensity and relative lack of sweetness. I rather liked it myself, too. We then toured the Garden and got back into the Mustang. It was almost time for lunch.
We went to the Glen Ellen Inn Restaurant, near the Benziger vineyard. Following the delicious breadbasket and house salad with blue cheese, our main courses arrived: Salmon and housemade pasta for me, artichoke and Sonoma Jack melt for her. We skipped dessert.
Our next stop: Valley of the Moon, a vineyard my wife chose for its intriguing name. This vineyard also had some very old, freestanding grapevines on the property. These older vines produce far fewer grapes but lend a depth and richness of flavor that younger vines can’t match. I am embarrassed to admit that it wasn't until this point that it occurred to me to photograph the wine tasting list of any vineyard. And the tasting was free! We appreciated it so much that Valley of the Moon was one of only two vineyards in which we did any souvenir shopping.
We returned to Sonoma and took a long walk, hoping to find a Subway or inexpensive deli for a light supper. Instead, as we approached Sonoma Square, we encountered this unexpected scene. Apparently, every Tuesday sees a farmers market assemble around City Hall. We bought an order of pad thai, settled onto a patch of open lawn, and had a marvelous ending to a great day. And it seems that we weren’t the only ones finding romance that evening.
May 16, 2007
Wednesday morning saw us check out of our hotel and return to Napa Valley. It was still well before 1000 when we got there so we decided to wander down Niebaum Lane, which was specifically marked as having no publicly open vineyards. We took in the lovely architecture before jumping back on Route 12 and continuing north.
We first went back to Beringer, where we bought a bottle each of the 2006 white Zinfandel, 2006 Chenin Blanc, the 2003 Pinot Noir I’d enjoyed so much, and the fantastic Nightingale. Had our host not shared with us the premium stuff, we probably wouldn’t have gone back. I also bought a Beringer baseball cap with a cork bill. Funky.
Next stop: Mumm Napa, a specialized winery a little off the beaten path. We signed up for the complementary group tour but it turned out that we were the only ones. A private tour of a sparkling wine winery. We were happy.
We saw the four grape varieties that make up Mumm’s sparkling wine (the Pinot Gris was hidden in the back), baby vines in tubes, the fermentation tanks, the collection hoppers, and the bottling room where Bob the robot crates the wine.Making sparkling wine is a somewhat messy process. After the first fermentation, a considerable amount of sediment remains in the bottle. To deal with this, the bottles are “riddled,” a sediment-collection technique developed by a French woman who drilled holes in her kitchen table and tilted it on its side. In a modern winery, this is done automatically on a much larger scale. The bottles, capped like beer bottles, are brought back to a second processing room where the caps are blown off, the sediment simultaneously sucked out, and a fresh shot of sugar injected inside. Fermentation then finishes on its own.
After the tour, we walked through the winery's Ansel Adams display and sat down to a wonderful $5 tasting. Overall, this was probably our favorite tasting.
For lunch, we visited the deli at the V. Sattui winery on Route 12. At a picnic table underneath a towering oak tree, we enjoyed: (clockwise from left) Margherita panini, Oreo-crusted cheesecake, Portobello mushrooms with sausage and onion stuffing, potato gnocchi, artichoke rice salad, and Dolmas (stuffed grape leaves). The winery also featured a lovely garden trellis.
With great reluctance, we got back in the Mustang and raced the Napa Valley Wine Train south as we headed for San Francisco. Soon, the Golden Gate Bridge loomed before us. We followed Route 101 along the water and into the city.
When I made online reservations at the Beresford Arms Hotel, I did three things: booked the cheap AAA rate, mentioned in the comments section that we were on our honeymoon, and asked for the quietest available room. So imagine my surprise when I opened the door to a four-room corner suite complete with full kitchen! I stepped into the living room, the bedroom to my right, the kitchen to the left of the windows, and the bathroom to my immediate left. I took this to mean that the towels had not recently seen service at the nearby massage parlor. Our views from the bedroom were terrific.
We passed on the complementary wine and cheese tasting the hotel lobby hosts every afternoon. My sweetheart was in the mood for sushi. We made our way to Japantown by bus, visiting the Peace Plaza and cruising the Japan Center square and adjacent mall. We went across the street to a small sushi-ya called Sanpo (“Stroll”) and had a wonderful sushi dinner. We went to bed happy.
May 17, 2007
The morning started gray but quickly grew brighter. We had a light breakfast in the lobby and she had some bag tea.
We headed out to Golden Gate Park. We visited the Chinese temple at Stow Lake before going to the Japanese Tea Garden. We each paid the $4 entrance fee and found ourselves in a veritable slice of Japan. It was like a hodgepodge collection taken from various gardens around Japan, complete with seated Buddhas, moon bridges, stone lanterns, and pagodas.
Once finished, we took a long walk through the park and paused to watch a pair of hawks frolicking on the wind before catching the bus Chinatown. We went to my favorite Chinese restaurant in the United States, the Great Eastern on Jackson Street. We were escorted to the basement level and ordered liberally from the dim sum menu. It turned out that we ordered a bit too much from the dim sum menu (this was just the beginning) but were able to save room for the coconut jelly and mango pudding for dessert. We bought the leftovers back to the hotel and stored them in the refrigerator.
We passed through a series of street stalls on the way to the Asian Art Museum across the street from City Hall. Once there, we viewed the museum's statuary, golden thrones, priceless jade, copper-glazed Ming vases, and carved ivory.
We returned to the Powell Street cable car turnaround near the hotel and sat near the front. On the way, we were treated to some fantastic views. Our original plan was to visit Scoma’s, a seafood restaurant on Fisherman's Wharf. Since we were still stuffed from lunch, however, we abandoned the plan and went straight to Ghirardelli’s. After checking the front and back of the chocolate shop, I was in the mood for an ice cream sundae. The shop was crowded but we eventually found a place to split some delicious ice cream.
We burned the rest of the available daylight walking along the water and waited in line for the Cable Car back to Powell Street. I snagged a spot on the back of the car, capturing the steep climb uphill and our final views of Alcatraz. For dinner, courtesy of our fully-stocked kitchen, we had the rest of our dim sum.
May 18, 2007
The next morning, we stood in line for breakfast at Sears Fine Foods, across the street from the world-famous Sir Francis Drake Hotel. After perusing the menu and placing our orders, I took a moment to capture our good fortune in getting the best seats in the house.
After checking out, we rode the airport shuttle to SFO, caught the crowded train to the rental car terminal, and rented a four-door Dodge Avenger.
Soon, we were on the twisting roads of the famous Pacific Coast Highway and took in the fabulous views. Two and a half hours later, we checked into the Clarion in Carmel-by-the-Sea. After two nights in a four-room suite, our new room felt a tad small.
Carmel-by-the-Sea is a wealthy art community with several galleries on every block. When we arrived, there was a sculpture competition in progress in one of the small parks near the hotel. We made our way down to the beach where we watched the waves come in and looked across at the world-famous Pebble Beach golf course. My newlywed wife also suggested (and I swear on all that is good and holy that this was HER idea) snapping this picture of a fellow photography buff.
As we walked along, a woman approached us and asked if we were on our honeymoon. When we said yes, she said that she and her husband had honeymooned in Carmel some 42 years earlier and offered to take our picture. My sweetheart wrote a love note in the sand and I tried to take a picture of us as well.
We found a little Italian place with a patio and sat down for dinner. A breadbasket and fantastic dipping sauce were offered, followed by our appetizer order of antipasto. Dinner, trout over pasta for her and poker di mare for me, was followed by dessert. I got the chocolate cake, she got her favorite: tiramisu.
We retired after dinner, tired but happy.
May 19, 2007
We skipped in the morning’s complimentary breakfast offering since the milk had gone sour. We checked out and Walked around Carmel a little more, including paying a visit to the building where Clint Eastwood once ruled as mayor. We then returned to the car and drove north to Monterey.
We had lunch at a kitschy place called Louie Linguini’s on Cannery Row – naturally, we each had pasta – and took in the sea lions basking on a sand bar. My sweetie asked me to pose in front of them. Aquatic life of another sort was also prolific in the area, as were some surface dwellers. My sweetie returned the favor and posed in front of them.
We drove around for a while looking for a suitable parking space and then made our way into the Monterey Bay Aquarium. At $24.95 apiece, it wasn’t cheap but certainly more educational than an hour with the Mondavi folks. We wandered the aquarium for hours, taking in the sea life: jellyfish, ocean sunfish, sardines, sharks, and this charming fellow. The aquarium even had an aviary devoted to aquatic bird life where a young duckling pondered whether or not to take the next great step in his life. The aquarium's centerpiece was a two-story deep-sea tank where I spent some time taking pictures.
The highlights of the afternoon were the sea otter feeding and deep-sea tank feeding. Good work if you can get it.
After the aquarium, we parked at Municipal Wharf in downtown Monterey. We had another sushi dinner, walked past the modest collection of yachts in the harbor, and perused the shops on Fisherman's Wharf.
As the sun began to set, we caught this little fellow swimming under the wharf, strolled along Monterey State Beach and my sweetheart wrote a haiku in the sand.
Once back in the car, we headed off into the sunset and towards SFO. We paused twice along the way to take in the rolling water and sheer cliffs at dusk.
The car returned, we had the tram to ourselves and took one last picture of the two of us in California.
We checked a bag, got our boarding passes, and cleared security after a10-minute wait. I noticed that a “private screening” was taking place. I couldn't help but laugh.
We waited in the deserted Delta/Frontier gate area and soon boarded the flight with the rest of the sleepy crowd.
May 20, 2007
Northwest Airlines Flight 362
San Francisco-Minneapolis
Scheduled: 0030-0557
Actual: 0027-0547
Seats 27A/B, Boeing 757-300
Gate 45B
May 20, 2007
I had booked us in the second of two consecutive exit rows. The rows ahead of us, while boasting plenty of legroom, did not have reclining seats. We had the best of both worlds. We push back on time and took off from runway 28L. The plane itself wasn't that crowded – I was elbowed by my seatmate a few times but this was unavoidable – and I was able to sleep for most of the flight. I awoke only when we touched down. We arrived at gate G6A and took a long walk through MSP to our connecting flight.
Northwest Airlines Flight 448
Minneapolis-Memphis
Scheduled: 0645-0843
Actual: 0648-0845
Seats 19A/B, Boeing 757-200
Gate G18
May 20, 2007
The gate area wasn't crowded and there were plenty of seats on the plane. A fussy, loud two-year-old boy was with his mother in the row in front of us and we later learned that this was his first flight. We pushed back on time and he calmed down once we were airborne. My sweetie and I slept, waking only on final approach. We landed on time and pulled up to gate B38.
Northwest Airlines Flight 2839
Memphis-Shreveport
Scheduled: 0920-1037
Actual: 0922-1027
Seats 2C/D, Canadair CRJ-200
Gate A4
May 20, 2007
We walked through MEM at a brisk pace since we had only half an hour to make our connection and almost no moving walkways to help us. When we arrived at gate A4, boarding was already underway. We arrived at SHV on a bright, hot morning. I walked back to the Hampton Inn to retrieve my car while my sweetie waited with the luggage. She took the final shot of our honeymoon, catching me in my green Honda ready to pull up to the curb and take us home.
Our honeymoon was over. Our life together had just begun.
Last edited by hoyateach; Jul 9, 2007 at 8:49 pm Reason: clarity
Jun 22, 2007, 1:27 am
#2
Join Date: May 2005
Location: The Golden State
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Posts: 1,422
Ahhhhh, this is so sweet. Congrats! I guess you went ahead and did it, huh? Second thoughts 'n' all. 
I skimmed your report and only clicked on some of the photos. I'll read it again at a more decent hour.
Happily ever after!
I skimmed your report and only clicked on some of the photos. I'll read it again at a more decent hour.
Happily ever after!
Last edited by FourWheels; Jun 22, 2007 at 1:26 pm Reason: Added "cold feet" thread link
Jun 22, 2007, 7:24 pm
#4
FlyerTalk Evangelist
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Posts: 15,648
brings back memories.. I grew up in that area near Napa off Rt 37. We used to call it something like Blood Alley since closer to Vallejo/I-80 was notorious for bloody head-on wrecks.
Jun 22, 2007, 9:59 pm
#5
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2004
Programs: NW Gold, '06. Good times.
Posts: 7,363
Ahhhhh, this is so sweet. Congrats! I guess you went ahead and did it, huh? Second thoughts 'n' all.
I regret nothing and embrace everything... every chance I get.
Thank you all for your kind feedback.
Jun 22, 2007, 10:23 pm
#6
In Memoriam, FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: Benicia CA
Programs: Alaska MVP Gold 75K, AA 3.8MM, UA 1.1MM, enjoying the retired life
Posts: 31,849
Not any longer. There's a dividing wall right down the middle of the road, all the way over to the Sonoma Creek Bridge. I remember sending fire equipment out there for many a fatal accident before that wall was put in about 10 years ago. 37 through Vallejo is now all freeway.
Jun 22, 2007, 10:24 pm
#7
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Join Date: Sep 2000
Programs: UA Million Miler (lite). NY Metro area.
Posts: 15,101
I was saving #7500 for a tasting report on my bottle of 1998 Harlan. After reading this report (and getting distracted by all the pictures), I just had to add my thoughts.
I love flying over Yosemite on the way into SFO. It brings back memories from my last trip in 1988.
Your marriage brings back other memories
. Come on folks. I've been at this for 28 years.
In the early days of AOL, the SFO boards raved about what a bargain the Beresford Arms Hotel was. Your pix proved them right.
Nice honeymoon. Good location. Good food. Good wine. Good company. ^
Good luck.
I love flying over Yosemite on the way into SFO. It brings back memories from my last trip in 1988.
Your marriage brings back other memories
. Come on folks. I've been at this for 28 years. In the early days of AOL, the SFO boards raved about what a bargain the Beresford Arms Hotel was. Your pix proved them right.
Nice honeymoon. Good location. Good food. Good wine. Good company. ^
Good luck.
Jun 22, 2007, 10:32 pm
#8
In Memoriam, FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: Benicia CA
Programs: Alaska MVP Gold 75K, AA 3.8MM, UA 1.1MM, enjoying the retired life
Posts: 31,849
I'm frequently up there as I have a friend that lives in Yountville. They have a lottery once a year for the locals to dine at the French Laundry for a fixed price of $50. She was able to get in on this deal one year. We had lunch last month up in St Helena at Taylors, which is a killer hamburger place with outdoor seating on Highway 29.
Speaking of Mum's, we had one of my class reunions there on a nice Napa Valley evening (25th, I think).
Are any of the tours at Beringer free now? I haven't done that in years, but back then the only charge was if you went upstairs for the premium tasing which I have done.
Great report! ^
Speaking of Mum's, we had one of my class reunions there on a nice Napa Valley evening (25th, I think).
Are any of the tours at Beringer free now? I haven't done that in years, but back then the only charge was if you went upstairs for the premium tasing which I have done.
Great report! ^
Jun 23, 2007, 12:52 am
#9
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Programs: Cruise addict and AirBNB Plat :)
Posts: 3,312
Wow .. I just spent about 45 mts reading your reports .. between work and all.
Really enjoyed it!
And now thanks to you, I'm craving for some pasta! And where can I have that cool little wine glass?
Really enjoyed it!
And now thanks to you, I'm craving for some pasta! And where can I have that cool little wine glass?
Jun 23, 2007, 6:59 am
#10
Join Date: May 2000
Location: Naples, Florida
Posts: 7,419
hoyateach:
Thanks! Great report ... perfect "guide" for someone planing a trip to Napa and/or Sonoma Valley.
I have seen most of the places you have been (on several trips) ... however, I couldn't describe them as well as you did.
I wish you all the best (for you and your sweetheart) ...^
Thanks! Great report ... perfect "guide" for someone planing a trip to Napa and/or Sonoma Valley.
I have seen most of the places you have been (on several trips) ... however, I couldn't describe them as well as you did.
I wish you all the best (for you and your sweetheart) ...^
Jun 23, 2007, 9:37 am
#11
In memoriam
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Lovely report.
Congratulations.
I think your Mondavi guide was pulling your collective legs a bit,
either that or the vigneron-anglais translator wasn't working.
Congratulations.
I think your Mondavi guide was pulling your collective legs a bit,
either that or the vigneron-anglais translator wasn't working.
Jul 9, 2007, 8:35 pm
#12
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2004
Programs: NW Gold, '06. Good times.
Posts: 7,363
Thank you all for your kind responses.
I don't recall seeing any free tours there, even of the self-guided variety. You could wander the garden area at no charge but if you wanted to see anything wine-related, you had to pay.
What was our Mondavi guide wrong about? I'd love to know. My wine knowledge is scant as it is. I certainly don't want incorrect info bouncing about in my impressionable head.
Originally Posted by tom911
Are any of the tours at Beringer free now? I haven't done that in years, but back then the only charge was if you went upstairs for the premium tasing which I have done.
Jul 9, 2007, 10:23 pm
#13
Join Date: Sep 1999
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My sweetheart was less than impressed with our guide, however, finding him rather patronizing.
Great trip report, and many congratulations!
Greg