A Day in Napa Valley

August 06, 2012

Beginning with our first wedding anniversary, Will and I have spent a day visiting a winery or two. It was my dream that someday we would take a trip to Napa or Sonoma to celebrate our anniversary; maybe for our 20th anniversary or the like. Never did I imagine that we would be spending our third wedding anniversary exploring Napa and San Francisco!

We decided a short while ago that we didn't want to have to worry about either of us driving, one, because neither of us really knew where we were going, two, so that both of us could look out the windows and enjoy the scenery, and three is a no brainer, we would be tasting wine all day! We explored some options and decided on a shuttle bus tour that would take us from SF to Napa, take us to several wineries, and end with a ferry ride on the bay back into the city. What a great choice we made! Not only did we get to lay back and enjoy the ride, we had the opportunity to meet and talk with a lot of interesting people!

Saturday, August 4th

The day started early at 7:15 am as we walked from our apartment to the BART station to catch the train, which would drop us off only a couple blocks away from the Ferry Building in SF.

At the Rockridge BART station. Very foggy morning!

Looking toward San Francisco.

Looking toward the Oakland hills.

Our tour took us by way of the Golden Gate Bridge. We stopped at the overlook area on the north side of the bridge. These pictures are of the San Francisco Bay and looking in toward the city.


Tunnel going north away from the city.

Our first stop of the day was V. Sattui Winery. Here we had a tasting and picnic lunch from their deli in the garden/picnic area. The girl who led us through the tasting is the great great granddaughter of V. Sattui himself! Next to us at the bar was a lovely couple there from Omaha. The husband was on a work trip and they extended the trip so they could also celebrate their five year wedding anniversary. They both work for Union Pacific Railway, so of course Will chatted them up, hoping that he can connect his business with theirs!

Entry to the winery. Off to the right is the picnic area where we had lunch.

Next was The Franciscan. This was definitely a "hoity toity" winery; very beautiful though!

The vineyard.

While we were driving around we went past this sign and our guide let us all get out for pictures!

Our third stop was Sutter Home, which surprisingly had great wines that they don't sell in stores. Forgot to get pictures here. Oh well!

The last stop, Andretti Winery, was fabulous just like the rest!

Tasting room with the wine barrels.

Barrel tasting of wine that isn't ready to be bottled, but so yummy!

Our guide at Andretti, Bill, a.k.a. "Mario" if he did anything poorly! He was a lot of fun to talk to and gave us some recommendations for back in the city.


Friends that we met on our trip. We went out for a delicious sushi dinner back in the city with them. They were a lot of fun, too bad they live in New Jersey!

After a fun day in Napa it was time to head back to the city. The ferry ride was very romantic and picturesque; cold, windy, foggy, everything you could imagine!