Monday, June 11, 2007

Napa Weekend

After a really busy week, Nikki and I escaped to Napa for a weekend of biking, relaxing, and great food and wine. We stayed at a cool ecofriendly hotel that monitored its electricity/water usage and carbon output and had a big lagoon (http://www.gaianapavalleyhotel.com/). On Saturday, we went for a nice bike ride, with breaks for wine tasting and lunch in Yountville and followed by a super hippie couple's massage in Napa. Afterwards, we soaked up some live music in downtown Napa while sipping a bit of the bubbly and went to not one but TWO dinners (both places sounded really good...). On Sunday, Nikki hit the Napa outlet stores to pick out some professional clothes for her new foreign service position. As much as I love shopping, I went for a great 2 hr bike ride in the hills above napa. After another fantastic lunch and some more wine-tasting, we headed home - with a slight detour to visit the Jelly Belly Factory along route 80. Do you know that they have a new Harry Potter themed bacon flavor? (as well as dirt, boogers, and a few others that I am sorry to say that I tried). We caught the last factory tour (reminiscent of Willy Wonka) and piled in the car to head home and do some laundry (life can't be all fun and games...). Enjoy the pics below:






The lagoon at our awesome eco-hotel.













Nikki spots a couple of swans hanging out.












Off to a wine-tasting break (we haven't started biking yet or course...)













Taking a break to check out the scenery.














A perfect outdoor lunch.












Boxberry fits our bikes pretty well.












Mmmmmmm, everybody loves Jelly Bellies.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

dude and dudette,

I don't know how I got copied in on Nikki's latest mass email but either way I'm stoked y'all made it back on my radar.

Holy cow do I have some stories for you - including a 5 day outer banks trip I literally just got back from that involved non-stop surfing and wakeboarding. My arms are exhausted.

Evan, noticed you're in the MLPA crew. Sick. Nikki, congrats on the fellowship.

I'm in DC doing a fellowship in marine conservation - off to Alaska in a couple of weeks to help some Beluga whales. Drop me a line and we can catch up one of these days.

Uyeda
chris.uyeda@gmail.com
301-920-1101

Unknown said...

Looks like you both had a lot of fun and it is wonderful that you are taking time to enjoy the SF area. Soon you will have new adventures and more to explore!