Napa Trip

So this is the most pictures Brian and I have taken by ourselves since little B was born!!!  We went with our great friends the Papes to the California "wine country" to do a little wine tasting and have some couples fun minus the babes!  Brayden stayed with his Grandma and Papa Barron and couldn't have done any better. This was our first time to ever leave Brayden overnight so it was a huge step for us. We were definitely nervous/sad to leave him and the whole time we were there I think Brian was waiting for me to break down and cry!  I am very proud to say that I did not but I think we were just so busy that we didn't have much time to sit around and be sad!  We were advised by a friend to hire a driver and they recommended a great one to us.  She drove us around for two days and it was awesome since she's a local she knows of all the great spots to hit!  We got in Thursday evening, just in time to go into town for dinner.  We went to an Italian restaraunt called Bottega which had great ambiance and wine!  Here are a couple of pics from Thursday night

1st glass of many from the trip!

Our first full day, Friday we spent the whole day in Napa Valley. It was Meredith's  30th birthday so we definitely had an excuse to start drinking at 10 in the morning!!! The weather was absolutely goreous!  Seriously 75 degrees, sunny, and perfect during the day and a little cool in the evenings and mornings- couldn't have asked for better.  After a couple of glasses of wine Brian and I actually contemplated selling everything we own and moving to California-it is seriously that fabulous! First stop, Robert Mondavi for a tour, a little bit of wine education, and of course wine tastings!!!

10:00 AM, first stop Mondavi

Row upon row of wine barrels
Everything about this place was stunning

First tasting of the day!

After an hour tour, we earned some wine!

Next stop, Cakebread winery.  Very pretty and great wine!

Buddies even have on the same shoes! :)

 

Defintiely not listening to a word our host is saying-oops!

Stop #3 My favorite of the whole trip Frogs Leap, beautiful property and a great big porch to enjoy delicious wine and cheese!

Such a cozy place, could have spent the whole day here!

That's a lot of glasses!

And leave it to our guys to find a game of corn hole!

 The next place we went after lunch was definitely the most unique of our trip and Brian's favorite.  We went out to this guy's property/vineyards and tasted his wine at a patio table in the middle of the field beneath some beautiful shade trees.  He started up this winery-Trespass and is still in the process of building his tasting room.  It was really cool to hear his story of starting up a wine business and to taste his delicious wine.  We loved supporting this small/startup business and definitely brought some of his wine home with us!

Can you tell the guys were really interested in what he had to say???

I love this pic, he had stunning views!!!

 We went to one or two more wineries on Friday but the pictures started getting a little sloppier :) so I am going to go ahead and omit those!  So on to Saturday!  We spent all day Saturday in Sonoma which had a totally different feel than Napa.  We were all dragging a little bit Saturday morning but our first stop was definitely a pick-me-up!  These pictures don't do this place justice, it was seriously like a castle and had the most beautiful views.  And the best part about Domaine Cardonas was that their specialty is champagne-yay!!:)

Made a few more stops at some small local wineries and then on to another winery that also resembled a castle!  This was the perfect place to stop at lunchtime, they have a deli and massive grounds to picnic.  

Naptime!

By midday on Saturday, every wine started tasting the same and we were all done drinking and tired!  We had a super casual dinner and got to bed early for a long day of travels on Sunday.  We all definitely missed our little ones but it was so great to get away and have some time for ourselves!  Brian and I are definitely "wined out" right now but would love to get back to Napa one day!