Napa Valley

For my Mom's 60th birthday we went on a girls trip to Napa Valley! The weather ended up being perfect while we were there in September in the mid to high 80s, great for lounging by the pool after a day of visiting wineries.

We tried to not have too much packed in the day and just did two wineries a day so that we would have some afternoon downtime to just relax. All our wine tastings were booked in advance since most places do book out. It did feel like the perfect combination of having items booked as well as relax time in the late afternoon.

We stayed mostly near the town of Calistoga where our hotel was. There are so many wineries in the area that we didn't have to drive far to get to the wineries we booked. In Calistoga there is a cute little downtown area with shops, a bakery, and restaurants. It was a nice little town to stay in!

Napa is definitely the perfect place for a girls trip to get all dolled up and try different wines. We had tons of fun!

Day One

We flew in from different cities so we also arrived at different airports. I flew into San Francisco and had about a two hour drive during rush hour to get to Santa Rosa, where my mom and sister flew into. Traffic to get out of the city was a pain, but it was worth the long drive once you got out of the city. The drive up to Santa Rosa was really pretty, I even got to drive over the Golden Gate Bridge!

I made my way to meet my mom and sister at HenHouse Brewing Co for a drink and a snack. Then we made our way up to Calistoga where we were staying for the trip.

Day Two

We got ready for the day and drove to the town of Napa for breakfast. The first stop of the day was at OxBow Public Market. The market was pretty quiet at 9 am and quite a few stalls were not yet open. We wandered around what was open and the headed to find some breakfast.

Just around the corner we found a bakery called Model Bakery. Here they have really tasty english muffins and cookies. We got a few different cookies to eat throughout the day and breakfast sandwiches.

Next it was time to drive to our first winery of the trip Tamber Bey. This winery is located back over in Calistoga and is known for their horses. My mom is a big fan of horses so this place was a must see on our list!

At the winery there are stables near the area for wine tasting so you can walk over and pet the horses as you drink wine.

This was our favorite atmosphere of all the places we went. It was very relaxed and we had our own space on couches. It was perfect for lounging, drinking wine and watching horses. We had an earlier wine tasting at 11 am so we also had most of the place to ourselves.

Next we headed to Castello di Amorosa for our second tasting of the day. This tasting was in a castle.

At this winery we were seated in the outside courtyard. This was the most touristy of the wineries we went to. It had more of a restaurant feel with tables close together and very little time between different wine tastings.

Once we finished the tasting we were able to walk around the castle and do a self guided tour. There was a really pretty dinning room and pretty views from atop the castle. We even saw our first bit of grapes on the vine on our way out of the castle.

By the time we were done with our two tastings it was late afternoon so we headed back to the hotel for some snacks and drinks by the pool. The pools are hot spring fed mineral pools so one was 84 and other was 94 degrees. It was perfect after a day of tasting wines to just relax in the pool.

We got ready for dinner and headed to Lovina an Italian restaurant recommended by one of our servers at Tamber Bey. The artichoke dip was amazing here! Best we have probably ever had. The pasta was also very tasty. Would definitely recommend this place to anyone in the area.

We then finished the night off with some smores at the hotel while we hung out at the fires outside. Perfect end to a great first day!

Day Three

We woke up and grabbed breakfast at a cute little bakery called, Bella Bakery in Calistoga. Based on the first day we got another assortment of cookies to eat throughout the day, these ones were even better than the bakery the day before!

After we had our breakfast we headed out to get a few steps in before another day of wine. We went to Boche Napa Valley State Park and did a portion of the Red Wood trail. It was really pretty out here and there were tons of tall trees! The trail was a nice easy stroll through the woods.

After we finished our stroll we stopped by the Napa sign on our way back to the hotel.

To start the wine portion of our day we headed to Frank Family Vineyards. This vineyard had a very inviting atmosphere.

There are a few different tasting areas and we opted for the cute shaded outdoor patio. This place was everyone's favorite wine of the trip. It was all so tasty!

Near the entrance to the vineyard there were a few rows with very fresh grapes on the vines. It was really cool to actually see the full grown grapes on the vines.

Next up we headed to Schramsberg Winery for some sparkling wines. It was really pretty and lush up at this winery. It boarders the Boche Napa Valley State Park.

There are caves that you could tour and taste the sparking wine in but unfortunately those were all booked up during our visit. We instead had a nice tasting out in their patio.

After we finished sparking wines we tried to stop by Tank Garage Winery which has more unique onetime bottled wines but unfortunately they were all booked up for the day. Definitely recommend making all your reservations ahead of time for places that are must see, since places tend to fill up. We'll have to check out this place another time.

We finished the day with pool side snacks and drinks at the hotel again before headed out to dinner which was just down the block from our hotel. Picobar had some very tasty Mexican food. We enjoyed dinner outside on the patio which was another wonderful way to end the day!

Day Four

We packed up and headed to Bella Bakery for some breakfast and cookie before we all hit the road to go back home. It was a much quicker drive back to San Francisco early in the morning which I was very thankful for. Overall the trip was a ton of fun and we had a wonderful girls weekend away!