Wine country

All of the above photos are mainly in Napa although the Cornerstone Gardens are in Sonoma and the sunset is near my brother's at Montera Beach

A few months ago, I watched a chick flick Wine County about five longtime friends getting together in Napa while celebrating their fiftieth birthdays and resolving long time issues. It was rather silly but the scenery was very nice.  One subplot which I found especially irritating was one woman (age 50!) was tested for the BRCA gene (why, didn't say) but refused to find out the result because having the BRCA gene meant CERTAIN DEATH which was not challenged. Was she going to make the phone call to see if she would live or not? Will she, won't she? Who cares? Spoiler alert..she called and she didn't have the gene so now she can live!!!! So, so stupid and full of misinformation.

Naomi said she  wanted to go to Napa. All she has heard is that it is pretty. She is not a wine drinker. Sonoma Valley with its 240 wineries and Napa with its 350 wineries are next to each other. One can make a big loop. Napa is the much more upscale valley and tastings are ridiculously expensive, sometimes $50 versus $5 which I had a local winery upon my return to Michigan. Steve and I had gone mainly to Sonoma 6 years ago. Tastings were included in our hotel package. As he didn't drink, more wine for me (he drove though).  However beautiful buildings, art and gardens abound..which ones to go to? Naomi and I furiously typed into various search engines though we went to two places that I had remembered.

Although it was a weekday, some used it as part of the Labor Day weekend so plenty of crowds. Beautiful weather. We had lunch in the town of Napa, which is very cute and artsy. On to the Napa wineries which for the most part either looked like French chateaux or Tuscan Villas though there were a few outliers (German castle, space station, Greek Island...). But the gardens were beautiful. Some had animals. Some had elaborate topiaries like the wine bottles featured above. We never stopped for wine though in the mountain town of Calistoga a new brewery was about to open in a few hours. As they were not officially open, they gave me free tastes though the first pour was full of sediment from the just opened tap. A new clean pour was provided.

I did stop for a Happy Hour fancy drink (Calistoga fizz?)in a bar Steve and I had gone to years before along with some fancy appetizers. The wineries close down their tasting rooms by 5 but we still could walk on some of their grounds. We walked around the city of Sonoma where Steve and I had stayed. A French bakery had just closed but the owner didn't want to throw away the bread. Two huge loaves for us.

I was hoping to go across the Golden Gate at sunset when it would be lit up. Alas we were there too early. But we did stop for sunset pictures close to my brother's