Day 15

Day fifteen, July 23, 2011

Today was going to be bitter sweet, we would be  spending the entire day in wine country, but on the other hand we had to say goodbye to Matt and Steph.  Our day started off bright and early, when we were picked up by John at 8:15 sharp.  We were a little concerned when we met John because he was anything but friendly.  We were really hoping that John was just the shuttle driver and not going to be our tour guide as well.  We got to the office, checked in, and reported to the orange bus.  Steph of course was on her A game and jetted off to the nearest coffee shop while we were waiting for the others to check in.  After everyone boarded our bus the last person to enter was our tour guide - John.  Although John does need to work on his public speaking skills and maybe even some social skills as well, he sure did know an immense amount of information about San Fran, wine country, and wine making.  Steph concluded that he was probably saving his voice during the hotel pick up's for his big performance on the hour long drive to Napa Valley.  John did a lot of talking but it was hard for us to recall everything that he said because the combination of John's sweet tone in his voice and the fact that it was still early put us right to sleep.

The first winery we stopped at welcomed us with a glass of white wine.  We were only at this stop for about 45 minutes, we tasted several different wines, browsed the gift shop and purchased some goodies.  

The next stop was Huntsville, here we were given an hour and a half to shop and grab lunch.  When we exited the bus we admired our surroundings, it was absolutely beautiful. We choose to eat at Pacific Blues Cafe.  This restaurant was nicely decorated and had the option of sitting outside on the porch. With this is mind and also the fact that it was one of the first restaurants we saw as we departed from the bus (we were starving we did not eat breakfast!) we were sold.  This ended being up a fantastic choice, the food was delicious and the wine was excellent.  On the way in to this outdoor shopping center we saw a huge line forming outside of a bakery.  We did not recognize the name of this bakery and had no idea what they even sold but by the looks of the line and the amount of people surrounding this tiny bakery, we knew it had to be good. We paid for our meal and quickly walked over to where the crowd was standing in a line.  It was called Bouchon Bakery, we anxiously awaited our turn and tried our hardest to sneak a peak at what was inside and what we were actually in line for.  When we finally got inside, we were certainly not disappointed.  The smell was incredible and there were so many different pastries to choose from.  We made our decisions and began to walk back to the bus.  By this  point we were running a couple of minutes behind schedule, however, we saw two other people from our bus still waiting in the bakery line, "at least we won't be the last ones back" we thought.  We gingerly approached the bus, only to find a full bus of faces looking our way.  The bus driver did a final count, shut the door, and we were off.  We realized that the people we recognized on the bakery line were ones that we had picked up earlier that morning from the hotel, however, at the office they were put on a different bus tour.  Ooppss, but let me tell you those couple of minutes that everyone had to wait for us was totally worth it.  This bakery can give Carlo's bakery a run for their money. 

Back on the road heading into Napa Valley for our next tasting.  This time we were brought outside to see the grapes growing and learn more about how the crops are grown.  We were then poured a second glass of wine and headed off to the barrel room where the wine is aged.  Then our favorite part, back to the main store entrance for more tasting.  Rob and Steph did not waste any time, they just kept refilling those glasses.  After a few minutes we looked around the room and once again realized that we were the only people from our tour left.  Steph began to get a little frustrated "what the hell,  didn't these people pay to go on a wine tour??  Why is everyone in such a rush?". Needless to say she was not pleased to be rushed through her tasting!

We had one more stop, we were determined to not be the last ones to get on the bus but at the same time we also wanted to be sure to get the most out of this last winery.  Of course they saved the best for last.  This vineyard was remarkable.  It looked fancy and elegant.  Once again we were greeted at the door with a glass of white wine.  We were then led into a large room where Mark took over.  He began talking about the wine industry as he continued to pour out more samples of wines.  This is when I spotted the reason for the constant rushing through the previous wineries.  Not only were we among rookie winos but also a couple nonwine drinkers!  Now why on earth would one sign up for a wine tour if they were not interested in drinking wine.  One woman clearly could not handle her liquor and refused Mark's offer of the second wine.  She soon exited the room and was found out in the lobby ordering a pizza.  There were two other women (AI's) who did not even have a glass in hand.  No wonder they were able to rush out of each winery so quickly!  

Back to  Mark, he was very proud of the business that he was in and loved to talk about it.  He was informative about how the crops were grown and the steps that must be taken in order to produce the best wine.  About 10 minutes into Mark's monologue, I could not help but be distracted by the two Asian girls who choose not to partake in the wine tasting festivities.  I kept my eyes on them to be sure that what I was seeing was truly happening.  After confirming, I quickly leaned over to Steph and Rob and told them to check these girls out.  While everyone was sitting around the outside of an oversized dining room table listening to Mark preach about how this vineyard only produces the most high quality wines, these two girls were having their own individual photo shoot.  Now you may be thinking that we cannot criticize these girls too much because indeed one of the members in our group is known for her late night photo shoots.  However, she did assure us that hers have never and will never occur in public like the ones that we were seeing before our very own eyes.  Now okay I know that we have all taken our cameras and snapped a picture of ourselves or our group when no one else was available to capture the moment for you.  These girls, one in particular was taking this to a whole new level.  She was putting her sunglasses  on and off, hair up and done, and showing the camera every facial expression imaginable.  She even was rotating her body trying to find  the best angle for lighting purposes.   We were so intrigued by our new friend that we could not take our eyes off this self absorbed beauty.  We weren't totally sure if Steph was staring because she was being entertained like Rob and I were or if she was holding herself back from running over and giving this poor girl some tips, or maybe she was even taking some mental notes and finding some new poses for the shoot that will inevitably happen this evening.   Either way this was a great way to end the tour.

As we boarded the bus, Steph informed John that her luggage was back at the office because she was going to need to hail a cab and go directly to the airport to catch her 7:15 flight.  The ride back to San Fran was a little over an hour and a gave us the perfect opportunity to sneak a quick nap in.  Next thing I knew it was 5:15 and we were back at the Red Coat Motor Lodge.  We quickly said goodbye to Steph and went back to our room to relax.  In the mean time Rob had received a text message from Steph at 5:45 saying that she was only now arriving back to the office, where she left her luggage.  Rob heard from her again a few minutes later saying that she was unable to flag down a cab and the number that she had was not working.  I went online to see if her flight was on time and sure enough it was.  I gave her a call around 6:00 and still she had no cab, she sounded very upset and said that cabs were refusing to drive her to the airport because the traffic to get there was too heavy.  Rob and I jumped in the car to pick her up and try to get her to the airport that was about 20 miles away.  We found her at the corner, where our tour had began that morning, with all of her luggage in tow.  She quickly piled into the car and began making calls to the airport.  It became clear only a few minutes into the trip to the airport that there would be no way she would make her flight.  After calming down and composing herself, we tried to look on the bright side, she would get to spend an extra night with us!!!! Just then Rob also realized that we had an extra ticket to the baseball game the next day.  Perfect! So Steph decided to change her flight and rather than catch the first flight the next morning, she decided to fly home the following evening....great 24 MORE HOURS!!

After this fiasco we went back to the room to freshen up and the made our way down to the famous Fishermen's Wharf.  We window shopped and walked along the piers looking for a place to eat dinner.  We passed by many street vendors who were selling fresh clam chowder soup in bread bowls and fresh crab legs.  After viewing many different menus we decided on a place called Nonnative Rose Trattoria.  We sat outside under ceiling heaters and watched the crowds of people walking by.  Steph had her first bowl of clam chowder and fell in love!  The rest of us also enjoyed our food.  We walked around the piers a little more after dinner, but after such a long day we decided to head back to the room and get a good night sleep. Peace, love, and happiness, the Nomads!