Natalie has announced she is now a Savignon Blanc kinda girl, and is moving on from the Pinot! One afternoon of wine tasting and she is a changed woman!
We had a trio of drink/culinary gems in Napa! Firstly last night we popped into Napa's "Opera House" for a quickie before dinner and thankfully it didn't replicate our beloved Spoons....it had loads of different wines on tap - the atmosphere, staff and wine were an absolute joy! We then had a delicious meal at the Napa Valley Bistro...Laurie our waitress was a delight and so was the butternut squash soup, fish n chips and the gorgeous crumble!
As we walked back from dinner Melissa was a tad freaked out by downtown Napa with its immaculate yet deserted streets, I get what she meant....like some zombie movie, at any minute the undead would emerge and pounce! Talking of the undead, Halloween has well and truly started - pumpkins galore on the porches, cobwebs, ghosts and even headstones and a skeleton emerging from a garden!!!!
The third of our Napa culinary gems was the breakfast buffet at the Elm House Inn, bloody amazing - porridge, muffins, bagels....and I even tried peanut butter and jelly! Worked for me....
Then the proper road trip began, a 4 hour-ish driver to Yosemite! By chance we came across the country music channel again, yehaaaar indeed! We had a bit of Carrie and a hilarious song by Luke Bryan called "Rain Is A Good Thing" - the lyrics are wicked:
"Rain makes corn, corn makes whiskey
Whiskey makes my baby, feel a little frisky"
But the highlight of our drive was an advert for Dickey's Barbecue Pit in Stockton - with the slogan "slow smoked, served fast". We had visions of Mr Treloar in his Stetson, spurs and apron dishing up his tasty treats!!
Our journey then went a tad pear-shaped!!!!! A couple of factors occurred - the directions weren't altogether that clear and when we got to the Yosemite gates "Dopey Dolly" (as I like to call her) who welcomed us to the park said our hotel was 45 minutes back the way we came....taking her advice (as an expert of the area) we headed back! But Sat Nav Tiffin didn't have a good feeling about this and asked a man at a viewpoint who said ignore Dolly and head past her gate and keep going.....so we did, we passed Dolly again and she said "oh, welcome back" in an irritantingly fake cheerful manner.....she got a Tree glare!!
Finally got to our motel which feels a bit like a Butlins but surrounded by beauty....nothing really wrong with it but pizza boxes dumped outside on the lawn and a temperamental lift!! And chargeable Wi-Fi, just wrong! So sorry blog followers, but that is why I have been quiet - love you all but don't pay for Wi-Fi out of principle!
So after checking in we headed into the park for a twilight guided walk, don't worry it was with a naturalist and not a vampire in sight!!!! Our guide was hilarious and animated but she was extremely passionate and knowledgeable even doing sign language throughout. After the hour walk we took a short stroll and saw stunning rock formations, beautiful mountain scenery and some deer.
Just returned from dinner at a sports bar and I had lukewarm chilli with jalapeños floating in the top....my stomach is already growling at me! So fingers crossed I will be hiking tomorrow and not gripe-ing!!!
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