We then went and saw Muir Woods. I did not expect this to be such a long hike and wasn't really dressed for it, but it was beautiful. I would love to go back someday and really hike the entire park.
We drove through Sonoma stopping at the Oakville Grocery for lunch.
We had delicious sandwiches outside on the patio--a nice start to our trip. I got a smoked turkey with cranberry and hubby got the special, the turkey with artichoke which was the better choice, it was delicious.
We did a couple of tastings on our way to the hotel.
Ridge Lytton Springs (Heraldsburg) We chose this as we are familiar with their wine. Pretty vineyard and the tasting was fun even though it was busy. Tasting of 4 red wines was $15 and Nick got the reserve tasting for $20. We found most of the wines to be pretty young and weak bodied, not as good as the ones we've tried.
Castello di Amorosa (Calistoga) This is a huge castle touristy place but it was fun. We did the general admission ($18) which allowed us 5 wines in the tasting room and access to the grounds and first couple of floors of the castle. We were able to choose any 5 from whites, reds, and dessert wines. We liked the wines but our favorite was probably the non-alcoholic grape juice offered with the dessert wines--it was delicious!
We made our way to our hotel, the River Terrace Inn. I probably chose it since it had "River" in the title as I love to be by water whenever I can. We got a Riverside King which is on the ground floor and doesn't actually give you a view of the river, but you can walk over and look at it.
I loved that our room had a whole separate vanity for my stuff, makeup mirror, etc. The bed was comfortable and the place was quiet. It had a pool which we didn't use but it was very popular. The check in area and lobby was nice as was the outdoor area by the river, which had a fire pit.
Dinner that night was at Iron Chef Morimoto's restaurant in Napa and we were all very excited since we are huge Iron Chef fans!
Unfortunately it was a total bust. I've had better sushi at Kroger. The highlight of the whole meal was my cocktail. After dinner we went to a bar called Cuvee next door to our hotel before turning in for the night. The next day would be wine tastings and making our way back to San Fran for the remainder of our wonderful trip!
