Napa, Alcatraz, Etc!!!

On Tuesday we headed up to Napa. This was about an 8 hour trip so we got to see a lot of scenery. The hills are a beautiful golden brown and I never get tired of looking at them. It was a gorgeous ride.

Tom and Cindy belong to the Shell Vacation Club and they had booked us at a gorgeous resort call Vino Bello. We had a suite. Dianne and I had a cozy room with a king size bed, a kitchenette, sofa, a huge bathroom, and a washer and dryer and a LCD TV. Tom and Cindy had a full kitchen, dining room, living room, a huge, huge bathroom, and a master bedroom. It was beautiful. We just ordered pizza (yummy) and had it delivered to the room. So while we ate, we watched an great Disney video explaining about building the park. We just were not ready to let go of Disney yet.

Wednesday morning, we got up and us girls went to the spa for a passion fruit scrub, a cave mud wrap, followed by an hour massage. It was awesome. Part of the package included a cheese and fruit plate with a glass of wine. It was a great way to relax and it felt very decadent.

After the spa, we headed to the vineyards for some wine tasting. We stopped at V. Sattui Winery first and tasted 8 different wines and I decided that I like Port. I never knew this before, but Port is part wine and part brandy. The guy pouring the wine also clarified the term of wino and I decided I am not a wino. He said that the only thing a wino worries about is running out of wine. I guess that is not me after all. We did send some wine home from this winery as they only sell their wine at the winery. After getting a buzz on there we headed over to Sutter Home Vineyards as Dianne works with a guy whose wife works for Sutter Home in the Chicago area. She got us in for free wine tasting and the employee discount for anything we bought. At Sutter Home we learned something else...Port wine is great with pretzels and chocolate. YUM-O!!!

We decided we would just eat back at the room so we stopped at the grocery store to get something to eat and the fixings for Zippy Dip. Tom and Cindy were anxious to try "crack in a jar." So we ate at the room and played Disney Trivia. The wine took it's toll on Dianne and I and we had to crash fairly early.

Unfortunately, Dianne got a touch of the flu or something and was up most of the night. As we were leaving in the morning, Tom and I got everything loaded in the car and waited until the last minute to leave. We loaded Dianne up in the car and headed for Tom and Cindy's house which just happens to be my Uncle Jake's house. They are renting it from our cousin Nan's son. They had to have it almost gutted and redone and now it is gorgeous. Anyway, we put Dianne to bed and Cindy and I went off to the Disney outlet. We found some great bargains and we got back, we waited until Tom's son, Johnny, got home and then we headed off to the Pie Hole (Baker's Square) for dinner. After I went to bed I ended up getting the touch of the flu too. I was up most of the night with rocket powered butt pee. Because Dianne and I had been sick we totally screwed up our day at San Francisco. Tom and Cindy had a whole day planned but we only ended up going to our tour of Alcatraz at night.

If any of you have been to Alcatraz, you have not experienced until you go at night. It was awesome!!! They give you a personal audio system to wear and former guards and inmates narrate your journey through the prison. There is an area where you can walk outside and just take in the lights of San Francisco at night. It was breath taking. I highly recommend the night tour. On the way back to Tom's we stopped at the recording studio his band practices at. He played us some tunes. It was pretty cool. A brand new experience for me. He also gave us some band CDs, T-shirts and a poster. The band is called "3 in the Same". Their website is www.3inthesame.com. Check it out.

Saturday, Tom, Cindy and I went shopping for our Fake Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday. So we ripped through Wal-mart and Safeway and headed home so we could go to our cousin Nancy's for dinner. We got to Nancy's about 3 p.m. She lives in Livermore which is kind of out in a valley and we took the scenic route through the hills. She cooked a very healthy dinner and I filled up on the yummy veggies. I know that is hard to believe, but everything was so good. So we sat around and yakked for a while and then came back to Tom's house.

Well I know this has been kind of lengthy but I feel really, really bad about not keeping up on my blog like I promised. Har, har, har (pirate laugh). I have to go now as we are getting ready for Fake Thanksgiving dinner. TTYS.