Napa Wineries and the Culinary Institute of America

 

A lot of people are afraid of heights. Not me, I'm afraid of widths.

 

What a whirlwind adventure we are having.  Finding time to read and write blogs has been difficult but I’m trying to keep up.  After all if I don’t keep up with the writing, I’ll get way behind.  That’s my incentive to keep current.

They have remotes for my GoPro Hero Camera!!

We stayed in Vallejo two nights.  Part of the plan while there was to take the ferry across San Francisco Bay to the main ferry terminal.  We didn’t make it.  We did make it to the terminal in Vallejo but weren’t interested in going the day we had planned.  It was overcast with occasional showers.  Matter of fact, it was the only day that was overcast and the only day that had showers.  We didn’t think that would be the best day to cruise by the Golden Gate Bridge or take another peak at Alcatraz.  After all, what kind of pictures would we get?

On our way back to the motorhome we drove by an area that had been blocked off with a SWAT team, dozens of police cars and a helicopter hovering.  That was our excitement but we certainly weren’t interested in getting too close to anything like that.  

Napa Elks 

After two nights at the Elks we moved on down the road to the Napa Elks.  Now that’s a nice Elks and we have a perfect spot.  The RV park there is even a “gated” community.  Since it was only a 15 mile drive north, we were in our site and ready to check out the surrounding area pretty early.

There is so much to see in the Napa Valley. The wineries are gorgeous. Fields and fields of grapes wind up and down the hills and along most of the roadways. There must be hundreds of wineries all competing for the tourist trade. We walked through several of them and checked out the gift shops and the wine barrels. No …. we didn’t do any wine tasting. We more interested in being fed than wined. We had a late lunch at the Greystone’s Culinary Institute of America.

Like I said there are hundreds of gorgeous wineries around here. We intend to check many of them out while we’re here. Along with the wines there are other things to taste. Dipping oils, sauces, mustards and jams are common. This is definitely a place for people who like food and we love food.

The highlight of the day was definitely the stop at the CIA …. Culinary Institute of America. First we had to check out the gift shop and what a gift shop that was. Just about everything a chef would need was for sale. These weren’t the items you’d find at Wal-Mart either. Terry found a couple little things he had to have …. of course.

Beringer's Winery

Culinary Institute of America

We almost were tempted to get some of the chocolates the chefs put out.  However, we were on our way to lunch so didn’t taste any but we sure enjoyed looking at them.  I’m guessing they were very, very rich.

Top notch chef accessories

Chocolates, chocolates and more chocolates.

Lunch?  The menu was limited but it had something on it for everyone from appetizers to starters and entrees to desserts.  Then, they had the main selection of the day with a choice of entree.  That’s what we both ordered because it was a full course lunch.

 

Appetizer -- Potato	Butternut Squash Soup
Terry's hamburger	My Chicken

It was wonderful. It was expensive but the food and service were amazing.  What a fantastic dining experience it was. However, we were now stuffed and tired.  It was time to head back to the motorhome for a much needed nap.

We may have been mighty full but we couldn’t pass on the crème brulee.

So, we're now at one more place where we'll be following the 2-2-2 plan.  

Phyllis had mentioned the other day in a comment she left that their 2-2-2 plan wasn't for staying two days but for staying two weeks!  Now that one we'd rarely be able to follow!

‘Tis life on the road.