NAPA VALLEY, CALIFORNIA - Part 2

See Part 1 of this trip here.


Lunchtime, and it’s time to test the drive-in portion of our food adventure. This time it’s Taylor’s Automatic Refresher in nearby St. Helena. No, I do not know what an “automatic refresher” is but I do know that Taylor’s is a 63 year old burger stand that servers lean Nieman Ranch burgers, delicious green garlic fries, and an assortment of beer and wine.

Watch the Video for this Trip!

The burger was delicious and juicy, not like a lot of lean burgers I’ve had in the past. We also had a hot dog, a quarter pounder, that was good but there are better out there for less. The picnic are seating area on the lawn out back is wonderful…a great place to escape the crowds out front.

Afterward, we continued on to V. Sattui winery just down the tourist-clogged road (why was it so crowded on a Tuesday afternoon?) because they were one of a number of wineries to have a free tasting coupon in the local rag. We weren’t the only ones who noticed this as there was a traffic jam to get in and no parking available at all. We turned around and kept heading south.

That would be the case at a number of wineries along highway 129…Beringer, Mondavi, and more were just packed to the gills. We went to the south end of the valley and turned west at Napa and followed the map on our guide to Folio Winery, just off of highway 12 heading for Sonoma.

It’s just hard enough to find that the crowds can’t materialize. It’s just us and one other couple in the tasting room. Quiet, relaxed, and not a speck of pretentiousness. We hand over our free tasting coupon and are presented with a list of ten wines. We can pick six of them to taste. For another $10, you can taste their reserve wines with list prices of up to one hundred dollars. Getting our tasting glasses, we sit by the crackling fireplace and sip the delicious wines as we shed the chill of the cold day outside.

There are a number of good buying options, I settle for a three-pack of Hangtime Winery wines (Folio handles about a dozen labels) for $50.

After our wine tasting adventures in the Napa Valley were done, we continued up highway 12 into the mission town of Sonoma. It was raining off and on so we ducked into Murphy’s, a warm and inviting Irish pub hidden up an alley behind the old Sebastiani Theater.

A leisurely pint here while chatting with the other patrons quickly warmed us up. We continued on to the mission at the end of the block. This is one of the smaller missions in California with the basic church and outbuildings surrounding a courtyard. The military barracks are across the street. We’d seen this before, and frankly, the Sonoma Mission is about as basic as it gets. For historical value, though, the building across the street…back towards the pub…is interesting. The Blue Wing Inn, according to the docent, is the only unrestored Spanish era building left in California. It’s a two story adobe structure that looks like an old apartment block. It’s closed these days, waiting for funds from the ever more bankrupt state government for restoration.

Leaving the mission grounds, just a half block away is one of the more touristy spots on the plaza, the Sonoma Cheese Factory. This all-purpose picnic emporium is worth a stop. At the long cheese case in the front of the store, customers can take as long as the need to sample the dozen or so cheeses being sold. After that, move to the adjacent fudge counter for another tasting of the several varieties being sold. Do this again at the ice cream bar in the back. If it’s daylight hours, be sure to try one of their delicious barbecued burgers on the side patio. Get some bread, deli meats, cheese, and a bottle of local wine to have a picnic later. Great place to explore.

As the sun sets, we get back in the van and head back to Santa Rosa to bed down for the night.
The next morning, we have breakfast at Dierk’s Parkside Café, just south of downtown. Letty has a broth infused egg dish that is delicious but defies description. Tim and I share their delicious chicken fried steak platter that also comes with a side of their light and fluffy pancakes. On top of this is the pull-apart, kind of like Indian fry bread. For Letty and I, this will be the best restaurant of the trip.

Walking off breakfast downtown, there are some fun things to see. First is an old fashioned stationary store. It’s amazing what we took for granted growing up, but these stores are very rare back home. Someplace where you can go in and just buy a couple of pens and envelopes instead of buying them by the case as you do at Office Depot and Staples.

At the end of the street is the Zap Car showroom with their fleet of cool looking electric cars. No, they have no plans at the moment of making a wheelchair accessible model.

Later, we head west of town along the Russian River Valley to our last food test of the weekend. If you’re keeping track, this would be the “dive” portion of the trip and a dive we would get.

Into the muddy parking lot of the Russian River Pub we drive. A side door provides access into the dark room with the pool table in the middle. Thousands of names are etched into the wooden walls and we grab a table near the front. A woman with a sling on her arm welcomes us and introduces herself to us, explaining that she’s usually in the kitchen cooking but with her arm this way…not today.

We order some prime rib steak andwiches and are told they are not available, why not order the prime rib dips instead? Why not. Basically the same sandwich with au jus I guess. Still good.

We also get an order of their wings, which they are famous for and what was featured on the show. They are bright orange, spicy, and pretty good. Service was a little spotty and the jukebox didn’t like the feel of paper money, but overall the food was good and the place was fun. Fieri gets high marks on all three places. Of the three, we like Taylor’s best; followed by Hank’s Creekside Diner; and then this place.

The next morning, we pack up, have another breakfast at Dierk’s…this time having their great French toast and a benedict that was just oh so good…before heading down the 101, over the Golden Gate Bridge and on south to Los Angeles.

Darryl
Copyright 2010 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

NAPA VALLEY, CALIFORNIA - Part 1

It’s a long, long drive from our base in the San Gabriel Valley (just east of Pasadena) to our destination of Santa Rosa. Eight hours of driving, not including stops. The final reckoning is ten hours.

Watch the video of this trip!

Up to the final days, it was touch ‘n go as to whether we’d even go here. The final week of the year can have terrible weather up north. Our alternate destination was Tucson but checking the weather forecast, the temperatures were the same either way with just a slightly greater chance of rain up in the wine country.

Our choice was sweetened by tacos. Tim lobbied hard to go to Napa for one reason…the lunch stop in Bakersfield would be at Los Tacos de Huicho. Huicho’s is known in our family as having the best tacos on the face of the earth. Yeah, we’ve looked hard…both north and south of the border…and have still yet to find a better taco. We’re still looking, but the crown still firmly resides on this neon-green outpost of carne asada, tripas, and al pastor sitting on a grimy side street in a forlorn industrial neighborhood.

The al pastor is rotating on a vertical spit as the cook slices of chunks of moist, juicy meat. The tripas, crispy little bits of intestine, are fried up. Battered fish filets are dropped into the deep fryer for my wife’s fish tacos. When we get our order, we prep our food with chopped onions, cilantro, green or red salsa, and Huicho’s ungodly good creamy guacamole salsa. Deep fried jalapenos are sitting at the end of the salsa bar…take as many as you’d like. At 99 cents per taco, the best food on earth comes cheap.

Bladders drained, gas tank filled, it was back on historic highway 99 north to Santa Rosa. Our room is at another historic location, the Flamingo Resort built in 1957. It was built to be a mirror image of the Flamingo hotel in Las Vegas. This restored property has the look and feel of a late 50’s or early 60’s Vegas hotel. It wouldn’t look out of place to see Frank, Sammy, and Dean lounging around the Olympic size pool.

Our room is a large, 500 square foot, second floor unit in the newer executive wing out back. It features a king size bed, queen size sofa bed, a large bathroom with a roll-in shower, and a view over a small farm that has somehow escaped the city’s rampant development.

One of the themes of this trip is to test the abilities of Guy Fieri in picking places to eat.  Our family is a fan of his show Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives on the Food Network and my wife is always saying we should check his listings before we go on a trip.  Well, Fieri is from Santa Rosa so what better place to put him to the test.  We're going to have dinner at his restaurant, Johnny Garlic's, and test a diner, a drive-in, and a dive from the area he's had on the show to see if they are as good as they look on TV.  Either it will be, or I'm gonna be taking one for the team here. 

First up is a diner...

Hank's Creekside Cafe is just a short block from the hotel.  It's a tight fit, but we get the chair inside and order up our food.  Service is quick.  We get eggs benedict, french toast, pancakes with some bacon and eggs.  It is all very delicious.  The first couple of tables are wheelchair accessible but tight.  There is one parking spot in front of the door that's handicapped.

The next morning, after that delicious breakfast, we drive over the hill to Calistoga at the top of Napa Valley. A sign points the way to Chateau Montelena, one of many wineries in the area, that was featured in the movie “Bottle Shock” with Alan Rickman and Bill Pullman.

A big, vine covered stone building sits impressively on the hillside among a web of ramps leading into the winery, tasting room, and the small lake with its Japanese Gazebo used by picnickers. Drivers with a disabled parking placard or license place can park at the top of the hill, next to the tasting room.

Famous for its chardonnay that beat the French wines at a Paris tasting in 1976, the chateau capitalizes on that fame, charging a sky-high tasting fee of $20…refundable if you buy at least $100 worth of wine. No, those souvenir glasses, cookbooks, and the signed DVD of “Bottle Shock” don’t count. There is no rule against sharing, however, so we did the tasting and shared our five samples between the three of us. One relative bargain was a package featuring a copy of the movie, signed by winemaker Bo Barrett (portrayed by Chris Pine in the movie) and a bottle of their cabernet for $35.

Tim at the Chateau Montelena Lake, Notice the Chair Cam (watch the video)

We take some time to explore the grounds, which include a small lake with a pagoda gazebo on an island you can use for picnicking.

Stay tuned for part two, were we find a better tasting bar, a drive-in, and a dive.

Darryl

Copyright 2010, Darryl Musick

All Rights Reserved

The Cocktail Hour - Wine

Today, we're taking a break from cocktails and just enjoying a chilled bottle of Chardonnay we picked up last week.  Many wineries in Napa Valley are really taking advantage of the number of tourists showing up.  Prices of up to twenty dollars, just to taste, are not uncommon.  It was nice that we found a coupon in the local weekly for free tasting at Folio Winery in Napa, off of highway 12 between Napa and Sonoma.  It was devoid of the big crowds up the road and also the pretention.  Just a relaxing little winery where you could sip wine on your time by a roaring fireplace.


Folio handles about a dozen different labels.  I ended up getting a three-pack of Hangtime wines.  This week, we are cracking open the Chardonnay with grapes from the Edna Valley, just inland from San Luis Obispo, that are allowed to hang for a long time ripining on the vine (Hangtime...get it?)  The number on the label corresponds to how long the grapes have been left to ripened.  On this bottle, it was 134 days.

This has a nose of lime and pear, with hints of pear and apricots in the taste.  A slightly buttery smoothness lessens the tartness in the throat.  Very good for a warm day of birdwatching on the patio.  A quick check online shows prices in the $18-20 range, which corresponds well with the $17 dollar price we paid at the winery.


Cheers,

-Darryl

CLASSIC TRIP - Sacramento, California 2004

NOTE: I apologize for the blurriness of the Capitol photos, flash photography is prohibited within the building.

After a trip to San Francisco, we decided to take a different tack and head over to Arnoldland…Sacramento.

Our hotel for this trip would be the Hallmark Suites (now the Hotel Sierra - Ed) in Rancho Cordova, a suburb seven miles east of Sacramento.

Day One - Wednesday (July 7th)

We arrive at our hotel around 4 o'clock. It's a decent if generic looking place but my wife immediately takes a dislike to the room offered and has the front desk change us to a second floor room. I don't really see a difference in the room except maybe the parking lot noises would bother her…but I'm not going to argue, we're here to have a good time.

We've spent the day in Napa Valley so, after grabbing dinner at a nearby In 'n Out, we just relax in the room.

Thursday

Wow! What a fabulous breakfast they serve here at the Hallmark.

We walk over to the nearby light rail station to catch a trolley into downtown Sacramento. Great system they've got here. Quick, efficient and manned by friendly, professional drivers. $3.00 ($1.50 for disabled or seniors) (now $6 and $3 respectively - Ed) buys you an all day pass good for the bus system too. Traffic on the nearby freeway is at a near standstill but the train gets us downtown quickly. Our only (very minor) complaint would be that the bench seats on the trolley aren't very comfortable for a long haul.

The driver drops us off at a stop about two short blocks to the Capitol Building. We walk over and follow the signs to the accessible entrance…actually, they have two. One on either end of the building.

You must go through the ever present airport style security that is a mandatory feature of today's government buildings but once inside, you're pretty much free to roam wherever you want. There is a tour desk in the basement that provides a group tour of the building…which we would not end up taking as you'll soon see.

Instead, we encounter the hallway that leads to the governor's office with gold relief lettering over the top reading "Arnold Schwarzenegger" just above the slightly duller lettering reading "Governor". We ask the highway patrolman standing guard outside if it is alright to go in and he says it is.

In the lobby there are no seats for visitors so a number of serious looking people in suits are milling around the desk of the receptionist. She informs us that, yes, the governor does entertain visitors when he's not too busy…a group of students got to go in and meet him not too long before we showed up…but that he's very busy right now (this was the time of intense budget negotiations as the state budget was eight days late and counting).

Hanging on the wall was a Detroit Pistons jersey and several jars of food products made in Michigan. The governor lost the traditional bet when the Lakers lost to the Pistons in the NBA finals and he had to wear that jersey to work one day.

In Front of The Governor's Office

Upon exiting the governor's office lobby, I spy a building office directory. I look up our state senator and our state assemblyman's offices…which are both on the third floor…and tell my son and wife we should go up and see them.

We do. First up is our state senator, Bob Margett. I tell the receptionist that I just wanted to show my son where our state senator worked. No problem, she welcomes us and has us sign the visitor register. Sen. Margett is not there, but she shows us his office and asks, "have you toured the building yet?"

Upon learning that we haven't, she quickly gets on the phone and asks if we can return at 2:00. We tell her we can and just like that, she sets up a private tour of the building for us. She then takes us over to the Senate Chamber and shows us Sen. Margett's desk on the floor of the chamber and then takes us back to the office. We chat for a few minutes and then take our leave to head over to our assemblyman's office.

At that office, of Assemblyman Dennis Mountjoy, we again tell them we're constituents and wanted to see where our representatives worked. A couple of legislative aides are working there today and they have us sign their register and show us Mr. Mountjoy's office (he too is out today). There are many enormous models of airplanes hanging from his office ceiling and the aide tells us that the assemblyman likes to build radio controlled model aircraft…but that he doesn't actually fly them because he's afraid they'll crash expensively on landing (Mr. Mountjoy is also a pilot). The aide chats us up quite awhile telling us about different
politicians she's worked for, what Tim's college plans are, etc., and seems genuinely pleased to have a conversation with some constituents.

After our visits, we have a couple of hours to kill, so we head over to nearby Old Sacramento to have lunch and ice cream.

On Our Tour Through the Capitol Building

At 2:00, we return to Senator Margett's office and meet our tour guide. She takes us again to the Senate floor and explains about the renovations that took place about twenty years ago, the history of the place, and how the color scheme (red) was copied from the House of Lords in England. Then it's over to the Assembly chambers for much of the same kind of information (they're green, after the House of Commons), down to the Library where rare books and works of art are on display, the rotunda, and then some recreations of old capitol offices such as the treasurer and governor that are on the first floor. It's a fun and interesting tour and the building, at least the original old part, is quite beautiful.

Afterward, we return to Old Sacramento to hang out for awhile. This is, like the name implies, a very old part of the town that has been preserved in a state park. It consists of about four blocks of old Gold Rush era buildings along the riverfront with a few mysterious looking back alleys in between. Most of the buildings are used by shops, restaurants, and bars so it's kind of like a mall in old buildings. On a hot day (as almost every summer day in Sacramento is), the walk along the big river is very pleasant and pretty. The state railroad museum is also here and looks very interesting but our tour of the capitol leaves us with only about fifteen minutes to spare before the museum's closing time, so we'll leave that for another trip.

We pick up some fresh fruit at a produce store here, try several samples of taffy at a candy store, pick up some souvenirs at a few of the shops, and then catch the bus back to the pedestrian mall where we can catch the trolley back to the hotel.

Back at the hotel, we swim in the crowded pool and then enjoy the hotel's free happy hour. Afterward, I walk over to a nearby Wendy's and procure dinner for the three of us which we enjoy in the room.

Friday

Today, the breakfast room is full of hard bodies! Seriously, there are men and women here who have muscles upon muscles and not an ounce of fat. Many are wearing Olympic ring jewelry, Olympic t-shirts, and Olympic hats. I ask someone what's going on?

I find out that today is the first day of the Olympic Track and Field Finals, taking place just down the road at Cal State Sacramento, and that many of our fellow hotel guests are Olympic hopefuls. So, for the rest of our stay, we'll now be surrounded by some of the best athletes in the world. I don't know how many actually made the team, but at least one that was there - Hazel Clark - made the women's 800 meter team. We'll be cheering on our fellow guests this summer as they go to Athens. Go Hallmark Suite athletes!

Well, as interesting as this is, we're not here for that…we're just on vacation.

After breakfast, we head to the northwest to go to the Gold Rush town of Nevada City. We have two reasons for being here. First, my wife wants to go to the V*Tae company store (they make many lotions, oils, and other beauty products that she really likes) and, second, to go hiking.

Six miles north of Nevada City, on Highway 49, is the Independence Trail. This is a wheelchair accessible trail…two of them actually…that wind around 5 miles through the mountains and along side the Yuba River.

You see, back in the Gold Rush days, miners thought it would be nifty if they could just blast away at the gold-bearing hillsides with high-pressure hoses. The dirt that washed away could then be sifted for gold. This was a much faster way to get at large amounts of ore than by using pans, sifting boxes, or digging. Only bad thing was that this was causing a huge environmental problem. Not only were permanent scars being placed on the mountains, the dirt was polluting and silting up the fish filled rivers and whole towns downstream were being flooded.

In one of the earliest environmental rulings, the Supreme Court ruled the practice a private and public nuisance and outlawed it (Woodruff v. North Bloomfield Gravel Mining Company, 1884).
Left over was the network of water flumes used to redirect the water. For many years, farmers took the water they provided but eventually they fell into disuse. Someone figured out that the size and shape of these flumes were perfectly suited to a wheelchair and so the people at the Sequoya Challenge refurbished these flumes into trails that wheelchairs can navigate.
Today, you can even take your chair right up to the river's edge and, if you're able, take a dip in the swimming hole there.

Along the Independence Trail

We go up a mile or so and have a small picnic at an overlook where we can see the river. There is a good bit of poison oak here, so we have to be careful, and walking in the flume ditch is a bit like being in a tunnel. There are spectacular views, springs (with the accompanying bug filled swamp), rock tunnels, and lots of trees and shrubs. It's not the very best accessible trail we've been on (that would be either the West Fork trail in Azusa Canyon in the Angeles National Forest or the Trail of 100 Giants in Sequoia National Monument) but it's still a very good trail.

Afterward, we head back down to the valley and spend the afternoon cooling off in the hotel pool, enjoying the happy hour, and having dinner at a local Fuddrucker's.

That evening, we watch the Olympic Trials on TV trying to spot our hotel neighbors.

Saturday

At breakfast today (have I told you enough how good breakfast is at this hotel? Mmmmm…) I chat with the couple at the neighboring table who are parents watching their kid compete. I tell them we watched on TV the night before and they tell me a litany of complaints they have with TV coverage of their sport.

I have to agree. I am sick and tired of the "up close and personal" features of the Olympics and the dearth of actual competition coverage. Last night it was all Marion Jones. All her struggles, trials, and accusations of steroid abuse. When the actual race came, it was along the lines of "MARION JONES came in SECOND PLACE…and someone else won…but again JONES CAME IN SECOND!"

There are hundreds of athletes in town this week, but unless you're one of the top few superstars of this sport, good luck in trying to get someone to notice you.

We drive into Sacramento today (being the weekend there's little traffic so driving seven minutes beats a half hour on the train) and head over to Sutter's Fort.

Over thirty years ago, I came here on a 7th grade field trip. Back then it seemed on the edge of town. Today, the fort sits on a square block park surrounded by houses, apartment buildings, churches, and a hospital.

It's kind of like visiting one of our state's missions with the rooms built into the adobe walls surrounding a central yard. A docent demonstrates the art of fur trapping (no animals were harmed for his demo), another demonstrates arms with a musket firing, and a blacksmith is hammering away in a room in a corner.

It's interesting and two to three hours is about all you'll need to explore here. Afterward, we have lunch at a crepe restaurant just up the street near a bead store that my wife wants to shop in.

We spend another afternoon in the pool before heading up the road a ways to have dinner at the Cattlemen's restaurant in Folsom. Whenever I'm up this way, I like to have dinner at one of this chain's restaurants (most of their locations are in the Central Valley) where I can have a delicious steak with all the trimmings.

If I'm not mistaken, they used to have their own herd but now use beef from Harris Ranch, the giant feed lot next to Interstate 5 in Coalinga. It's still very good meat but prices have gone up. Since we all want to eat steak, we order the giant 42 ounce porterhouse dinner and split it three ways. It's plenty of food for us and more affordable than buying three separate dinners.

We make it back in time to partake in one more happy hour. Tomorrow we'll be checking out after one more sumptuous breakfast with the Olympians before heading down Highway 99 to go home.

One more note…on the way home in Livingston (home of Foster Farms chicken), we have lunch in the Foster Farms restaurant here. Highly recommended. Of course, you'll want to order the chicken.

-Darryl
Copyright 2004 - Darryl Musick

THE THINGS WE SEE...

on our travels.

Swan, Calistoga, Napa Valley, California