honeymoon in california, 2005 - part 1

After our wedding on June 25th, 2005, Andrea and I set out for California for our honeymoon. This was the setting of our first vacation together, back in 2000, and we thought it would be a nice place to relax. We had been to San Francisco, but neither of us had been to wine country.

I returned from California with over 800 photos, so I'm pleased that I purchased a 1 GB card for my camera before the trip. After combining them with Andrea's and deleting the ones we didn't want, we still have about 700. I have selected from the best and ended up with over 150, so I've split them across two pages. This is the first, and it starts with the flight:

As soon as we started passing over New York State I recognized locations below us, possibly including Saranac Lake. When I spotted Pine Lake I quickly dove for my camera, and I was able to take a few photos of Nine Corner Lake and Pleasant Lake, where the family camp is. It didn't occur to me to use optical zoom until after we had passed Pleasant Lake, unfortunately. Though hazy, the location is recognizeable.

I took a number of other photos over New York, including views of Fulton and Oswego. This one is of downtown Rochester. I always enjoy the window seat on airplanes. I've seen Rochester before (but not with a digital camera handy), as well as Dover and Brighton in the UK and other recognizeable locations. Window seats are good fun.

When we arrived in Napa we checked into the Silverado Spa & Resort. This was the view from our condo.

The next day we drove out to the wineries, something we would do every day of the week. This is Andrea at Mumm, which specializes in sparkling wines. Mumm is along the Silverado Trail, one of the two main roads that run north to south in the Valley. The other is the St. Helena Highway. The Silverado Spa & Resort is close to the Silverado Trail, so it was convenient.

The view from Mumm was very pretty. All of Napa has impressive views because it is very flat land surrounded by two mountain ranges.

Mumm had impressive automation. This is a bottle alignment droid that I watched, captivated, for about three minutes while ignoring the tour entirely. It took bottles stacked with their necks together and re-stacked them inline.

Outside Mumm I chased this lizard while Andrea pleaded for me to stop.

We moved on to V. Sattui, which was recommended by Matt and Natalie Staub.

The nice thing about V. Sattui is that the tasting room is full of helpful people, and is attached to a deli that serves wonderful breads, cheeses and sandwiches. This is a great winery for a picnic lunch. In this photo George Sattui is helping people tasting his family's wine.

A view of the outside of V. Sattui.

In the wine cellars Andrea photographs some of the V. Sattui barrels.

We moved on to the Niebaum-Coppola Winery, which is owned by Francis Ford Coppola.

Andrea at Niebaum-Coppola's beautiful fountain.

The grow lemons outside the winery, and they looked pretty in the sun..

Inside the winery tours fill up fast, so we just wandered around the museum. They had original music from some Coppola films, plus props from Bram Stoker's Dracula and other films. This is the desk from The Godfather with a gold phone from The Godfather Part II.

We had an evening snack overlooking the driving range and the mountains at the Silverado that evening.

In the morning we packed to move on, and I snapped this last photo of the mansion at the Silverado.

We then drove to Opus One, which is a Mondavi winery but is a premium blend. This is Andrea at the entrance.

Approaching the main entrance. Opus One is designed with an Egyptian stucco motif, and is a very impressive building set into a perfectly round hill.

Above the winery's rooms, many of which were closed, was a roof deck.

So we sat around enjoying the views.

Then we picked up a glass of wine in the sample room and brought it back upstairs. The sample, which we split, cost $25. A full bottle of Opus One costs $160.

It was one of the best reds we tried in Napa.

Yum.

The lobby, and in fact every room, had a touch of the dramatic.

A doorway at Opus One ...

... and another.

We went north along the St. Helena Highway to Sterling Vineyards. Its claim to fame is that it is on a hill in the middle of the valley, and so the winery has a gondola ride to the top.

Andrea looks out at the buildings, which are topped with bell towers.

A winding walkway traces around the winery, taking the visitor through beautiful views of both the buildings and the countryside.

More bell towers.

In the tasting room we sampled a number of Sterling wines.

That afternoon we checked into a bed & breakfast in Napa called La Belle Epoque. When planning the trip I had thought it was in the town of Calistoga, in the north of the Valley, but in fact it was on Calistoga Street in the town of Napa itself. We liked the place a great deal. Their breakfasts are stellar.

Another view of La Belle Epoque.

Our bedroom was decorated with stained glass and a number of antique furnishings.

So was the dining area, where we met a number of other guests, from Nebraska, Florida and even Framingham, MA.

The next morning we drove up into Calistoga. The main thing to do there is and sit around in volcanic ash while sipping cucumber water, and perhaps wearing cucumber slices over your eyes. This is because the town is built on hot springs, and "Calistoga" is actually a pun on Saritoga, NY (it's the Calistoga of Sarifornia). While we did eventually sit around in volcanic ash, the main use of Calistoga in the morning was as a way to get over the western mountains and explore Sonoma Valley. On the way we stopped at the Petrified Forest, and this photo shows Andrea there.

This is a petrified redwood tree. Millions of years ago Mt. St. Helena erupted and blasted at redwood forest that covered at least part of the Napa Valley to smithereens. Many of the trees were preserved in the ash and eventually became petrified, or converted into stone. They are all facing the same way, much as the felled trees near Mt. St. Helens in Washington after its 1980 eruption were all facing the same direction after the blast.

A lizard on a petrified redwood. The trees in this place were neat but it was very much a cheesy tourist trap.

We drove along winding mountain roads to arrive in Sonoma Valley, then drove south to find Ravenswood, a windery popular for its Zinfandels (no, not White Zinfandels).

Downtown Sonoma is actually more interesting than downtown Napa. Sonoma still looks like an old west town in some ways. This is the main plaza in the center of town.

This plaque commemorates the raising of the bear flag, which was the symbolic end of Mexican rule in California.

The next morning we drove north again, this time stopping at the Silver Rose winery in the morning. Their slogan: "Wine is not to drink, but to enjoy."

Silver Rose, like many wineries in Napa, has wonderful flowers throughout its grounds.

The Silver Rose does a very good tour that involves barrel tastings.

We were allowed to taste wine stored in American and French oak barrels and compare them. Silver Rose actually blends wine stored in both. Here Andrea enjoys a glass.

We drove north through Calistoga and into the Sonoma Valley, where we cut across the 101 and searched for the Ferrari-Carano winery. Andrea was reading a book called A Very Good Year that was about Ferrari-Carano, so we were interested. But we missed it and ended up at Lake Sonoma, which is an manmade lake supported by a massive dam built by the US Army Corps of Engineers. It was very similar to a US Army Corps of Engineers dam I saw recently in Vermont, but the lake was an incredible shade of blue.

Some wildflowers on Lake Sonoma.

On the way back to the 101 we found Ferrari-Carano.

The grounds were impeccably designed, and the main building was built like an Italian villa. Here and there were Narnian lamp posts amid beautiful gardens.

Poplar trees assist in the Italian villa effect.

We try some of Ferrari-Carrano's very nice wines, of which we later buy bottles of a couple.

In the basement, near the bathrooms, is a massive wine cellar that was probably larger than all the other wine cellars we had seen in Napa combined.

More of the outside ...

... and in the Japanese Garden we pause to reflect.

One of the employees in the tasting room recommended trying the Dry Creek General Store for lunch, and though it was probably the only lunch place around it was excellent. They have great sandwiches. Not bad for a gas station that predates the sale of gasoline.

Across from the Dry Creek General Store I took this photo, which I admired for its color layers.

On the way north to Mendocino we accidentally stumbled across Navarro Vineyards, which we had heard about from someone at the Charles Krug winery in Napa.

And then we drove through Navarro, which actually had a sign - and I am not making this up - that said "Pop. 67." Despite the very small population they have very big trees. The Navarro River Redwoods State Park contains 11 miles of redwood trees, and CA-128 runs straight through it.

We paused near some redwoods. In some places they grew right up against the road, and even had reflectors on them to prevent cards from hitting them.

We emerged from the redwoods on the Mendocino coast and drove up CA-1. The road along the coast in California is pretty tight, as you can see. At least this spot has a guard rail.

South of the city of Mendocino we stopped at a beach to rest, and it was beautiful.

Andrea explores the beach.

Footprints on the sands of Mendocino.

More beach ...

... and more Andrea.

We drove north through some amazing seaside country into Mendocino, which like Sonoma is an old west town, but unlike Sonoma is set on bluffs overlooking the Pacific.

I walk out from the town though the tall grass of the headlands. If this looks familiar, it is because Murder, She Wrote was frequently filmed here. Though the sun sents the wrong way, Mendocino was a TV stand-in for Cabot Cove. This is the Mendocino Headlands State Park, just outside town.

The beach was accessable via steps.

Andrea.

Another Andrea.

We found the foundation to a ruined building on the bluffs and I was driven to climb up an old piling. Because it was there.

Here we are on a rock formation at sunset.

Looking out from the headlands. This was a great state park, and we could have spent all day here. It's a shame that California is so much bigger than we anticipated, as we spent a lot of our sight-seeing time in the car driving on winding mountain roads. As it was we spent so long in Mendocino that we got back to Napa after most of the restaurants had closed. But Mendocino was worth the trip.

The town was a great place to spend time. I'd love to go back for several days. This is a view down Albion Street, and you can see one of the water towers that is typical of the town.

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