Napa in March

Our March was so jam-packed, it's going to take me more than a few posts to write about everything. The first weekend was the long-awaited bachelorette party for Mindy and bachelor party for Stephen. No, Mindy and Stephen are not getting married. :) Mindy is my best friend from high school and Stephen is Rod's brother. Also, their bachelor(ette) parties were in completely different cities. For Stephen's, Rod went to Las Vegas. Rod didn't take any pictures or tell too many stories. I did get some interesting, cryptic text messages, though. I guess what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. :)

For Min, we had a girl's weekend in Napa. We started, with a highlights tour of San Francisco: Fisherman's Wharf, Ghiradelli Square, Lombard Street, shopping in Union Square, and getting crazy in the Castro district. Other than getting lost (several times) trying to find our way to Napa--seriously, we crossed the Bay Bridge three times--it was a perfect day. We had great pumpkin curry for lunch followed by a banana split at Ghiradelli Square. Mindy bought her wedding dress at the first store we walked into at Union Square (it was fate). I was so happy that I could be there for this special moment. We had an okay sushi for dinner at a cute restaurant near the Castro district. The menu was great, but to be honest, I was disappointed that the fish was not better. Shouldn't California sushi be better than Utah sushi?

The Castro was just as fun as I remembered it. We started at the Blackbird. I had to have another Early Bird. We, of course, dressed Min up in embarrassing clothing and made her do embarrassing things. Basically, we asked her to answer a number of questions that we had Aaron answer earlier. If she got the question wrong, she had to roll a set of dice that had various funny things for her to do like "do shots with a geeky guy." Min did poorly enough at answering questions that we made a lot of new friends and got some free drinks. After the Blackbird, we stopped at Hot Kiss for some erotic macaroons. It was well past midnight when we made it to our cottage in Napa Valley.

The next morning, we made a quick trip to the grocery store to stock up on good food for the weekend. Min and I went for a run on the path near our cottage. We spent the rest of the day at a spa in Calistoga. After our mud bath and cleansing masks, we swam in the mineral pool. Then we wandered around Calistoga, perusing the really adorable consignment shops. At the cottage, after making roasted red pepper and pear soup, chicken and grape skewers, wild rice, and gorging ourselves on cheese and wine, we all passed out in the front room watching "The Hangover". We woke up halfway through the movie and spent the next hour or so reminiscing and sharing our secrets.

The next day was our wine tour. We started at a small winery with really good wine, but a racist, ignorant owner. If he had just shut his mouth, we probably would have purchased several bottles of wine. Instead, we left pissed. We had better luck at the next winery: V. Sattui. Not only, was the wine and service great, but there was an attached gourmet deli/store that sold and sampled cheeses, chocolates, and pates. It also had a beautiful garden where we picnicked.

So that we could keep going, we went to Fairfield to tour the Jelly Belly factory. It was fun to see how the Jelly Bellys are made and to sample as many as we wanted. I went crazy in the store, buying Belly Flops and beans for every one back home.

We only had time for one more winery. This one was further outside of Napa on top of a beautiful mountain. The wine was tasty, and we enjoyed seeing the barrel room.

Unfortunately, we did not make it in time to see the attached art museum. By the time we made it back to Napa, we were starving. We stopped at Trader Joes to buy Port and curry powder, but we ended up getting cheesecake, more cheese, and some other goodies too. Back at the cottage, we made chicken curry and cheesecake with a port reduction. Then, in a moment of nostalgic craziness, we snuck into the hot tub at the clubhouse and spent the rest of the night planning the rest of our lives.

After checking out the next morning, we headed back to San Francisco. We didn't have a whole lot of time so we just wandered around North Hill and China Town.
We had Thai again. It was sad to say goodbye. But we all agreed a girls trip is something we need to make an annual thing.