Tuesday, April 16, 2019

Trip Home - Wine Tasting in Lodi, Napa & Jacksonville

Our first stop on our way north was in Needles, CA at Palms River Resort.  We spent a couple of nights there so we could visit with cousins in Bullhead City and also go out to eat at a great Mexican restaurant in Bullhead; El Charo.  The resort sits right on the water, so we biked around the park and they had a great place to sit and enjoy the river.




Our next stop for one night was in Bakersfield, Orange Grove RV.  We stayed at the "best smelling RV park" ever.  It was in the middle of an Orange Grove.  Wow, great park with lots of amenities and besides the bees, it was great.


We then moved onto Lodi, CA for two nights and stayed at Flag City RV.  On Friday, we went wine tasting as we had been in Lodi one other time but didn't have enough time to visit many of the wineries.  We went to Michael David, which was one of our favorite wineries.




We also visited:
Lucas, first tasting room in Lodi:



Pondl:


Woodbridge - they also make Toasted Head which I did not know.




And lastly d'Art:



On Saturday, we drove into Napa and stayed at the Napa Valley Expo RV.  Our friends drove down from Graham, WA and spent their Spring Break vacation with us.  We had a busy week, but had so much fun.

After getting set up, we went wine tasting Saturday afternoon and then went to Gotts Roadside for dinner.
Napa Cellars:



Prisoner:


Day 2:
Sutter Home








Castello di Amorosa - Castle





C=Red chairs from Bedside Story



Sterling:

You go up in a tram to the winery.








Robert Mondavi:

Day 3 - Took Platypus Tours




David Fullerton - 1st winery in Napa valley:



Hans Fahden - one of only two wedding venues in the area:





The cave in the winery was great



Bennett Lane:





















Clos Pegase:


They had a huge cave system

Chihuly glass artwork throughout the winery.

Went to Galpao Gaucho, a Brazilian Steakhouse in Napa.

Day 4: We drove to Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco and took the Alcatraz Island Tour.



















Pier 39



















Day 5:
BV:



Trinchero:



Vincent Arroyo:  This was a great find.  We made an appointment at this small winery in Calistoga since they are not open for tasting.  We loved their wine and the price for the quality was great.


Rutherford Hill:



On Thursday we drove up to Redding, CA and stayed at the Premier RV Resort and then drove out to  Burney Falls.






On Friday we were going to meet up with friends in Yreka for the weekend, but there was a change of plans, so instead of stopping in Yreka, we drove just north of Medford to Central Point  and stayed at the Southern Oregon RV.  We then drove to Jacksonville and walked main street and went to one more wine tasting at Quady North.  We also went to a brewery, Opposition Brewing Company, before going out for Mexican food.



On Saturday, we were able to stay one more night, but our friends left that morning.  We just caught up with things before heading to Salem for three nights on Sunday.



We met up with friends and family in Salem, before heading for Chehalis on Wednesday morning.