Harvest

When we left, all of our tomato plants were full of green tomatoes, so we were certain we would miss most of the red tomatoes while we were out of town. But we were so excited to come home to a lot of red tomatoes, and even some greens that have yet to ripen. Here's to tomatoes!! The night we returned, we had an awesome BLT sandwich. Bryce could probably eat one every day and never tire of it.

Home SWEET home!

We are back in the Burg! We actually got back on Thursday, August 19th. Our flights were interesting: San Francisco to Las Vegas (where we hopped in a cab to see the strip during our 2 hr layover...just enough time to walk a mile sweating in 102 degree weather-at 10pm at night!), then Las Vegas to DC, then DC to Charlotte, then driving home to Blacksburg. Phew! We were catching up on sleep this week.

We love vacations (if you can't tell). We have been majorly spoiled to be able to go on a couple big ones since we got married. I think one of our biggest mottos is, "If you don't do it now (while/if you can), you may never do it." Without kids, and with flexible jobs, we have been blessed.

But, one of the best parts, in my opinion, of vacations, is coming back home and sleeping in your own bed. (unpacking, finishing that last load of laundry...) AND meeting up with friends you haven't seen in awhile!!

I got some very good news a few weeks ago: I got accepted at Radford University to start my Masters in Education this fall!! (in just a few days!) It became real when we got home, went through the mail, and I got the official letter. Yay! Hopefully within about 2 years, I will have my Masters and will start looking for elementary teaching positions.

Now, we will both be busy bees in school. (but I will continue working part time from home)

Ah, we love you, Blacksburg.

Napa Valley

Wine country!

We are definitely not wine connoisseurs, but we enjoy a nice glass of wine every now and then. Napa is only about an hour away from Nanny's, and it's always been a place that I wanted to visit. While we were dating, we went to Chateau Morrisette for a tour and wine tasting and had a lot of fun. There are billions of wineries in Napa, and we had no clue where to go.

We got some good advice from Emily and Tim, to go to V.Sattui Winery for a picnic lunch and Auberge de Soleil for dinner. Not only did we want to check out a winery or two, but we wanted to just see the scenery of vineyards, gourmet restaurants and the town of Napa.

Right when we got into Napa, we stopped at the visitor center. The sweet lady who helped us gave us all the information we needed, maps, and directed us to a few wineries. She even gave us coupons for tastings and tours.

We first went to Mumm Napa. It was beautiful. They make sparkling wine. We tasted 3 different ones, and it was so delicious we had to buy a bottle of our favorite.

Then we continued down the road enjoying the scenery, and went to V.Sattui. They have a great garden area for picnics in a beautiful setting. The deli was very gourmet with cheeses and meats from all over the world, pre-made salads, sandwiches, and wines of course. We sat and enjoyed the weather outside for awhile, then did a tasting at V.Sattui.


When we finished, we went to Castello di Amorosa. We had heard a lot about it, and were excited to take a full tour and tasting. Even driving up to it was impressive.


The vineyards were beautiful and at the top of the hill sat the castle. It first opened its doors to the public in April 2007, so it's relatively new. It is the pet project of 4th generation vintner, Dario Sattui who also owns and operates the V. Sattui Winery named after his great-grandfather who originally established a winery in San Francisco in 1885. Sattui claims to have spent nearly all his resources and the 14 years building this medieval replica castle on the vineyard grounds. It was awesome! Almost everything down to the terra cotta tiles on the roof were imported from Europe. All the iron work was made by hand by a blacksmith in Italy, one of the few who still do it the old fashioned way. Read more about it. Check out their website here.

The owner, Sattui, made it as authentic as possible. It even has a moat and drawbridge.

There are 107 rooms on 8 levels with many medieval features including: defensive towers, an interior courtyard, a torture chamber with replicas of old torture devices, a chapel where they actually hold mass in Latin every week, a knights' chamber, and a great hall with a coffered ceiling and paintings all over the walls by Italian artists. (Wikipedia)

Even the construction was done as they would have in old times-the bricks were shipped in from Europe from old structures, and they didn't use cement to hold it together, they used sand, water and limestone. All the wood was hand crafted as well.

As part of our tour, we walked through the underground caves that extend 2 acres into the hillside, full of barrels of wine. We even tasted wine directly out of a barrel.


After walking around the castle and touring the inside, it was late afternoon. We drove back towards Napa. We stopped by the Culinary Institute of America to see what it was like. We watched some chefs work with chocolate, getting ready for a competition. Then we tried some of their gourmet chocolates. They were out of this world. Then we got back in the car and drove towards dinner. Auberge du Soleil was recommended by Emily and Tim as well as the lady at the visitor center. It's a gorgeous hotel, spa, restaurant, and bar. Next to the restaurant is the Bar and Bistro, which is more casual dining, but with the same terrace and view of vineyards. We decided to go there. It was very peaceful, the service was great, and the food was so good.

After dinner, we headed back to Nanny's. All along the roadside are beautiful fields and wineries. I tried to take as many pictures as I could...
The grapes were so pretty!


Some interesting Wine Facts and Statistics:

Age of vine before producing useful grapes—3 years

Age of vine before full production—5 years

Productive lifetime of a vine—30-35 years—Although the quality can remain good, the yield begins to decrease after that

Grape clusters in bottle—4-5

Grapes in a bottle—500-600

Clusters on a vine—40

Grapes in a cluster—75-100

Grape clusters in one glass of wine—1

Vines per acre—500-1300

Gallons of wine per acre—less than 500

Bottles per acre—4,000

Bottles per 60 gallon barrel—300

Cost of acre of new vineyard in Napa Valley—$120,000 (some existing property has been sold for $300,000 an acre)

Cost of French oak barrel—$600-850

Cost of American oak barrel—$300-550

Average age of a French oak tree used to make barrels—170 years

Number of years an oak barrel is used—5-8

Number of vineyard acres in Napa County (2008)—45,158 (out of a total of 485,120 acres in the entire county)—only 9% of total land area

Most popular varietals in Napa Valley (in order of popularity)

1.Cabernet Sauvignon
2.Chardonnay
3.Merlot
4.Sauvignon Blanc
5.Pinot Noir
6.Zinfandel

Proportion of total value at harvest of red varietals compared to white—Nearly 3:1

Number of wineries in Napa Valley—Approximately 400

Year grapes first planted in Napa Valley—1838 (by George Yount)

First large winery built in Napa Valley after Prohibition—Robert Mondavi (1966) (Louis Martini Winery was built in 1933 just prior to the end of Prohibition)

Number of cases of Napa Valley wine produced annually—9.2 million (2006)

Ranking of United States in world wine production (1999)—4th—533,596,000 gallons (behind Italy, France and Spain) (2008)

Napa ranking of United States in world wine acreage (1999)—4th—905,000 acres

Napa ranking of United States in world wide consumption—Second place - soon to become first

Percentage of U.S. wine made in California—90%

(www.napanow.com)

San Francisco

I had a list of sites to see around the city, and we started with Lombard Street. We drove up Hyde Street (really huge hill-I think it's been in a few movies), and then stopped at Lombard. I love the trolleys!
There was a good view of the Coit Tower. We headed there next.

Then we went to Safeway and had lunch on the Marina Green. It's just a public park (with FREE parking) on the water with views of Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge.



We signed up in advance for an Alcatraz tour. It's about a 15-20 minute ferry ride to the island. We had some great views of the city, the Bay Bridge, and the Golden Gate Bridge.

It was pretty foggy when we got to the city in the morning, and around noon, it started to clear up. You can see the fog lifting here:

Bay Bridge that goes from San Francisco to Oakland.
Getting close to Alcatraz.

Isn't this exactly what you picture in your head when you think of a park ranger? He gave us an intro about Alcatraz and what to expect when we first got off the boat.

The tickets we bought included an audio tour. It was narrated by real inmates and officers who worked at Alcatraz. It was cool.


This is the Golden Gate Bridge from Alcatraz. Sadly, this was as much as we saw of it. Once we finished the Alcatraz tour and got back to the mainland, the fog had come back and settled over the bridge, so it was barely visible. I was pretty disappointed, but life goes on.

This is a view of the city from Alcatraz.
I had been reading this article on our way into the city, and read about Castro neighborhood. "San Francisco's Castro neighborhood was initially settled by gay servicemen discharged here from the Armed Forces (for being gay) during WWII. Historically, the neighborhood has always been in flux: At the turn of the century, it was known as Little Scandinavia; then it became an Irish neighborhood, until the Gay Pride Movement of the 1960s made it safe for all the ex-servicemen to come out. Nowadays the neighborhood is overrun with fashionable, rich straight people." I was intrigued, so we drove through the neighborhood.


We walked to Ghirardelli Square. Our plan was to, of course, tour the chocolate factory. It turns out, there is NO chocolate factory there! Only a little chocolate/ice cream shop. I couldn't believe it! There was a big fire that destroyed the business in the 1850s, and then in 1965, San Francisco declared Ghirardelli Square (where many of the Ghirardelli buildings were constructed) an official city landmark. Two years later, production facilities moved to San Leandro, California. (Wikipedia)

Down at the Fisherman's Wharf, we walked around all the seafood selling stands. We couldn't resit the fried shrimp. The sourdough bread smell near Boudin Bakery was amazing.

Sourdough was the main bread made in Northern California during the Gold Rush, and it remains a part of the culture of San Francisco today. The bread became so common that "sourdough" became a general nickname for the gold prospectors. The nickname remains in "Sourdough Sam", the mascot of the San Francisco 49ers. San Francisco sourdough is the most famous sourdough bread in teh U.S. today. In contrast to sourdough production in other areas of the country, the San Francisco variety has remained in continuous production for nearly 150 years, with some bakeries( e.g., Boudin Bakery) able to trace their starters back to California's territorial period. (Wikipedia)

We also went to Pier 39. There's always a lot going on there. Street performers, magicians, restaurants, souvenir shops, and tourists everywhere.


One of my all time favorite cities. I was so excited for Bryce and I to go together. We got to see a lot of the city. We ate fried shrimp and fresh clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl. We rode a trolley. We took a ferry to Alcatraz. We saw the Golden Gate Bridge, well, part of it through the fog. We ate a free Ghirardelli chocolate.

Point Reyes National Seashore

When Bryce got back from Mexico, we had just a few more places we really wanted to go: Point Reyes, San Francisco, and Napa Valley. Point Reyes is like a national park right on the coast. It has beautiful rolling hills, a lighthouse, great views, natural beaches, rocky cliffs, tons of hiking trails, and a lot of California dairy farms and ranches that have been there since the 1850s and 1860s. It's just north of the city of San Francisco.



We drove about 1 1/2 hours to Point Reyes from Nanny's just to spend the afternoon. We didn't do any hikes, but we did drive to the lighthouse and walk the 380 steps down to see it.





I thought all the cows were so cute. There were hundreds of them all over the hills. We must have passed at least 10 huge cattle ranches.




This guy thought he won the lottery having crossed the fence successfully. He just sat there staring at us in our car, chomping down the grass.

We didn't have time to walk any of the beaches, but they were pristine from afar. Being a national seashore, there is NO commercialization, and it's just plain beautiful.

There's even a Tule Elk Reserve at Point Reyes. The tule elk almost completely disappeared from California until the state gave them complete protection. There are around 400 elk that roam the land. We thought we wouldn't get to see any...but then, I saw one, and told Bryce to stop the car. Then we start yelling out to them, and all these antlers popped up to see what the commotion was!

We passed through a few quaint towns in and near Point Reyes. We stopped in one of them, Olema, to get some dinner. We ate at the Farm House Restaurant and were impressed with the food. Bryce got fish and chips, and I got a Roasted Chicken salad with goat cheese, candied walnuts, dried cranberries, and a delicious vinaigrette. YUM.

Old Town Sacramento

(On our way back to Nanny's-BEFORE Bryce left for Mexico) We stopped by Sacramento to see our old house, and on the way out of town, we also stopped by Old Sacramento. To some, it's a tourist trap, but I enjoyed walking around. They had some buildings that dated back to the late 1800s. They have a big railroad museum that has great reviews, but we wanted to get back to Nanny's house, so we chose not to go. There were a lot of cute candy shops, gift shops, and fun restaurants. My only regret was not grabbing a funnel cake while we were there. I love those things.

Boy time and girl time

We got back to Nanny's from our road trip on Saturday, 8/7, and ate dinner with Nanny and Dad. The next day, Dad flew out, and then Bryce flew out on Monday.

They headed to Cabo San Lucas in Mexico (Bryce, Dad, and little brother Aaron) to go deep sea fishing. Dad and Aaron go on a fishing trip about every year. They usually go up to Canada, but this year, Dad wanted to try something different. They decided to invite the brother in laws, Bryce and Tim, this year. Sadly, Tim couldn't make it, but Bryce was able to fit it in and give me some extra time with Nanny. I don't think he could've been more excited. Dad and Bryce sat in Nanny's living room after dinner just looking at rods, reels, hooks, and other fishing stuff. They were there until Saturday. Bryce has never been out on the high seas. I was hoping that he didn't get motion sickness! I bet it was a lot of fun.

Meanwhile, Nanny and I had some time to hang out and relax. We went out to eat at a good Chinese place, Subway (her fave), and smoothies at Jamba Juice. We saw the movie Inception early in the week. It was really good.

Then we saw Eat Pray Love on Friday. I loved this movie...romance, food, travel, I guess it was more my pace. I also really like Julia Roberts. I want to read the book.

And we talked. A lot. :-)

When we were as young as 3 years old, Nanny got us started on make up. As soon as we got to their house to visit, Emily and I would rush to Nanny's bedroom and start playing with her make up, jewelry, and even clothes for dress up. Nanny and I were reminiscing.


We also were outside on the patio taking care of her flowers, specifically her geraniums. Apparently there has been an infestation of little green worms all over the buds, so we were inspecting after we had sprayed them with insecticide.


It had been awhile since I cooked, and the fruit out there was quite a bit cheaper than I remember it being in Virginia. I'm sure it was just the season, but we bought all these berries, and I really wanted to bake. So I made a couple galettes.



And spaghetti with meatballs. I used a really good recipe from Aunt Judy for the meatballs.


Here are a few pictures from the fishing trip:



This is a dorado (mahi mahi). They caught a ton of these. The colors are beautiful.

They also caught a ton of tuna. Bryce said the tuna were biting every day. Can't wait to have some tuna!

One day, they even caught a 50 lbs marlin. I guess it was a baby one, but it looked huge to me! Did you know that marlin can get up to 1500 lbs and around 16 ft long?? While they were there, there were some guys who caught a 400 lbs marlin!!