Napa, Day 2

We managed to hit a total of 5 wineries the first day… and I think that’s probably close to the max you can do in one day. so, the second day, we had checked out of our hotel (actually a spa where Virginia and I both got Mud Baths, and a Massage) and headed to San Francisco, via more wineries. After breakfast at the Hydro Grill in Calistoga, we were on our way yet again.

Our first stop was at Mumm, where they make sparkling wines. We were there by 10AM for a tour of the facility, and apparently, we were the only ones who decided to make it there by 10, as it was a private tour just for Virginia and I. The process of making sparkling wine is rather interesting… if you ever get the chance to go on such a tour, I’d recommend it.  After the tour, we sat down, had a tasting of 3 lovely sparkling wines, including one *gasp* red sparkling wine. The sparkling red was… interesting … we, of course, had never had a sparkling red, and it tasted like a regular red wine… with bubbles. Also… interesting fact, most sparkling wines are made with red grapes. The grape skins are just removed so that the color and flavor doesn’t make it to the wine.

Next up was the V. Sattui winery. We stopped in the evening before… but it was quarter till 5, and apparently they close at 5. I say apparently, but there was really no apparently about it. The previous day, we walked into the tasting area, and the person doing the tasting looked at his watch, made a face and rudely informed us that they would not have time to do any more tastings. We left, but as we got into our car we noticed the rude tasting guy running out to his Volvo. Apparently, he somewhere to be… and as I looked at the clock before we drove off, it was still not 5PM.

But, we went back to V. Sattui again after Mumm.

It was a lovely day, so we had higher hopes for this trip. We went in, started our tasting, and mid tasting, the guy that was serving us “went on break” and was replaced … … … by the Volvo driving guy… So, we had a few more samples, but the Volvo guy serving poured the sample and walked away, basically telling us that we could read the sheet in front of us if we wanted to know anything about the wine. So, even though the wines were tasty, there was no purchase made because of Volvo Guy.

Sutter Home was the next stop. Yes, Sutter Home. The same wine you can get in any grocery store. let me tell you, it was one of the better tastings we went to. The wines were nothing amazingly special, but they also weren’t bad. I’m not the biggest fan of reds, but Sutter Home had a red that I was actually a fan of. It wasn’t a Zinfandel, it wasn’t a Cabernet, according to the bottle, it was a “Red”. But, the people were nice, they described their wines, and after coming from Volvo Guy… that was a welcome change.

And look. Sutter Home has actually won a BUNCH of awards. Virginia bought a bottle of their Zinfandel… it was a reserve bottle that could only be purchased at the winery itself. Pretty awesome.

Next stop: Sterling Vineyards. Sterling is located on the top of a mountain, and to get to it, you take a ride on a gondola. The people were rather nice, the views were gorgeous, and the wine was tasty. Upon getting off of the gondola, you walk around on a self guided tour of the place. It has a certain large manufacturer feel. Especially when compared to some of the smaller vineyards we’d been to. As you walk on the tour, there are metal pipes running all around, and it just feels like a factory. But, once again, the people were nice, and the wine was tasty, so we bought a bottle of Chardonnay after we did some tasting.

The last stop on the winery tour was at a famous winery. For any folks that have seen the movie “Bottle Shock” the Chateau Montelena Winery. The story is, that in 1976 when California wines were considered “Jug Wines” there was a blind taste test arranged that pitted the California wines against some French wines. This winery produced one of the wines that beat the French.

Their tasting was rather expensive, and since I’m not a fan of red wines, I let Virginia take over at this winery.

They are rather proud of themselves, and because of that, they really could care less in what you think about the wines, as they already know that their wine is the best thing to pass your lips in your lifetime. Because their wine is so great, and you have an underdeveloped palate, they encourage you to join their wine club or my personal favorite, the wine “futures” club. Here’s the gist of that magical opportunity. Stick with me here. The next group of grapes to be picked will be in 2010. You’ll start paying into the wine “futures” today. If memory serves me correctly, the absolute cheapest membership in this super exclusive club that anyone can join is around $350 a year. So, you pay the money and in return for 2010, you get: nothing. You pay $350 in 2011 and get : Nothing. $350 in 2012 and you get : Nothing. 2013, another $350, another: Nothing. Finally, in 2014, you pay another $350 and you finally receive: nothing. But, in 2015, after paying your $350, you get 4 bottles of wine from 2010.  So, you’ve waited 5 years, and paid in $2100, and you get 4 bottles of wine. Sounds like a deal to me.

After this last winery, it was time to go ahead and get to San Francisco. So, on the road again.

San Francisco

Such a lovely place this San Francisco. We got into town at about dinner time, and were staying in another Hotel California. Upon arrival, we took part in a wine and cheese hour put on by the hotel.

Since this was the end of the line for us in California, Virginia used the map on the back of the door to illustrate the area that’d we’d covered in a few short days. That night, we found a little Vietnamese restaurant across the street from the hotel and had a quiet little dinner. The short little waiter at the restaurant was very helpful as well. : Virginia – do you have any recommendations? ; Short Vietnamese waiter – NO.; He then stood by the table for about 5 minutes until we decided what we wanted to order. We had told him that we needed a bit of time to review the menu, but apparently, he had nothing better to do. But, it was a good meal.

The next morning, we woke up and went for a little walk around the area of the hotel. We found a nice little spot for breakfast and stayed within about a 2 block radius of the hotel, so keep that in mind when looking at the following pictures. A 2 block radius.

San Fran : Part Deux

After giving our self a little tour around the area of the hotel, we were in an interesting spot. We had to check out of the hotel by Noon, but we had no place we were heading to… It was December 19th, and we had nowhere to be until 12:30AM December 20th. So… we went to the Golden Gate park. The park is a good idea in theory. as long as all you want to do is walk around. Luckily, we didn’t have much else to do. There’s a museum in the Golden Gate park… they had King Tut there. We didn’t go, because it was thirty-something bucks a ticket. There was also a science museum… that was thirty something dollars a ticket… so we didn’t go there. We tried to go to the oriental garden, but they wanted us to pay for that too. But, right next door to the oriental garden was the botanical garden. which was free, and MUCH bigger.

These were at the entrance to the gardens, which I thought was interesting because in an area full of plants, they have fake ones at the front gate.

So, we took a bunch of flower pictures, which can been seen in the album, and walked for what seemed like miles and miles… saw some crazy serial killer types in the park down by Haight Street, a gothic guy who was yelling at his dog to dig it’s own grave, and even some drug dealers that were busy… well… dealing drugs.

Leaving California

After walking through the park, we were pretty damn tired. We drove towards the fisherman’s wharf, and had a lovely dinner and did a final bit of sightseeing.

We saw a museum full of coin operated stuff (Games, movie dealios, entire come to life scenes, and fortune teller thingies) which you’ll have to look at in the album. There are also pictures of Alcatraz and some other fun stuff.

But, we’ll end the honeymoon story with the last pictures taken before leaving California.

So here we say goodbye to the “Left” Coast. We say goodbye to our rental car… the Mighty Yaris … and we headed to the airport to wait for our flight.

Final Notes on our Honeymoon / California:

• Whale watching = evil.
• Homeless people, don’t be homeless in San Francisco. Compared to everywhere else we went, San Fran was chilly and walking around consisted of a lot of elevation change.
• California Leaders (AKA, the Governator) – You want tourism dollars? You would have gotten a lot more from us if we didn’t have to pay for parking everywhere. $19 at the hotel in Santa Monica. $30 at the hotel in San Francisco. $20 for parking at Golden Gate park. $15 at the Fisherman’s Wharf for the boat ride to hell. Plus many more, everywhere else we went. Knock that off, or give parking passes to tourists through visitors centers and hotels.

 

Click this picture for the link to the Honeymoon Album.

Our Wedding!!

So… there has been talk… but no real pictures or descriptions about the actual goings-on of the wonderful wedding. So, below, you’ll find some descriptions and pictures… Broken up into several parts for ease of organization.

The Rehearsal / Rehearsal Dinner

The Rehearsal took place at Lexington Presbyterian Church in Lexington, VA and was followed by the Rehearsal dinner in Buena Vista at the top of the mountain in Glen Maury Park.

The view from the top was lovely, and food included: Pork BBQ, Meatballs, Mac and Cheese and many other favorites of mine. Everyone had a good time, some embarrassing stories were told, and good food was enjoyed by all.

Afterwards, we enjoyed a bit of time at the playground… watched some deer running around… played on the swings and merry-go-round… and then followed things up by a visit to Kendall to visit with some folks there, and then to the Palms to meet some folks for a few drinks.

With all of the rehearsing done, we were ready for the next day.

The Wedding Day!

The big day arrived September 12th. Jonathan and I were running around, taking care of a few last minute items… Getting things set up for the reception… doing sound tests on the speakers… and then we were off to the church to relax.

 

Here we are, chilling on Reverend Klein’s couch in his office.

 

 

 

 

Meanwhile, Virginia and Martha were out and about with our photographer eating ice cream and posing for pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While we were doing our thing, our ushers (Nat, Blake, Ted and Will left to right) were greeting our guests and seating them. I didn’t hear any complaints from guests, so I suppose they managed to do it without tripping anyone, or accidentally seating someone across the street.

We were ready in the front, the music was filling the church, and it was time for the main event to begin.

 

 

 

 

Martha led the charge down the aisle… and from here, we’ll let the pictures do the talking for a little while…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The ceremony was short and sweet. We sang a hymn together, we said our vows. I kissed my lovely bride, and we ran out of the church to our waiting “limo”. The “Limo” was Jonathan’s Big Blue Dodge… he cleaned it all up and waxed it and everything. Of course we had to go for a ride in the bed of the truck…

The Reception!

The reception was held at Moody Hall at VMI after the ceremony and some pictures.

Tom Newhall’s New Corner Grocery band started off the cocktail hour by playing some bluegrass tunes for us, while servers walked around with trays of bacon wrapped scallops and other lovely food selections. (I cooked bacon wrapped scallops the night that I proposed to Virginia) For beverages, we brought Appalachian Ale from Boone, and wines from Rockbridge Vineyards.

 

 

 

 

 

We talked to our guests and enjoyed a few drinks before going inside and getting things kicked off.

After being announced, Virginia and I had our first dance to Ray Charles singing “It had to be you”. As a side note, we did away with the typical annoying wedding DJ. I took care of the music selection and our friend Josh took care of stopping and starting the iPod. Using this method, things went smooth as silk, there were no hiccups in the music, no annoying DJ blabber, and of course, we controlled the volume.

 

Virginia and her father danced to Paul Simon’s “Father and Daughter”

 

 

 

 

… and my mother and I danced to Barry Manilow’s “I am your child”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Martha delivered a lovely toast followed by a toast from Jonathan, and a prayer from Virginia’s father. Now, we were ready to eat.

For dinner music, I played a bunch of selections from the Vitamin String Quartet. They take classic rock tunes (and some contemporary) and play them as a string quartet. Pretty awesome stuff. For those who notice that the tunes were classic rock, it was an added bonus… for those who didn’t notice, it was just nice violin music. So… win-win.

Here we are on the VMI parade field in front of the barracks. It was a lovely day, and great weather. We’ll finish this post off by letting the pictures do the talking again.