We're back from Napa! Actually, we returned on Tuesday afternoon but I've been so busy at home and work that I haven't updated. We had a lovely trip! No wineries were visited since we're not fans of the vino. Then why go to Napa, you may ask. Well, the area is so beautiful, it's only an hour and a half away from home and it was a verrrry romantic place to spend our first Valentine's Day together. (Yes, today is Valentine's Day proper, but we celebrated early.)
We arrived on Sunday around noon and stopped at Goose and Gander for drinks and lunch. It's a two-story local hangout with the bar in the basement and dining room at street level. They brewed their own IPA (The Ghost of Walter) in-house and it ended up being our favorite beer of the whole trip. The corned beef hash was grub too!
From there we walked about 10 minutes to the Mad Fritz tap room. That was some of the purest and cleanest tasting beer either of us had ever tried. After that we finally made it to the hotel to check in about 2ish. The Harvest Inn is on some lovely grounds which we had planned to run. Spoiler alert: didn't happen. The room itself could use a small refresh but we really enjoyed the fireplace and the bathroom with the walk in shower. That night we dined at the Harvest Table, the hotel's restaurant, after a couple of beers at the bar. They brew their own beer as well as their own wine. Dinner was lovely. We started with the mussel appetizer and I had the housemade pappardelle. As well as the salted chocolate custard for dessert. I was on a roll.
The next morning we had breakfast, again at Harvest Table. I had the Country French Toast which came with a beautiful orange Chantilly cream to spread on the brioche. Afterward, we hopped in my car and Wazed to the Moore Creek Park entrance. It didn't look like an official entrance - just an opening in a fence. But we chanced it and left the car outside of someone's private property markers and tow away signs. Soon we found some markers and a plastic holder full of guide maps and started our hike.
At first I was a little bored, to be honest. It was my first official hike and we walked a flat path around the lake for about 45 min with little wildlife action. Then we came to the proverbial fork in the road. We could either turn around and retrace our steps back to the car or press on and find the trail that would circle around back to the car. We chose option 2. And saw Bambi!
The trail we took was difficult for me. We climbed and climbed up switchback after mountainous switchback. I almost cried once, I’m not gonna lie. But climb to the top we did.
The rest was a quick, steep downhill. The car was still there. We drove back to the hotel and rested for an hour.
Later we hit the NapaSport Steakhouse for some beer and NBA action before an absolutely perfect dinner in downtown Napa at Grace’s Table. The potato gnocchi was amazing and I finished off with a creme brûlée in a heart shaped ramekin.
Tuesday morning we again had breakfast at the hotel (more French toast for me), packed up and checked out. Then we drove to downtown Napa again, but this time we visited the Oxbow Public Market. It was very sweet, but I was somewhat underwhelmed. I expected more of a Pike’s Market vibe but it was pretty tiny compared to Seattle. So we spent some time at the Fieldwork Brewery bar and then drove home.
I was incredibly sore from the hike and that didn’t dissipate until today. It’s also been raining cats and dogs here the past two mornings so we haven’t run since last week. Tomorrow morning we’ll be back at it with a vengeance!