Beautiful Napa Valley! I cannot say enough about how pretty it is here. Miles and miles of green rolling hills covered with vineyards and grass and trees. After our trek through the arid southwest, the greenery is so welcome.) We camped in Calistoga, which is right in the heart of wine country. I debated whether to take a guided wine tour, or just go to a single winery or two or three on our own. I decided to start with one winery and see how it goes. (Ed is not a wine drinker, so this was pretty much my show.) We went to Castello de Amorosa which was just down the road. It was a beautiful Tuscan style castle with vineyards and winery. The castle was like a museum, complete with grand ballrooms, many wine cellars and secret passageways and even a torture chamber with some interesting artifacts on display. This is an upscale winery that does not sell in stores. You have to order it directly from them. They were selling barrels for $10,000. We passed. After touring the castle we had a tasting. We each got five choices. Ed and I chose different wines so that I could “help” him with his samples. I am glad I decided on a single winery because I was quite tipsy by the end of the tasting. Ed was designated driver today. We had lunch in Calistoga and that was the end of winery touring for me. Later in the day, we took a short ride over to California's Old Faithful and were able to watch a geyser erupt about every five minutes or so. It wasn't Yellowstone, but it was quite impressive. On our last day in Calistoga Ed got his chance for a tasting. In addition to all those wineries, Napa Valley has several great microbreweries. We chose the Bear Republic Brewing Company in nearby Healdsburg. We had a great lunch and Ed tried a “sampler” of seven of the house specialty brews. He enjoyed them very much. I was designated driver on this day. Claudia
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