Day-31: Napa to Pinnacles National Park

Saturday, October 26, 2013

Of course today there is no fog in the Napa Valley and the balloons are flying.

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This was check-out day and travel day for us all, with Chris & Denny heading home, Pat & Jack heading for Seattle and Diane, Greg, Sheila and me headed for Pinnacles NP.

New Tampa Bay Rays Fan

By 9, everyone was packed and the first contingent was ready to depart for the Oakland and San Francisco airports.  While saying our good-byes, we were honored by a special visit from D.J. Kitty. After a few pictures and introductions DJK returned to his lair.

In a slightly more relaxed manner the “Pinnacle Pikers” departed around 10:30. Before departing the Napa Valley, we did a brief amount of sightseeing, including a stop at the places we didn't eat last night.

The French Laundry and its gardens in Yountville was our first stop. Though it may be a great restaurant, the view from Auberge du Soleil far exceeds the street level view from the Laundry. The gardens were beautiful. Supposedly most of the produce served comes from the restaurant's gardens and farms. The neatly organized and annotated vegetable gardens would be the envy of any home gardener. If they served all of those leafy vegetables I'm not sure what I would have ordered from the menu.

One other alternate to the Laundry had been the nearest In-N-Out Burger. We never saw the store nor the In-N-Out gardens so obviously we didn't get to experience a tray of sliders.

So we may have missed an opportunity to dine at these twos special restaurants but in hindsight I am of the opinion that our choice of Auberge was a good one.

We then proceeded to the Napa Car Wash for, you guessed it, car washes. It was discount day so for $14/car we disposed of the dust and dirt from thousands of traveled miles. After the wash we had a brief post office visit for mailing cards followed by a shopping stop at the local Target.

By 11:30 we were really on the road, bound for Pinnacles National Park. We departed Napa and joined the I-80 system working our way south through Walnut Creek, Danville, San Ramon, Pleasanton, and Fremont to US-101 near San Jose. After replenishing our gas supply near Hollister and a brief stop at a general store for provisions (aka chips & trail mix) we proceeded to the park arriving around 2:30. We stopped at the visitor center for stamps and souvenirs and a few more food items for our upcoming picnic lunch.

No Pine Cones!

We found a shady spot down by a dry creek for our lunch and planned a hike on Bear Gulch Cave Trail for the afternoon. For lunch we had Doritos (two flavors), cheese, apples, grapes and trail mix. At lunch we were near a dead tree, the home to many, many woodpeckers. Seems that the local wood peckers bore holes in the trees and then load them up with acorns for another day; don’t recall seeing such activity before.

Following lunch we made ready for our hike into the hills. In this case, making ready did not include reading all of the notices and warnings, but hey we’re age hardened and experienced trail hikers and/or walkers, what more can we learn?

Off we trekked, three of us this time, Diane, Greg and me with Sheila deciding that reading and gaming would be a better option than hiking into the dark unknown. (Decision would later be confirmed as wise).

Our start was ominous as at the trail head none of the three of us could find the start marker, though there was only one trail, so that was a hint. At the trail head we met two women that were no help in identifying the trail as they were just there waiting for husbands to return from the hill and caves. As it was, the husbands had the car keys thus the women were somewhat limited in options. In any case we started up the one trail and were confident that we were on the right track.  One strange thing we noticed was that all the younger folks passing us either going or coming had headlamps and/or flash lights. Silly them, it was 3 in the afternoon with the sun still high in the sky. So the 2.0 mile (round-trip) "easy to moderate" trail went something like this:

• Fifty feet of flat from the trailhead
• 0.2 miles of uphill grade into the rocky zone
• 0.2 miles of meandering through and over the rocky zone before entering the cave
• 0.3 miles of ever-narrowing and ascending caves, starting with steps and transitioning to rocky terrain
• 0.3 miles of ever-decreasing light in the cave over rocky terrain with steep stairways
• 0.2 miles of undiscovered (at least by us) trail through who knows what because by now we had reversed course

You might have noticed the comment about “ever-decreasing light”; this is where the head lamps and flash lights come into play, it's why so many passed us with a variety of light sources. So in the darkness we had four options, 1) retreat, 2) go ahead blindly, 3) buy someone’s flash light or 4) station Diane in the lead with her iPhone. Half way into the darkness, a youngster offered iPhone advice to increase the light intensity from the iPhone: visibility immediately improved, we could now see two feet in front of us, not quite far enough to see the overhead rocks (only a problem for those over 5'8").

Finally we had had enough of not seeing in the caves. We reversed course and headed back to the base. At this point we discovered that we had missed the cave by-pass that would have made life easier but then again our three-some was not out for easy.

By 4:30 we were in the car lot, packed and ready to move-on. Our targeted destination for the night was Coalinga, CA. What I had estimated to be about an hour's drive turned into almost two hours. Once again we encountered the winding and narrow roads that radically slow down one’s average speed.  The region of travel is through California ranch land with beautiful rolling hills and steep mountain faces. The area of travel is subject to significant earth movement as it’s the area bisected by the San Andreas Fault. No quakes today as best we know.  By 7 PM we found our hotel. In the last 30 miles or so as driving at dusk turned to darkness, we had near approaches with at least two deer and a large dog. Fortunately there was no contact in any of the cases and we pulled in unscathed.

As this was to be an easy dinner night we selected the Red Robin for supper. Turned out to be a problem, as apparently the RR was no longer in business. In lieu of the RR we headed into the local Le Cru Denny (aka Denny’s). It was a good news, bad news thing. The bad was that the food tasted and looked like it cam from Denny’s, the good was that our total bill was less that the cost of one glass of wine at the Opus Winery and less than one entrée at Auberge du Soleil last night.

As communication connectivity had been spotty en-route, we all caught up on receiving emails, checking Facebook and listening to messages. Sheila actually had enough reception to check-in on the Red Sox vs. Cardinals game and we were able to call and wish Shannon a Happy Birthday.

As for the game, we saw the last inning when we returned to our room. It was a weird ending, never seen such a play as that.

Planning for tomorrow includes Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks.

Day-30: Balloon Flight, Tastings & Great Dinner

Friday, October 25, 2013

Everyone was up at 5:30 this morning for our balloon flight over the Napa Valley. We departed the hotel around 6:30 and arrived at the Domain Chandon Vineyard for our flight. As we drove over, we could see that parts of the valley were clear but the low level fog could be seen in the distance.

In the vineyard lounge drinks and pastries were being served and we took the time to fill out the disclaimers and hold-harmless documents shielding the balloon company from responsibility for anything and everything other than collecting our money.

During this gathering period, Ken (clearly not of Ken & Barbie fame) made some general announcements and indicated that should fog preclude flying in the Napa Valley the alternate plan would be to fly in the adjacent “no-fog” valley somewhere to the east. Given the option of flying over cornfields and fruit trees versus vineyards and the fact that most of us had ballooned before, we opted out of the flight for the day. To some it was an unfortunate turn of events to others it was a savings of $500.

On recommendation of the balloon folks, we went to Gillwoods Cafe in St. Helena for breakfast. The food was good with big bowls of oatmeal, real maple syrup, home made corned beef hash along with a variety of omelets on the menu.

One of the vineyards that had been recommended by Steve at the 1313 Main Restaurant was the Keever Vineyard. Knowing that they had tastings by appointment only we found their location and stopped by to see if we could make such arrangements. Upon entering the gated vineyard and the tasting room we were greeted by Ashley Keever, the daughter of John & Olga Keever. They all appeared to be surprised by our entrance but were very polite and enthusiastic. Turned out that they thought we were early for a 9 AM wine tasting and as it was only 8:30 they weren’t quite ready. Unfortunately they were booked for the day and we wouldn’t be able to taste their wine. In checking the Keever web site, this is a “club” vintner with prices slightly to the high side. Now if we only knew of the quality.

En-route back to the hotel, we stopped at the local Dean & Delucca Market, the store where even the bologna costs $40/lb. I think we stopped for the coffee and ambience of the D&D store. While waiting Denny remembered that he wanted wooden wine bottle boxes for his home cellar. As we entered the store, such boxes for Opus One were stacked at the door. In discussion with the wine manager, Denny was able to acquire several of the desired boxes. Fortunately we escaped D&D with minimal out of pocket expenses.

We returned to the hotel by ten for rest and showers before getting down to some serious wine tasting.

By 11:30 we were lined up and ready for the tasting tour. To prep our palates several of us consumed another piece of Halloween candy offered by the hotel.

Our first stop for the afternoon was at the PeJu Vineyard. We wandered through the entryway and found our way to the second floor tasting room. The wine was good, not necessarily great. The most memorable part of this visit was the opportunity to experience "Vintertainment” by Alan Arnopole the “Yodelmeister” (YouTube link: “Alan PeJu”).To take an excerpt from the Peju website regarding Alan, “It's hard to say where else one can be yodeled to, rapped at, made to laugh, educated and served great wine - all at once.”

Our second stop goes down as the best atmosphere and setting for a tasting. The Alpha Omega Vineyard was just a short distance away minimizing our time on the road. At Alpha Omega we were shown to an outdoor table with couchy seats all around. Before us was a series of fountains with the vineyards spread all around. Our host at Alpha Omega was barely old enough to drink but had grown up in the Napa area and did a good job describing the various wines tasted.

Third in line was the Raymond Vineyards, a touted “green vineyard”. The winery has an interesting garden but the most interesting thing turned out to be the glitziest wine tasting room we would see bar none, decorated with gaudy mirrors and scantily attired mannequins hanging from the railings and a trapeze over the tasting tables. We didn’t actually do a tasting at Raymond as Sheila had called the Del Dotto Vineyards and was able to get us an appointment tasting; as such we were soon on our way across the street.

The Del Dotto Vineyard  markets itself at the “upper end” of the wine spectrum. The building follows an Italian Villa design scheme.  Here we tried a number of wines as the tasting selection was by choice to some degree as opposed to others where the tasting is more prescribed. In addition to the wines sampled, several of us tried a port; it was sweet as expected but when coupled with the offered chocolate, a pretty good drink. As at Trefethen yesterday, we made wine purchases at Del Dotto. 

As we were finishing our tasting at Del Dotto, Sheila advised that Opus One was available if we could arrive before 4 PM. With a 15-minute cushion, no way we wouldn’t make the Opus One opportunity.

I think it’s fair to say that none of us had ever paid for a glass of Opus One. If you need to ask why, then you don’t know your Opus. Whereas at the previous wineries the tastings usually consisted of five wines for a tasting charge of about $25/person. At Opus there were two options, the 2007 Opus One or the 2010 Opus One. We ordered up two tastings of each year, a total of four 3 oz. glasses. $180 later we had all tasted Opus One and though it was agreed it was a fine wine we doubted that it would be on our tables any time soon. Just to calibrate, for the value of the Opus tasting Greg could have bought 24 bottles of Cupcake SV or we could have bought 45 gallons of gas, or 225 gallons of bottled water, or 40 pints of Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream, etc. Bottom line, we didn’t buy any bottles of wine; however, Denny was able to score a few more wood boxes.

Our MART close-out dinner had originally been planned for The French Laundry in Yountville. As it turned out we were unable to secure those reservations thus our standby became our primary site for dinner, the Auberge du Soleil in Rutherford. The Auberge offers a great menu at a great location, high above the Napa Valley. Some of the selected entrees included bacon wrapped veal, salmon, steak, scallops, etc. The dessert offerings were interesting with the tarragon ice cream with olive oil to compliment filo wrapped chocolates as perhaps the strangest. The cheesecake with huckleberries and fir tree something, pumpkin pie and apple cider donuts were also ordered around our table. In any case, it was a great meal on a beautiful night in the valley; a fitting closure to our latest 8-person MART.

The disappointment of this morning’s canceled balloon flight was long forgotten by day’s end, our memories centered on the wines, the dinner and the friendships.

We returned to hotel by about 8:30 and everyone began preparations for Saturday’s departure.