Napa, CA

As we love our wine, spending time in the Napa area was a must as we worked our way north through California. We convinced Taylor to join us for a few days, so we started our trip off with a day in San Fran on the wharf after picking her up at SFO. I love San Fran and their tourist areas. The next two days were spent visiting the amazing wineries in the Napa valley. Danelle was giddy with just the thought at introducing Taylor to the sights and tastes of Napa. We visited the castle, Castello di Amorosa, the unique Persian winery of Darioush and rode the gondola up to Sterling for their tasting and tour, among other stops throughout the towns and valley. It was a great visit and we were sad to drop Taylor off at the airport, but her life begins in Phoenix and we had another week to enjoy this area. After the drop off at the airport, we enjoyed a late lunch in Chinatown, which always reminds me of my dad, and then further "enjoyed" the 3 hour drive home out of the city. The next day we ventured into Sonoma on an overcast, but perfect day for wineries. I must admit that I now like Sonoma better than Napa. I am a new fan of red Zin. I highly recommend visiting St. Francis winery at the north end of Sonoma. Their wines were amazing. We alternated days between Napa and Sonoma and found that we gravitated more towards Sonoma as the days went by. We took a drive up to the Zin area north of Sonoma and visited a few small wineries near the Alexander Valley. To take a break from the wine consumption, we went into Sacramento to see the state capitol and old downtown areas and we drove into Santa Rosa to see the Charles Schulz museum. Both were fantastic and recommended when in this area. We have added an new link that will include extra pictures. We will be trying to limit our posts to 10 pictures or so, but there will be more on the other link. http://www.thegilliamsisland.com/2017/06/napa-pictures.html Fun fact. Charles Schulz was born in Minnesota but spent most of his life in the Santa Rosa area, which is just north of the Sonoma valley. He was a hard core hockey fan and built a hockey stadium where they host a senior hockey tournament and elite ice show every year.