The title in no way, shape or form indicates that Veterans take naps or that I took a nap on that day…I didn’t take a nap-a, instead I went to Napa – Napa Valley that is.
Aaron and I figured we had a day off and instead of complaining during the week that we don’t get to go out and play, (although you will notice how much we really do play), we searched on the trusty internet for some day trips that we could take and explore the sights… Napa Valley was close enough and neither of us had been there before. So, off we went.
The drive was alive as we jammed to ABBA tunes (oldies and goldies) and chatted away. After about an hour or so, we arrived in Napa and it seemed like a cute little place – downtown Napa. We went to the visitors center and got a map of all the wineries in the area – 400 of them – and mapped out a route that we wanted to see. Since we were starving by the time we got there, we walked into the restaurant so conveniently located across from the center and bought two really yummy sandwiches to take with us while we drove around.
As we walked around downtown Napa, completely grateful and a bit surprised at how empty the town was due to the holiday, we kept getting sidetracked by the number of stores – window shopping. We did however find ourselves in a chocolate shop with hundreds of bite-size chocolates and you could try a few complimentary pieces…in the bargain, the lady that worked there, offered us free peanut brittle – 3 kinds. Unable to resist and really being too enthusiastically filled with sugar (this is their ploy), we bought a bag of peanut brittle. I know.
Finally, we made it to the car and got on the road. Back to ABBA who I am sure missed us lipsynching the wrong words to some of their tunes, we got out our map and away we went. Thinking that it would be best to get the food into our stomachs and out of the way, so we would have free hands to drive and take pics, we opened our sandwiches and without any ceremony, devoured them. We were immediately proven wrong as the vineyards started appearing almost instantaneously as we hit the route we were supposed to take. And between bouts of gluttony and some shaky photography, we finished our meal and took a left on a road that seemed to lead to nowhere. We pulled off to the side of this almost dirt road and looked out at this gorgeous vineyard. It was exactly like we see in the pictures of Napa (since the sun was setting and the pics on the internet are much better that the ones I took, go look at those) – green and all shades of the fall with translucent leaves almost and neat rows of vines…beautiful sunset and rolling hills of vineyards…one after another…we had our own private Discovery Channel moment. We were parked under a tree and looking out at the vineyard, we relaxed and shared our thoughts and watched the sun set. Peaceful and beautiful.
It was now dark and therefore the lure of the vineyards had worn off, besides we were filled with food and brittle and were content to get back on the road and head home. Traffic was a bit crazy but we returned home and were just the right kind of exhausted to have a good night’s sleep. It was fantastic to go and explore for a bit…day trips are AWESOME!!!
