fruits of the valley.

It's Tuesday--and today, I have another dose of wine country for you! In the midst of the 
craziness of the last few weeks, my California recap posts have gotten shoved to the side...
so I hope you'll indulge me as I finally wrap up the trip this week. In order to avoid a 
complete picture dump, you're going to get one more helping of California on Thursday ;)

For our sixth day out west, we let someone else do the driving--which allowed us to really
enjoy the fruits of the valley. We scheduled a tour through Platypus Tours, which ended up
being a phenomenal decision. Here are a few photos from our stops along the way...


Platypus plans the tour based on where they make the pick-ups of their passengers. Since we 
were coming from the town of Napa and the other three adventurers were staying in Calistoga, 
the stellar tour director centered our tour in the northern part of Napa Valley. Our first stop of 
the day was at Castella di Amorosa, which was more for the castle than for the wine. From
there, we headed to the small and quaint Summers Estate, where we also enjoyed a light lunch
provided by Platypus. It ranked as one of our favorite because of its intimate tasting room and 
the bocce court in the backyard!

Frank Family Vineyards was next. It has a beautiful set-up and definitely had a bigger crowd than Summers, though I think that is because the Frank Family has a few more pennies to spend to 
promote their winery. Our day on the road ended at another small, family-run vineyard called the 
Dutch Henry Winery. Admittedly, this part of the day gets a little foggy {we had been to four
wineries by this point!}, but I remember two things very distinctly: yummy wine and a barn-cat 
named Miguelina, who was a dead ringer for our Lucy. {cv} also won a trivia contest before
we wrapped up the tour and won me a sweet prize. He's so good to me ;)

At the end of it all, taking a Platypus Tour made our sixth day in the Golden State that much 
better. We didn't have to worry about anything and had so much fun with the {d}s--
we laughed and enjoyed each other just like the old days back in Charlotte! 

On your travels, what have you done to help make your trip worry-free?

I hope your week got off to a splendid start! I can't wait to hear your travel tips :)
More from little ol' me tomorrow--xoxo {av}

if you're in the mood for more of California, here are the photos from earlier in our trip:

29 comments:

  1. this is heaven to me! friends, wine & a driver (:

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  2. Beautiful pictures! What a great time you had! Love the way you tell your stories!

    Have a fabulous day! xoxoxo

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  3. This is definitely the way to go. We did a trip to Sonoma last year (actually posted about it today!) and had a driver as well. The perfect way to see the beautiful vineyards and enjoy the wine tastings!

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  4. This is my kind of trip!!!! I just love wine country. I miss it being so close, when I lived in SF, it was an easy drive. xx

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  5. i've only been to one winery, in sicily, and the food and wine was so excellent that we all went home with bottles and bottles! (it helped that they were only 1 euro each! haha!)
    i think you did a great job going with the tour company. sometimes it's hard to plan out everything.

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  6. Looks amazing! I am dying to make a trip to Napa, it is on my bucket list! xo

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  7. Your photos make me want to go back to Napa sooo badly! We went on our honeymoon but have been bugging our friends to start saving now for a couples trip in a few years :)

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  8. This looks so amazing!!! Love all of the pictures.

    You guys are so adorable by the way. :)

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  9. sounds like a GREAT time. i need to get h out to cali sometime soon :) xoxo jillian:: cornflake dreams

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  10. i think the most worrisome part of traveling is forgetting to pack something. something i have definitely learned when packing to study abroad (that my dad said to me) was that if i forget something, i can always buy it there. and that really is the worst case scenario.

    http://lachapstickfanatique.blogspot.com

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  11. A vacation built around winery tours is my idea of heaven- thanks for sharing!!!

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  12. Seriously FUN!!! Looks like you are having a BLAST!

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  13. so much fun, I'll have to look into Platypus if we take a trip to Cali anytime soon!

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  14. Now you have me craving a wine country trip...maybe next weekend!

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  15. wine tasting is so much fun and napa valley is one place i want to go to one day. looks like you are having a great vacation. thanks for hosting the friday fancies, i did my first one last week and it was so much fun! meg

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  16. I would love a glass of wine right now! Actually, we are trying to move out to California and every time I see one of your posts it makes me want to go that much more!! If only jobs would come along! :)

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  17. We're going the end of September! Can't wait! I absolutely love it up there. Thanks for sharing the transportation company you used, I've been looking for one!

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  18. Oh as a CA native, I'm going to have to go back and read all of these CA recaps :)

    I've done a wine tour on a bus, too. They are so much fun and worth the price tag!

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  19. I'm in love! I think I need to schedule a Napa trip asap. It looks like you guys had such a great time!

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  20. This makes me want to go to Napa right now. I always try to keep a drink in my hand - that usually keeps the worry away hehe ;)

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  21. Sounds amazing! Thanks for the tip about the wine tours!

    Becca
    http://beccatm.blogspot.com

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  22. wine Tasting is so much fun!!

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  23. I love the SIP sign! I am going to wine country for my company's sales meeting in October- cannot wait. never been!

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  24. that is like a dream vacation for me i think!

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  25. Sounds like a blast! And the only way to do it.

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  26. Looks like you had so much fun! I can't wait when I am no longer a poor law student and can go traveling as well :)

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  27. I would love to go to Napa someday, looks like fun!

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  28. I love walking around Catella di Amorosa! Last time I was there, I was obsessed with the goats out front!

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