Napa Valley, Part 1

If someone asked me to compare Napa Valley to Willamette Valley, my answer would be "Willamette Valley is Napa Valley circa 1978."  Willamette Valley is mom-and-pop wineries, where the person running the tasting room is also the vintner & the owner.  Sure, they have their fair share of big name places - Domaine Serene, Sokol Blosser, Archery Summit - but Willamette Valley is laid-back, peaceful, friendly.  Napa Valley is big money, tour buses, expensive tastings, & crowds - Sutter Home, Robert Mondavi, Silver Oak.  NOT to say it's not beautiful & filled with extraordinary wine & food.  But personally, Oregon is more our speed, while California is more the speed of the bored & wealthy.  (It probably doesn't help that Steve & I are more Pinot Noir fans - Willamette Valley is Pinot Noir country, Napa Valley is Cabernet Sauvignon country)

We thoroughly enjoyed our trip & can now say we've traveled to a new place we've never been or experienced; traveling is a must in a rich & fulfilling life (in my humble opinion), so I'm always happy to see new places.  Napa Valley vacation = success.  On a side note, a friend & I were discussing domestic traveling.  It's often easy to overlook travel within the United States as worthwhile, but it's necessary to have a combination of international v. domestic travel.  Traveling abroad is amazing but it can also be a lot of prep & sometime stress (new language, different culture & lifestyle).  Obviously worthwhile.  Domestic travel, however, is often easy to prep & make happen (not to mention cheaper).

Moving on to pictures...

 The cheap motel we chose the night before flying out of Billings in the early a.m.  Cheap, free shuttle & parking?  Yes please.  Apparently it hasn't been updated since 1962.  I had to snap a (horribly blurred) picture of the amazing mustard-yellow bathroom.  Someone somewhere thought these colors were all the rage?  Ouch.

 Attempt at self-portrait.  Notice Steve's overly happy face & my pinched nose.  He claims he saw an elephant run under the bed shortly after letting out a big stinky one.

 Smell has passed.  I do not, however, know what is going on with our hair (maybe we're going for the Crested BobWhite look).

We made it to California!

Driving the scenic route from Sacramento to Napa Valley.  Notice the gray sky?  It stayed that same color four days straight.

 The Monticello Dam.

 Best part of the dam is the spillway (affectionately known as the Glory Hole)!  See here.  I was sure with all the rain that water would be gushing into the spillway; no such luck.  It was still pretty cool to see.

 This particular spillway is from Lake Hennessy.  We weren't intending to stop but the enormous splash of water had all the motorists stopping for pictures.  I found a video of the spillway in action, splashing about the same amount that we saw.  It was incredible!