Top To Bottom Equals Left To Right

Ma: We had to cross the Donner Pass to get from Reno to Napa Valley. At an elevation of over 7000 feet it was like entering another world as we climbed from the mild, partly cloudy and pleasant Reno to a sleety, windy and dismal mountain top hell. While Lucy concentrated on navigating the toaster, I entertained her with stories of the doomed Donner Party, the 87 American pioneers from Missouri who in 1846 set off for California in a wagon train only to become trapped in the snow atop the very mountain we were crossing. Not a happy ending. It took about an hour to descend back into the lush and verdant farmlands of the valley and then in another hour we found ourselves on Hwy 29 headed north through Napa Valley. Lucy has never been to wine country so it was like seeing it for the first time and I have never been there in the fall. The grapes were off the vine and the leaves were varying shades of gold, red, orange and green. Gorgeous rolling hills displayed row after row of perfectly pruned and carefully tended plants. All those plants, all those grapes, all that wine! First stop, Gotts Roadside for burgers, sweet potato fries and a bottle of Hall Sauvignon Blanc. We relaxed on a picnic table in the backyard enjoying our perfectly grilled grass fed burgers and wine, the sun warm on our faces. Feeling satisfied we decided to taste our way through as many wineries as we could before they closed at 5pm. Our favorites included Grgich, Elizabeth Spencer, Heitz Cellars and Honig. We ended up at Frogs Leap where we sat on a sprawling back porch over looking green grass, gardens and distant vineyards while we sipped six wines from a tasting list, the glasses laid out before us with our server instructing, "Top to bottom equals left to right". 5:00 arrived too soon so we made our way through Calistoga to the Mountain Home Ranch, an eco-friendly, rustic resort that Dan and I had stayed in years ago. The hundred year old estate is family owned and charming. While there Lucy and I fed goats and sheep, talked to chickens and enjoyed a delicious fireside home cooked breakfast in the dining room of the main lodge. Our cottage had two king sized beds and a wood burning stove that we lit as soon as we returned from dinner at Pizzeria Tres Vigne in St. Helena where we feasted on wood fired pizza, caesar salad, frito misto and tiramisu. I couldn't even get through one page of my book before falling fast asleep.

Lu: too tired