Blog

When we first started planning our trip, we knew that the California Wine Country was one place we wanted to spend some time. We do love our wine after all… and planning to be here for nearly a month would give us plenty of time to indulge in two of our favorite pastimes – eating and drinking!

Our first stop on the wine tour was Napa. Neither of us has been here for nearly 20 years – so we knew it would be very different… but I’m not sure either of us expected it to be SO different! Napa has certainly grown by leaps and bounds! It isn’t the quaint little wine town I experienced before – it is now a sprawling city with over 75,000 residents and every chain store imaginable. They even have their own outlet mall! There are now nearly 500 wineries in the valley now – and it is a little overwhelming trying to figure out where to go and what to taste! Fortunately I have a friend in the wine business here who made some recommendations for us as a place to start.

Besides the growth of the area, one of the biggest changes to wine tourism in this area is the emergence of appointment-only tastings, and very high tasting fees. Everyone we ask given us a different explanation for these developments – from city regulations, to competition, to just trying to stay in control of the numbers of tourists coming to the valley each year. Tasting fees can range from $15 all the way up to over $100 – most will waive the tasting fee if you buy a few bottles of the wine.

I get it – all those drunken bachelorette weekends add up, and if everyone just comes to the valley to get drunk on tastings and doesn’t buy any wine, the wineries will go broke. And I guess I get the whole “appointment-only” thing… they are trying to control the number of people, and give tasters more of a “wine experience” than just a pour and dash.

But I’m not a fan of either of these developments. I want to be able to just “drop in” and do a tasting when I feel like it. You can only taste so much wine each day, and it’s nice to have the flexibility to go or not to go if perhaps you over-indulged the day before. And the tasting fees… holy cow! You could go broke on them alone and not even be able to afford any actual bottles of wine!

So I have to admit that besides the recommendations from my friend, the rest of the tastings we did had to meet two criteria: Tasting fees of less than $25 per person (and allow sharing the tasting), and no appointment necessary. Priority to wines not available in stores. I know, I know… I’m sure we missed out on some terrific wines… but we are on a budget after all!

Here’s our list of visited wineries during our stay in Napa with some thoughts and impressions on each:

Alpha Omega – this was a recommendation and a splurge ($50 tasting fee). Outstanding Cabernet Sauvignon – very pricey, but one of the two best Cabs we had in the Valley. Tasting room was a little snooty, but the gentleman who did our tasting was very warm and friendly.

Andretti – Yes, THAT Andretti…. Mario Andretti started this winery about 25 years ago. Overall, one of my top two stops in the valley. One of the few to do Italian varietals – Dulcetto, Ribera, and a fantastic off-dry Muscat. Not a bad wine in the bunch, and bottle prices are very reasonable.

Frank Family – A small boutique winery off the main road in the Northern Valley. Started with a terrific sparking rose followed by a really good Chardonnay and several outstanding reds. A bit pricey per bottle, but I would definitely go back again!

Freemark Abbey – The other of my favorites in the Valley! Their tasting room is absolutely beautiful, and we had the place all to ourselves early on a Sunday morning. Their Viognier was the best we’ve had, and their Merlot was also fantastic – not very “merlot-like,” which is a good thing (to me)! Affordable too – score!

Laird – Maybe I was just done with wine for the day, but I didn’t care for their wines as much as some of the others. Whites and reds – most were somewhat acidic and tart, not my favorite.

Monticello – Probably the other of my bottom-two of wineries from this trip. Wines were good – but just not as good as others for the price.

Miner Family – Beautiful tasting room, one of the few Rosato’s I actually liked and a really smooth chardonnay.

Napa General Store – this was our first tasting when we got to town. We were looking for lunch and ended up staying for a wine tasting. They specialize in small-batch wineries who don’t have their own tasting rooms. Special treat – we got to sample wine made by the Napa Community College Oenology Students (which we bought a bottle of!).

O’Shaughnessy – This was another recommendation, and another splurge – but well worth it. WAY off the beaten path with wonderful cabernet. Martha, our host, was just wonderful and gave us a cave tour in addition to the tasting! Wonderful experience!

Pina – We stumbled across this winery when the one we were planning to go to was closed for an event. They were having a weekend event themselves – barrel tasting and paella… what’s not to love! Very nice reds and the cutest winery dog ever!

Raymond – Raymond makes a wide range of solid reds and whites, some of which are available in stores. The best part of this tasting was that they were having their annual “cellar sale” so we got some great buys on a few extra bottles!

We also found a hidden gem – the Oxbow Public Market – which features Fieldwork Brewery (Galaxy Juice IPA… best I have EVER had), outstanding Sushi, Wood-Grilled Pizza… and a spice shop… can you say HEAVEN!!

If it wasn’t so damn expensive, I could totally live here. So until my rich uncle gets out of the poorhouse (as my Mom used to say) I guess planning our next visit will have to do!

Living on the road, visiting new places and seeing new things all the time has been a wonderful experience. But with that comes a whole lot of “new”… new roads, new scenery, new grocery stores, new rules and routines… new opportunities and challenges. Every time we get to a new stop on our trip, there are a lot of things we have to figure out.

Psychologists say that there are a finite number of decisions a person can make each day before their decision-making abilities ebb and finding yourself in a state of analysis paralysis.

When you have a solid home base and you need to get your car fixed, you call the local shop – you know the one you have been going to for years – make an appointment and take your car in to get it fixed.

When we had to take the truck in to get it fixed this week, we had to:

1. Find dealers that can service the part we needed to get fixed
2. Research good versus bad and make a decision on which shop to go to
3. Call and beg to get an appointment ASAP (since we are only going to be here for another week)
4. Try to figure out where the shop is
5. Get the appointment, get to the shop
6. Worry that I got shafted, paid too much, or that the repair will last, since we are moving on and can’t “bring it back” if something goes wrong

In this case, we also had to contact the manufacturer and submit a warranty claim and have them send us new parts. So then we had to figure out where to send the parts (no mailing address), how long will they take to get here (before we leave??) and make sure the shop can install the replacement before we head out of town. If they can’t… its back to Step 1 in the next city.

Something as simple as trying to watch Monday Night Football turns into a major decision tree – campground doesn’t get cable? Can we get it on the internet? Is the WiFi good enough? If we have to use cell do we have enough data left (or else cha-ching $$)? Amazon Prime has Thursday night football but not Monday nights. YouTube Live has Monday but not Thursday. Sunday night doesn’t work at the campground either because we can’t get NBC with the trailer antenna. And the scenario changes every single time we move.

At home, you turn on the TV, sit on the couch and watch the game.

Every little decision just adds up… and just when you “expect” that things will go a certain way, they don’t and you have to start all over again.

I’m not a person who has ever really embraced uncertainty, so it can be draining and incredibly frustrating at times. I guess you have to take the good with the bad – the excitement of new places and new adventures versus having to figure it all out all over again at every new stop – just one of those unintended consequences that comes with the territory.

It’s hard to believe that today marks the halfway point in our year-long adventure. Exactly six months ago we closed on the sale of the house, did our final cleanup, packed the trailer and headed to Charlottesville for our first night as full-time travelers.

As we’ve been approaching this milestone, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about what reaching the halfway point means: Is it about what we’ve learned? The experiences we’ve had? The people we’ve met? The things that have gone wrong… or the things that have gone right? I’d love to say that I’ve come up with some great profound lesson in this – but if I did I’d most certainly be lying.

For me, it is always difficult to see the big-picture meaning around a time or an event while in the midst of it. Be it an adventure, a vacation, having met someone, starting a new job… it’s kind of like when I get in a discussion or an argument with someone. I’m not someone who is a good debater on the spot – but give me some time to think on it and I’ll come up with a hundred arguments.

So instead, here are some thoughts and observations, on the last six months… in no particular order:

Are Darryl and I still on speaking terms? Believe it or not, this is actually the question I have been asked most often whilst on this trip! Probably asked in jest, but with genuine curiosity as well. Yes, even after six months of sharing only 160 square feet and being together nearly 24/7 for the majority of the time we are still getting along! Is our relationship stronger? I’m not sure I would say that – we have always been a pretty tight couple. Has our relationship changed? Probably – but I can’t pinpoint any particular changes at this point. It has been a LOT of closeness… and we have definitely had our moments along the way. But I think Darryl would agree that after fifteen years of marriage, and six months in to this trip, we’re in pretty good shape.

This lifestyle can get lonely at times. It is tough to meet people when you are only spending a day or two in one place, and even when you do meet folks it can be hard to make a real connection. That said, our summer in Alaska was absolutely filled with friends and family (because they really are our Alaska family!), and we have been very fortunate to have met some wonderful people along the way so far. For the next few months we’ll be staying in the same places for longer and we’ll be seeing the kids for Thanksgiving and Christmas – which we are really looking forward to!

This lifestyle can also be stressful – just in different ways than your typical household stress. Finding places to stay every night where Darryl has the connectivity he needs to work has been challenging at times. After a lot of trial and error, we’ve finally gotten all of the right equipment – we think – and now that we are in areas that are closer to bigger cities cell service is less of a challenge. And God Bless Starbucks… high speed internet AND Pumpkin Spice Lattes – SCORE! It is still stressful heading into a new camp every night – but once we know we’re ok for work at the campsite (or there is a Starbucks fairly close by) we can relax.

We knew that we would have to adjust our “master schedule” at times – and as we’ve gotten further into the trip, we’ve realized how deviating from the plan has resulted in some of the best experiences of the trip. In escaping the Montana wildfires, we ended up spending three wonderful weeks in Moab. Because we were tired of all the rain on the Oregon Coast, we headed south earlier than we planned and have really able to take our time through the Redwoods which has been absolutely amazing.

Equipment-wise, we would have brought less “stuff” – less clothing, fewer shoes, and left the kayaks at home (we have yet to put them in the water). We would have brought the roof-top tent to use while we were in Alaska and Moab. But generally-speaking we are pretty pleased with our choices and our planning.

So I guess the next question is, “Are we going to keep going?” Most definitely. Are we any closer to knowing where we want to settle at the end of the adventure? Not at all… Knowing what we know now, would we do it again? Absolutely.

Here’s to the next six months… We can’t wait to see what it brings!

In all the years I’ve traveled for work, there are a few places I missed along the way, and Oregon is one of them. Darryl has never been to Oregon either, so it was a must-stop during our adventure.

It certainly hasn’t failed to impress.

We have been here for a few weeks now, and the Oregon coast is simply one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been to. The state parks here are amazing – the parks we have been to have been the best of our entire trip so far. Clean, well-tended, and most with electrical and water hookups! Bonus!

Darryl and I both love the mountains, but one of the amazing things about this area is that you get BOTH the mountains and the beach all in one! It has been great to have the beach within a short walk so we can get out of the trailer and get a good walk in just about every day. The cook in me is also very happy that we’ve been able to find some outstanding fish markets selling everything from Chinook (King) salmon, tuna, cod, shrimp… all locally-caught of course.

One of the things I’ve enjoyed most on this trip is the opportunity to shop and eat local. It takes a little more effort to find the “off the beaten path” gems, but the Internet (Yelp) makes it much easier than it used to be, and the amazing meals we’ve had along the way have been totally worth it.

And then there is the beer…

Northern California is known for its wine, and you could argue that Oregon is equally well-known for its beer. As we have driven down the coast, every little beach town seems to have at least a half-dozen hometown brew pubs making some amazing beer. Back in Virginia, when you go to even the largest brew pubs you might have six or seven beers to choose from. Here each brewery seems to have dozens – the variety is pretty incredible and it is amazing to think that all of these small businesses are putting out this much beer!

One of the reasons for making this trip is to explore places we might want to make our long-term home – and I believe Oregon has definitely made the short list. Now if we could just do something about the high tax rate and all of the rain!