Today we drove to Napa. Stephen offered to drive us out of San Francisco which was something of a relief as, the one way systems and endless traffic made for a slightly unnerving experience. We headed over the Bay bridge and eventually the traffic dissipated to a more manageable level.

As we approached Napa we were surprised at the number of vineyards, despite it being a renowned wine region. They were all over the place.

We found our hotel, the Discovery Inn without too much difficulty. Somewhat basic, we didn't even have a kettle but the room was quite big and clean so was bearable.

Once we dumped our luggage we headed into town for a look around. It was a hot afternoon so it wasn't long before we were looking for something cold to eat or drink. We found a Ben and Jerry's so it was ice cream all around as we people watched for a while. It was clear that some sort of festival was going to be kicking off shortly as bands were setting up and stalls were being erected. We decided to hang around for it all to start. It was a Chefs Market so there was lots of food, mainly meat but a good atmosphere. We soon realised that the Americans are just like the British and enjoy a good drinking session. They're not all as puritanical as you would think. We joined them with a couple of drinks and listened to the bands before heading off for something to eat.

The next morning we were picked up at 10am for a day of wine tasting. We were met at our hotel by Alistair and a black limo and were then driven to 2 other hotels to pick up another 2 couples, Roy and Wanda and Jonny and Jen. Roy and Wanda were from Florida, clearly a second marriage and I was also pretty sure she had undergone some cosmetic surgery but they were both very nice. Jonny and Jen were from Glasgow, a bit younger than us but we hit it off straightaway.

Our first stop was about 11am, slightly early but what the hell. We had 5 wines to taste, generally a mixture of Chardonneys, Zinfandels, Sav Blancs and Cabernet Savignons. Anyway, Stephen was quite taken by a port he tried and it wasn't long before he was buying a bottle.

Our next stop was Andretti's. This is a famous vineyard owned by Mario Andretti, who used to by a formula 1 driver apparently. Anyway, lovely vineyard and grounds. I think I saw the man himself in the courtyard sipping a glass of red and reading a book as there was a photograph of him in the tasting room. Also, he looked all Italian, black slicked back hair and fancy clothes!

The wines were pretty nice and we had some lunch in the courtyard, including strawberries covered in chocolate!

We visited 5 vineyards in total and it got to the point when I stopped drinking as it was predominantly Red wine. On the way back we all shared a couple of bottles of White in the back of the limo which was good fun.

Later that night we agreed to meet up with Jonny and Jen in Napa after food so we joined them for more drinks that evening which was good fun. We are now Facebook friends and they want us to visit them in Glasgow so you never know, we may get around to it some day...

The following day we headed off to Sonoma, a pretty wine producing town in the region. We wandered about the town for a while and found a nice spot for lunch before heading to the Old Faithful geyser just out of town. This geyser erupts like clockwork roughly every 5 minutes and it was quite impressive to watch. Next we headed to the Petrified forest where we took a trail through an area of trees, thousands of years old partially buried in volcanic ash and debris. We also saw a couple of lizards along the way which was pretty cool.