Napa / Sonoma, California

We have been back from Peru for two months. It was good to get back home, sleep in my own bed, and enjoy all the comforts of my own house. My dad was retiring and so in mid November he flew out to visit. This is an interesting time of the year in the Bay Area. The weather begins to turn colder, and by that I mean the temp plummets to 40-50 degrees. Usually there is not too much rain until the late winter and spring, but this year the clouds rolled in and it began to drizzle for about a week. As my dad flew in, the clouds parted and the Sun began to shine - perfect weather for a road trip.
We started by hitting some of the local places around our house. There is a cute little spot called (appropriately) The Mountain View Inn - right off Panoramic highway. It's a nice spot to sit and catch in the rays, have some wine, and then hit some of the trails which begin right across the street. However, its been a long time since I've seen my parent and I wanted to take him up to Napa and Sonoma as he had never been that way before.
We packed up the Mini Cooper, took down the roof and headed up to wine country. Now, to be honest there are a lot of really good spots up in Napa. I love the Carneros area, and the Artesa winery. We even made it over to the Clos Du Val winery on Silverado trail. However, I find Napa to be a bit pretentious. The wines cost more, the wine tasting is expensive, and the spas and inns are a bit overpriced. Whats more, the biking trails along the main roads are down right dangerous. But, if you are taking someone for the first time, it is still a joy.

Fall is a wonderful time up there. The vineyards are all turning various shades of orange, red, and brown. The air seems more crisp and most importantly - IT IS WINE COUNTRY'S LOW SEASON - so all the prices are reduced and there are not as many bloody tourists.

I would probably recommend hitting Plumpjack, Franciscan, Artesa, V. Sattui, Clos Du Val, Stags Leap, and Del Dotto. Mondavi is really overrated. Granted, I'm no super expert on wine. I can't sip a glass and tell you that it was picked by a man with one wooden leg on the sunny side of the hill in the Lower Loire. But in the end it really doesn't matter what others comment on wine - its what that wine does for your personally. My best advise would be to take a sip - feel for the flavors and if it makes you feel sick or retched - just spit it out. To hell with the "experts".
After our tour of Napa, we took a back road over the hills into Sonoma. There is something fantastic about Sonoma. Its like the little brother of Napa that wants to be like its sibling, but knows it has to perform twice as hard to get there. The people seem nicer and less snobby. The Inns and Spas are cheaper and we managed to land a bunch of free wine tasting passes which helped. Speaking of which, staying at the Kenwood Inn was one of the best moves we made.
I can't say enough about his place. The rooms are cosy, the pools and campus is beautiful, and food was good. I would highly recommend this place to anyone:

http://www.kenwoodinn.com/

I managed to sign up my dad for a spa treatment with a massage and hot tub soak. He promptly felt very nauseated and nearly passed out - will have to remember not to do that in the future.

I was sad to see him go back, but I think he had a fun time.

Now we are just chilling at home. The other night we had the family over for dinner and friends started showing up. It was an amazing sight to see the house full of people, the fire blazing, and little Alexander (the cat above) getting plenty of attention.