Our Trip to Northern "Cali"

This was our "sweet ride" for the week.
It's all "manual" as the rental guide told us.
What that meant was no power anything.

A couple of months ago, John told me that he had until the end of June to attend a medical conference, or he would lose the money set aside for it (and the year would begin again).  Medical conferences in late spring/early summer are few and far between so we had two choices:  a Caribbean destination (which is no longer allowed through John's new employer), or Northern California.  We weren't super excited about the idea of "Napa Valley" simply because we knew absolutely nothing about it.  Too, it was already full, but John being the renegade he is, didn't tell me this, had me buy the $200 round-trip/non-stop flights (I know, RIGHT??), and registered at the conference itself.

What an interesting place this has turned out to be!  We flew into Oakland at 10:30 p.m. PST (meaning 1:30 a.m. EST) and drove the hour to the hotel in the dark.  The traffic was crazy fast even that late at night, and we thought we saw mountains, but we really had no idea until we woke up in the morning.

Staying at a resort is really a farce, and I feel badly for all of the people who never venture out.  The resort is amazing, especially around the pool, but it could have been a resort anywhere in the world.  It wasn't until that night when John was done with his conference that we headed out to dinner and really got our first look at Northern California.  But not before we spent the day around the pool!

Glo spent a good part of the afternoon just sketching various people sitting around the pool.

And we ate some homemade quest and chips.

As Glo so smartly enlightened us, Northern California is pat of a vey specific type of biome known as "chaparral".  It's combined mountains and plains, and receives more rain than deserts, but not by much.  It didn't take long for us to realize that it looks much like Italy.  In fact, if I had woken up here and not know where I was, I would have guessed the Mediterranean for sure.  I found it really fascinating.  Nerdy, I know, but fascinating.  There's just something about an environment that affects how I feel about a place.

California is an anathema to me.  I can't ever wrap my head around where the major cities are--Los Angeles, San Diego, Sacramento, San Francisco, "the Bay", Yosemite--and flying into Oakland didn't help.  So I decided to search what was close by, and discovered that Napa Valley lies more in the Northern part of the state.  Not Upper Peninsula kind of north--more "central" in my view--but perhaps "north" in the minds of Californians.  I was delighted to discover that there are quite a few things close to Napa, thankfully considering we can't frequent any of the sounding businesses ;-)

Glo and I had a plan for the second day.  We got out of bed and headed down to rent complimentary bikes for the morning, ready to see some of the area.  Napa just built a biking path that runs from the bottom of the county to the top, and our resort just happens to sit next to it.  We headed away from the city of Napa and found ourselves among vineyards within minutes.  I would like to say we saw more, but that's all there is here--miles and miles, and acres and acres of vineyards.  We biked about 7 miles out, attempted to follow a path a turn around on a separate path, but ended up in a small town called Yountville which could have been cut and pasted from a Disney village.  Perfectly manicured lawns, new construction, high-end restaurants, and very VERY white people.  Of course, with all that wealth, I found them very patient with a couple of yokel bicyclists ;-)

By the end, Glo was mostly riding this way, saving her poor bum from more pain.

These eucalyptus trees lined the path.  They are actually an invasive species, brought over from Australia almost 200 years ago.  They are a picturesque part of Northern California, but the locals are hoping they die out soon.

We quickly realized that we had taken a wrong turn and had two options:  turn back and get back on the path forward, or head backward and retrace our steps back to the resort.  Either way was about the same distance.  However, there were two things happening at this point:

1--The sun.  My lily white skin hasn't seen the sun in a good six months.  While this isn't high-altitude, fry-in-a-minute sun, nor the scorching Caribbean sun, it's still sun, and I was a bit worried.  I had my sun screen on, but HOURS in the sun is a bit scary for me.

2--Saddle sores.  Holy smokes, it was quickly obvious to both Glo and me that our bums haven't sat on a bike seat in just about the same amount of time as our skin hasn't seen sun.  We were getting SORE!

So we headed back the way we came, mostly because we knew at least what we could expect :-)

And it's here that I must share a funny story.  Eons ago, before I was married and all responsible, I was a "bicyclist".  I had the spandex shorts before they were ever a thing.  I had a road bike with the super skinny wheels and which I could have carried with my pinky.  I wore a helmet, again, before they were even a thought, but which would protect me from the unaware drivers on the winding backroads of Michigan.  When I cycled, it was the skinniest I've ever been in my life, and my legs and lungs were Herculean.  I would come home from the end of a ride, squirt the last of my water bottle all over my face and collapse on the ground, all in the style of "Breaking Away", my favorite movie still of all time.  I'm not sure if it's a new development or not, but this new generation of cyclists is a rude, arrogant lot.  I see it on the trail that is near our house in Michigan, but I got a more up-close-and-personal look here in Napa Valley.

Glo and I had pulled over to the side of the biking path to look at the map that the hotel provided.  The key words are "we had pulled over" to the side.  We had come up to an intersection with a major road, and we weren't sure which way to go.  Picture us in our t-shirts and shorts, and no helmets, on hybrid bikes.  What a threat we are, eh? All of a sudden, a man comes flying past in his racing gear, his road bike and helmet, yelling at us "NOT A GREAT PLACE TO STOP!"  Without missing a beat, Glo proved that she is my daughter, through and through.  He couldn't even hear me yelling at him "Thanks for the lecture!" because Glo was yelling at him LOUDER!  And both of us were gesticulating in the air at him and his three drafting followers.  In nothing more than a second, they all flew out in the intersection where a car was coming through. The car slammed on its brakes and laid on the horn at the irresponsible cyclists.  Hmmmm, karma's a B sometimes, isn't it?  Too bad he was so busy policing us that he wasn't taking care of himself, huh?

We got back to the resort, jumped in the pool for ten minutes, crisped up nicely like a chicken leg in oil, and got ready for the next adventure.

Muir Woods is only an hour from Napa (see how cool I already sound?). It's named for John Muir, a very famous naturalist whom I remembered reading about in a National Geographic years ago.  If I remember correctly, it was him who had the foresight to create both Central Park and Yosemite.  Muir Woods is the closest standing redwood forest in the area, so of course we had to head there.

There are just some sights in the world where you can't deny that there is a Heavenly Father at work, and the redwoods seem to be creatures who are reaching back to that great Creator.  Their height is absolutely staggering, eclipsing even the Statue of Liberty...and there they are, just sitting in nature.  The main trail was just a mile and a half and rather crowded with people, but we found a skyline trail that traversed the side of the mountain and gave us the same views in peace and quiet.  It was incredibly beautiful and touching and one of our favorite kind of outings.

Of course Glo went OFF THE TRAIL to climb through this hole in the trunk from behind.

A BLACK chipmunk.  Who knew?

I had to ask for it, but I finally got a picture of ME!

Then today, we were planning on heading into San Francisco to see the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz, but John told me he had something else planned for us.  In true John style, he couldn't keep the secret longer than five minutes, and we found out that we would need to get up at 4:45 in the morning in order to catch our HOT AIR BALLOON RIDE!

Yep, my bucket list is long, but I have now crossed off another item:  riding in a hot air balloon.

Since we've stayed on Eastern Standard Time, it wasn't difficult getting up so early.  We met the van next to the hotel, drove ten minutes to the launch site, and watched the magic happen.  Who would think that a balloon which holds our life in its yards of Dacron would fit into a large tent bag?!  It was quickly unfolded, cold air was blown into it to fill it up basically, and then the hot air came next.  No more than ten minutes total for that whole experience.  And we jumped in the basket, got a quick briefing, and we were off!

I kid you not, if you're going to get a hot air balloon ride, do it somewhere picturesque.  I've tried twice in Albuquerque only to be foiled by high winds, and we used to see balloons all over the countryside in Germany.  Good plans for sure.  And Napa Valley is perfect too.  All those vineyards that Glo and I peddled past?  They look like a beautiful patchwork quilt from the air.

Perspective.  We were 2,000 feet in the air!

One strange thing is that I found it far less unnerving than when I used to go up in gliders.  I always worried about crashing and dying in gliders(perhaps a result of my own dad dying that way), but being up in the balloon didn't strike any of that fear into me.  You would think it would, because if anything goes wrong, it's just a straight drop to the earth (and no wings or a cockpit to help you return safely).  But I just didn't feel worried at all.  Aside from the jettisons of hot air, it was so peaceful.  It almost didn't feel like we were moving at all.  And wow, balloon pilots deserve all the credit.  Being able to spot a good landing place and figure out how they are going to make it work?  That was the one moment where I couldn't watch, because I was sure we were going to land directly on the vines and destroy them.

And after all that, we were back to the hotel by 7:30 a.m., feeling disbelief that life would just go on after that amazing experience.  John bought it for us as my Mother's Day gift which made me all the happier for doing what I did for so many years ;-)

Finally, that night we had dinner with Mike and Celeste Dailey.  Next to the Morans, they were our dearest friends in Germany.  I had vivid memories of just heading over to their house EVERY Friday, Saturday and Sunday night for games.  So many games, and they just never said "no".  And every time we get together, it's so easy--it feels as if we just said goodbye yesterday.

I was more than upset (to say the least) about heading back home.  Usually I'm ready to leave after so many days, but we've been under so much stress for so many months, and it was so nice to get away.  Yep SO many feelings :-)