Our trip to Calistoga and the wineries was a success! We drove up to Calistoga on Friday evening and after checking into the Calistoga Village Inn and Spa we ate dinner at the Flatiron Grill. We went to a nearby bakery for vanilla bean gelato and strawberry champagne sorbetto, my new favorites. Then we headed back to the hotel for a dip in the mineral pool.
On Saturday morning we ate crepes in town and then took a drive to Sonoma, using a map that was definitely not to scale (we got a little lost) and we ended up at our favorite winery Wellington Vineyards. There we tasted some wine, enjoyed a bbq and bought a bunch of wine and port.
We then headed to the Lavender Hill Spa for a Volcanic Ash Bath and massages. Matt’s very first massage, in fact.
After some relaxing in the pool back at the hotel, we headed to St. Helena to do some shopping, however everything was closed by 6pm, so we grabbed a french baguette and some brie and had some appetizers in a park next to the police station, due to some severe hunger, before heading over to the CIA for dinner. Specfically the Wine Spectator Restaurant at Greystone. There we looked around the cool stone building and the gardens. We then proceeded to have a very delicious dinner. My favorite was the tasty temptations appetizer where they gave us 5 different bite sized appetizers, cucumber soup, crunchy beef rolled up tasty treats, yummy olives, and more! For dessert we got a warm chocolate lava cake with Happy Birthday written on the plate in chocolate and a candle.
On Sunday we got up early and went for a real mud bath at the spa at our inn which involves volcanic ash, peat moss and dirt. I will let Matt tell you about that since it was his favorite. We headed into town to get more gelato and sorbetto and some volcanic ash and mud mask so I could bring Calistoga home with me!
Healdsburg at the northern point of Sonoma was our next stop. We tasted and bought wine at Alexander Valley Vineyeards, Mazzocco Vineyards, Roshambo (which means Rock Paper Scissors in Japanese) and Everett Ridge. After a long day of wineries we headed home for much needed sleep from such a packed weekend!
Sunday | August 22, 2004 at 3:21 am
You’re a lot better than me at remembering some of the details. I had forgotten entirely about our crepes breakfast and what some of the “Today’s Temptations” treats were. Anyway, thanks for the trip—I loved it!