Napa, Day 2

The first stop on Day 2 was to Rubicon Estate winery. We didn't actually taste any wines there, but the grounds were beautiful.

Lovely grape arbor...lovely girl...

Mother and daughter caught in a tender embrace. Either that or E. is cold.

While tasting at wineries the day before we were told that the best English muffins in the world could be purchased at The Model Bakery in St. Helena. The description was just too tempting, so we went there to find out for ourselves.

In the end, the muffins were truly amazing. If you're ever in St. Helena around breakfast time, go grab some warm English muffins from The Model Bakery...you won't be disappointed!

One of the benefits of visiting Napa during October is that you get to experience the busiest season of wine making. Here the grapes have been harvested and are sitting in crates, waiting to be de-stemmed.

For lunch we decided to head over to Joseph Phelps and have a picnic lunch overlooking the vineyard. This was the most magical event of the trip, and is a MUST if you are ever visiting Napa!

Here we are at our picnic table overlooking the rolling vineyards. Our lunch consisted of bread, cheese, salami, salad, and pears with some brownies for dessert. It was an amazing day!

Dad enjoying the beauty of the landscape along with a taste of the Joseph Phelps reserve wine. E. looks like she just got stung by a bee.

L. and her doors! This door led into the caves at the Von Strasser winery.

The caves have a musty, cavey smell to them...oh yeah, the barrels smell good too.

Our last visit of the day was to Castello di Amorosa; a winery that had a real Italian castle perched atop its rolling hills!

The castle was actually constructed out of pieces of real ruins, brought over from Italy! It truly felt like we were in a different century.

Due to the tour's rather large price tag, we didn't actually get to go inside of the castle, but even the "free" stuff was amazing to see.

The White Witch came and turned E. and her little friend to stone!

While driving through the beautiful town of Yountville L. spotted a large, public garden just outside of town. This called for some exploration. As it turns out, this garden belongs to The French Laundry and supplies a good amount of the produce for the restaurant. It was truly one of the prettiest veggie gardens I have seen.

Happy Birthday L...can you tell she is in heaven?

The final day of our trip to be posted soon...