Saturday
Woke up at around 9:30 and got ready to send Friday to Auntie Connie. Then we were off to dimsum. We checked into a hotel in Fairfield called Napa Valley Loft Hotel. No pictures were taken... here's why:
Upon entering the room Rayland and I discovered that it looked exactly like the picture... and I mean EXACTLY. After being extremely sad about how dirty it was and complaining for 20minutes, we came to realize that the hotel was not dirty but merely unused and therefore very dusty and things were likely unchanged since whenever they bought the bedding and what not (unchanged but not unwashed I assure you). Anyway that was the one real flaw about the place, but the service was great and we spent most of our time in Napa anyway.
*If this is a plus at all, the place came with free wi-fi and also ESPN.
That night, dinner was on the Napa Valley Wine Train. There are are two options for dinner, the Vista Dome or the Gourmet Car. I REALLY REALLY REALLY wanted to have dinner in the dome... but when I booked this (THREE WEEKS prior to the trip), they were already completely full :(.
So we ended up in the Gourmet Train... but not only that... we ended up on the SECOND seating. This means that we sit in the Lounge Car and have our appetizers and drinks first and then move to the Gourmet Car for dinner. I was really sad because I wanted to do it the other way around, but this actually turned out better. You get to wander around the train when you're in the Lounge Car so we got to wander around while it was still light out and took awesome pictures :).
We arrived at the "train station" early and went wine tasting (compliments of the Wine Train). So by the time I got on the train for drinks and appetizers, I had enough wine. I ordered a Shirley Temple instead and guess what? It was the MOST AMAZING Shirley Temple I've ever had (Rayland agreed it was delicious and he usually finds this concoction sickeningly sweet and repulsive).
The appetizer consisted of toast, green cheese whose name I've forgotten, grapes, tiger prawn, seaweed salad, mozzarella balls, prosciutto, grape tomatoes, and pressed chicken. It was nothing too special, but that prawn was surprisingly sweet and fresh, very delicious.
We migrated to the Gourmet Car and was greeted with a salad. It was like the chef totally knew my love for goat cheese and sweet vinaigrette :). Candied walnuts, shredded carrots, pickled onions, and cute little yellow tomatoes on a bed of baby lettuce, tossed in a honey cider vinaigrette, topped with smokey goat cheese. Ahh... the perfect salad.
To cleanse our pallets, sorbet! (from top to bottom: coconut, mixed berry, and pineapple)
I had the sea bass. It was topped with mango salsa with a side of saffron infused rice, asparagus, and baby carrots. You know, for food on a train it was pretty damn good, and again... surprisingly fresh. The sea bass was overly cooked though.
As you can tell, we got way too excited and I forgot to take pictures until we were quite silent with chewing. Rayland had the Grilled and Roasted Beef Tenderloin. It came with gorgonzola toast and asparagus. The beef was perfectly cooked! It tasted very similar to a steak we had elsewhere, but I drove myself nuts trying to remember and still nothing (I'm almost certain it was at Cafe Rouge).
Rayland had the Tiramisu for dessert. OMG it was soooooooooooooooo good I can't even describe to you. And does it not look completely adorable in its spherical chocolaty goodness?
I ordered the creme brulee. It was delicious as well! But the tiramisu totally trumps it.
The best part: the train! Being on that train was totally awesome :). It felt so old-school haha. If you guys are interested, they also do interactive murder mystery theater!
Sunday
Warning: Prepare yourself for an unbelievable (and unbelievably long) story.
Based on the previous blog, you now all know Rayland and I went on a hot air balloon and he made my dream come true and whatnot. Here's the full story:
We woke up at 5am, got ready, and arrived at Downtown Napa at around 6:10am. We were supposed to arrive promptly at 6:15 so we were cutting it close. Turns out the street we were supposed to turn on was closed due to the River Festival. So it took a while longer to arrive (this should've been a sign that things were gonna go bad).
We sign the appropriate release forms and gathered around as the coordinator filled us in on what's up. He first informed us that originally we were supposed to go to a launch site that was 15minutes away, but due the fog we would launch instead at a site that is 50minutes away. There will be no bathrooms after this point and so we should definitely pee. At this point (6:30am), Rayland went to use the bathroom and I grabbed a mini muffin, not knowing that it will be the last thing I eat until 1pm.
Next we were informed that there will be two flights. Everyone goes to the launch site to watch the balloons inflate. The first group goes on as soon as the balloons are inflated. The second flight gets to chase after the first balloons in a van and then ride on it when the first flight is over. Guess which flight we got stuck on? -_______________-
Balloons being inflated!
After failed attempts at trying to get a first flight, we chased the balloons and finally got to ride on it. The take off was amazing. All of a sudden you are just floating and you don't feel anything at all. The balloon is so huge that it just feels like you're standing on the ground and watching things go by you. It sort of took away from being afloat, and I wished for turbulence of some sort... sadly, there was none.
After the initial amazement, it gets pretty boring. You begin to sweat because the sun is preparing to beat down on you. You get thirsty, hungry. The next thing you know the pilot decides to land, but guess what? He should've decided to do so 15minutes ago.
So here's how hot air balloons work: it's all on the wind, buddy. Sure there is the propane powering the balloon, but I quickly learned that it does nothing except help the balloon ascend and descend. So because the wind gods were not loving us, we were stuck and unable to land in a proper field. You see, the place was filled with farms and we can't land on crops. Therefore the pilot sits and hopes the wind pushes us in the direction of dead grass.
Unfortunately for us, that moment never came... we floated for an eternity, starving, getting sun burned, and he finally made a landing in some farmer's field........ that happened to be locked. What's worse? He was out of town. How did we know? His cowboy (yes, cowboy) neighbor informed us.
There was no way out of the field so the poor helpers helped lift us over the fence into the next field so that they can break into the field by unhinging the gates. This field, that also belonged to the farmer out of town, was a cow field. The cows were adorable, I wish i took pictures! The problem with this was that there was cow dung everywhere :(. So not only were we stranded, starving, sun burned, and dehydrated, we had to worry about stepping on cow doodoo upon being rescued from that wretched balloon -____-
So how did we get out of the locked field? They broke into the field by unhinging the gates. Oh but don't worry, they let the cowboy know. Anyway, we hopped into the van, cow poo free, and drove towards the gate. The pilot stops the car, opens the gate and rushes back in to try and get out as fast as possible. I couldn't understand why he was in such a hurry, until I turned to my right and watched as the cows came toward us with the yearning of freedom in their eyes.
Anyway, in his attempt to get us out super fast, he rammed the van into the gate! I was sure I was going to die in his hands. We finally get out of the field and we're on the road back to downtown Napa (remember, we have no idea where we are and our lives are in the hands of this crazy pilot).
In the middle of the freeway, a woman rolls down her window to yell something at the pilot. The rear bumper was falling off... yup... we were gonna die -___-
A block away from the meeting site, the pilot is annoyed at the traffic (due to the River Festival) and so decides to swerve over to the other side of the road, onto oncoming traffic, and rushes in front of the line of traffic waiting at the stop light. Truly amazing.
Because the tomodachi were waiting, we skipped our complimentary champagne lunch :'(... sigh...
Went back to the hotel, and headed to eat and then the wineries!
The day could've gone better without the raging headaches I was having :(.
First stop, St. Supery.
The waiter on the train said this was a good place for whites. He lied because most of their collection were filled with reds. It was alright... too bad the tours were not in motion when we were there.
This is Domaine Chandon. It was the best! I wish we dined there :'(. I'm actually really sad that we didn't. But the sparkling wine was amazing and the atmosphere was just perfect. If you are in Napa, you must visit :).
Sigh... I know... I know.
Love Always,
Me
No comments:
Post a Comment