Travis was itching to get out (he doesn't seem to care whether it's raining or not) so we went for a walk. I took a tennis ball along and we played fetch in the big pavilion I mentioned in yesterday's blog. With a concrete floor and being open on both ends, it's a great place to play on a rainy day! It's a very large building - I can throw the ball pretty far without hitting the other side. Travis got a good workout. I'll take a picture of him playing in the pavilion tomorrow.
Here's what it looked like through the windshield of the coach this morning...
We returned to the coach where I fed Travis and prepared breakfast for Suz and myself. She had a couple of conference calls today - the last from 12:30 to 1:15. Barb, Vince and Barrett arrived at 1:15, as planned, and whisked us off to Mumm Napa for an early afternoon of sparkling wine tasting. Barrett used to work at Mumm so we got the VIP treatment and had a really good time.
We were seated at a table with a wonderful view of the vineyards and given a menu of tasting options. I can't remember the name of the 'package' I chose, but this is what it looked like...
Suzanne's more of a sparkling wine person than I am. I mean, I like it, but I prefer my wine without bubbles. Nonetheless, it was very tasty and we ended up buying a couple of bottles. I'm sure it'll be gone by the time we arrive back in Northern Virginia.
What better way to spend a rainy day in the Napa Valley!...
I guess it was around 3:00 by the time we finished our tasting and we were all hungry and ready for a late lunch. Barrett suggested R&D Kitchen in Yountville...
The food was fantastic! I had the best Cuban sandwich I've ever had and a glass of Pali Pinot Noir. Suzanne had the Honor Burger and Banshee Chardonnay. For anyone thinking about visiting the Napa Valley anytime soon, I would definitely recommend dining at R&D Kitchen. Top notch food and superior atmosphere.
The Robert Louis Stevenson Museum is located in St. Helena, California and Barrett is the curator. So... after lunch we drove there and got a great tour of the museum, archives and other interesting behind the scenes stuff, and her office. I know a lot more about Robert Louis Stevenson than I did 24 hours ago. It really was pretty interesting. The museum houses many of his personal belongings, correspondence and photos... even a lock of hair taken the day of his death! I left kinda wanting to read Treasure Island. I think I will.
It was 6:00 by now and time to return to the coach where I knew Travis would be patiently awaiting our arrival. Everyone moved quickly out of the rain and into the coach while Travis and I headed for a grassy area to take care of business - and then to the pavilion. I brought along a tennis ball (of course) and my recently acquired Harbor Freight Tools ultra bright LED flashlight... like the one that former Navy Seal guy advertises on TV. It was dark and I didn't want Travis running into walls in pursuit of his tennis ball.
I forgot to mention we stopped at Whole Foods on the way home where I ran in and bought a chocolate truffle cake for dessert. After exercising Travis for ten or fifteen minutes we returned to the coach to join the party and have some cake. No cake for Travis. He had some biscuits and showed everyone that he knows his right paw from his left and how to spell the words t-a-k-e and w-a-l-k.
It rained all day. We obviously would have preferred nicer weather, but they really need the rain in this part of the country and it was actually kind of nice. A perfect day for indoor activities like wine tasting, lunch at a classy restaurant and a visit to a one of a kind museum.
Thanks for reading the blog!
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