Get well card that's royally cute!

So I realized that in my haste to post all of my vacation adventures I forgot to share this super cute get well card that I made for my friend Nicole.  She's a super sweet girl (well I guess we're considered ladies now, huh?  When did that happen?) and a mommy of one (Hi Carly-fries!).  At the time she had just finished her surgery, but now is up and running again...which is a good thing because her daughter has hit the crawling stage majorly!  Talk about a great workout...

I used an old hostess set from a previous SU! catalog.  It pictures a milk carton and the sentiment reads "Feeling sick?  Milk it."  How freakin' cute is that?!?  So I teamed it with this diva-licious princess paper, some pink (Melon Mambo, to be exact.) girl-ish touches, a black grosgrain ribbon, and called it a day!  I love it.  The sentiment, the colors, and the princess aspect all totally scream Arielle.  Plus it came with the gift of homemade Cornflake Chocolate Chip Cookies...and who can really resist those?  No one, that's who!

Cheers to you Nicole!  Glad to see that you are feeling better.  :)

I hopped on the plane at LAX with a dream and a cardagain...

This is what we saw while driving to the airport.  Fog, fog, fog...and the Golden Gate Bridge, of course.  We did manage to get lost driving to the airport...more times than I would like to mention.  Okay, it was my fault!  But I blame the GPS.  It didn't give me enough time to say, "Turn here, right now!"  We arrived on time to the airport; both frustrated and tired.  Needless to say we didn't take any more photos that day.  We were both glad to be heading home after our week of fabulous adventures.

BUT let's not forget how we started the vacation off (Since I forgot to post these pictures first, but we'll ignore that little slip up)...

Here we are at the Honolulu International Airport for our 10pm flight.  How can you be sure that you'll have a great flight? 

1.) Find good reading material.

This week on 'How the hell is this a magazine?', we bring you Obamaland...lol.  This is seriously a magazine option at HNL airport.  No, I didn't buy a copy!

2.) Physically and mentally prepare yourself to fall asleep during the flight.  How can you be sure that you'll fall asleep?  Why you have a drink and a yummy empty calorie filled meal before take-off, that's how!  Fool proof method to a restful flight.

Here's me at Dewar's Clubhouse restaurant.

I thought that it would be a good idea to order a couple of Old Fashioneds since Dewar's is known for bourbon.

Turns out that they are horrible...lol.  Lesson learned: I don't like bourbon.

But I put my big girl face on and drank what I ordered.

Our oh so healthy pre-flight meal.  Hot wings and onion rings, baby!  Nothing like starting a vacation off right.

3.) Pack good snacks.  I suggest homemade chocolate chip cookies.  Pack enough to share with people around you, that way you can make friends.  If you can't sleep, at least you will have new friends to chat up for the next 5 hours.

Here's to an unforgettable vacation!

Barn Diva, baby!

After all the driving and sight seeing, we ended up in Healdsburg for dinner.  Cute little town.  You know, the kind of town with lots of boutique shops and people walking around with their dogs and such.  Kind of reminded me of Kailua.

Here's La'akea taking a rest on a pig bench.  People out here love their pork.  I think that we ate something pork pretty much everyday...lol.

We settled on a restaurant called Barn Diva.  They were all booked up for the night except one reservation at 5pm, when the restaurant first opens for dinner.  We snagged it!  I did feel kind of strange eating so early, but the food was well worth it.  

 

 La'akea next to the Barn Diva truck.

 

I would suggest getting there early, as our service was great, but the people that sat down next to us, about 45 minutes after our reservation, had the worst service.  Their server took forever to take their drink order and even longer for their dinner order.  I felt kind of bad for them and almost offered the couple some of my dinner to tide them over.  Maybe it was an off day for Barn Diva or maybe that couple comes in all the time and gives the waitstaff hell, but just keep that in mind if you plan on dining there.

 

Our meal by photo...

Appetizer...

Goat Cheese Croquettes
Stuffed with House-Made Tomato Jam and served with a  Lavender Honey dipping sauce.  

These were delish!  The crunchy, crisp outside matched with the creamy, savory inside topped with the slight sweetness of the honey; a masterpiece in one bite.  A must have for sure!

Dinner...

Chicken & Dumplings
Fricassee of Young Chicken, Fromage Blanc Gnocchi,
Crème de Morel, English Peas
This was my dinner.  It was sooooooo tasty!  I'm a sucker for gnocchi.  If gnocchi is on the menu, I'll probably order it without hesitation.  If you haven't had gnocchi, you haven't lived!

"Off the Hook"
Chef’s Daily Selection of Wild Fish From Our Local Waters

This was La'akea's dinner.  I forget what kind of fish this was, but it was really good.  Simple flavors let the fish shine.  Yummy!

Time for dessert!

Strawberry Semifreddo
Almond Dacquoise, Minted Strawberries, Rhubarb Vanilla Compote

Talk about dying and going straight to heaven!  Such a light, refreshing dessert with a sweet and sour mix of flavors.  A wonderful way to end a meal, if you ask me!

This was a great laid-back meal to end our wonderful vacation with.  One more night at the Kenwood Inn and Spa and then it's back to reality.

Riding in the car, we love riding in the car!

It was day 6 of our trip, our last full day in the big CA.  We spent most of the day driving around, hanging out in various towns throughout Sonoma and Napa Valley.  We found a great 90s alternative rock channel on the satellite radio in our car and totally rocked out to it the whole time.  No commercials except the ones for the radio station, which was totally sweet until I heard this one:  "You used to rage against the machine; now you rage against the washing machine. Lithium XM radio 90's alternative rock."  How did this radio station know my life?

While driving we saw all kinds of things.

We saw confusing things...

I, personally, have a few questions for the driver of this U-Haul.

Do you know that you are driving with the hatch open?  No?  Hmmm...you might have a problem with that later on.

Do you have a friend that owns a truck?  Yes?  Then why rent a huge U-Haul for only one stove?  Wait, you had more stuff in there earlier, but because the hatch was left open while driving along all the windy roads you're only left with a stove?  Oh, I see.  P.S.  You might lose the stove's extension pipe for the vent in a few more turns.

The next "Real Men of Genius" commercial right here, folks.  Mr. Irresponsible Mover Guy.

We saw touristy things like the Napa Valley sign...

My favorite Napa Valley quote: "Wine...how classy people get shitfaced."  They sold things that said that all over the place...lol.

This is the face you make when your husband tells you, "Honey, stand by the car so that I can take a picture of you." and you know he really means a picture of the car.

We saw strange, out of place things like this castle...

Yes, it's a real castle, but a modern one.  It's actually a winery called Castello Di Amorosa.  The owner wanted a castle and couldn't find one that he liked, so he built his own.  Nice, huh?

Me at the entrance to the castle.

The courtyard.

Inside the castle.

La'akea looking very suave with a hat on.  We did not buy this hat as well.  I guess we are just hat tryer-oners and not hat buyers...lol.

In the castle tower.

There were even sheep outside of the castle.  How cute is that?

Grapes.

The whole trip I wanted to take a picture with the grapes, but every winery pretty much had a sign posted that read something along the lines of 'stay out of the grapevines'.  Thus, I didn't get the chance until now.  There was no sign to be seen!  Quick, snap the picture of me running up and down the aisles of grapes!  (There's just something about those straight little rows that makes you want to run through the aisles.)  Then I turned around and saw the sign "Please keep out of the grapevines."  We quickly headed for our car...lol.

Moving on...to Sonoma.

We had a great time in Napa and probably could have spent more time there, but it was time to move on.  We packed up our stuff, piled into the car, and headed on our way.  Just us, the GPS, and the open road.

Our GPS was set for the Kenwood Inn and Spa in Sonoma County, so there was no possible way we could get lost, right?  Wrong...lol.

Just try setting your GPS from Napa to Sonoma.  It's okay.  I'll wait... 

Do you see the crazy route it calculates?!?  Do you see the super windy road called Dry Creek Road which then turns into Trinity Road?  (Here's the map for those of you without a GPS handy.)  Yes, we drove that!  There were times when I thought we were going to take a turn too sharp and fall right off the edge of the cliff that we were driving dangerously close to, thus meeting our untimely deaths.  But alast, I have lived to tell the story!

Despite having lived through the craziness of Dry Creek/Trinty Road, we still missed the hotel...lol.  We ended up having to turn around at a winery (surprise, surprise...), called the Deerfield Ranch Winery, so we stopped to have a look around.

This is their wine cave.  It was really cold in there!  The whole time we were tasting their wine I was regretting my choice of a cotton sundress and flip-flops as the day's attire.

Here's La'akea awaiting the wine tasting menu.  See how happy wine makes people?

Cute winery, nice people, good wine.  All in all, two thumbs up.  Bonus, they have the cutest Portuguese Water Dog that they let run around all throughout the wine cave.  He was so excited to see everyone that I couldn't get him to sit still for a picture.  I did try though.  Multiple times.  The pictures just looked like big black blurs...lol.

After the wine tasting we made our way back to the hotel, which, turns out, was right next door to the winery...lol.  The Kenwood Inn and Spa was by far the most luxurious hotel that we stayed in.  I think that's why my husband saved it for last.

 The view from the hotel.

The grounds were beautiful and their customer service was outstanding.  I mean, how many hotel concierges will take you on a private tour of the hotel grounds during check-in?  Not many, that's for sure!

 One of the many pergolas on the grounds.  I love pergolas.  I still haven't figured out their use, besides being aesthetically pleasing to the eye, but I still love them.

This was our room...

The bedroom...

complete with a real fireplace!  Hells yeah, I turned that bad boy on in the evening.  My husband was sweating, but did I care?  Nope...lol.  Hey I'm a girl from Hawai'i.  We don't often see, let alone get to use, a fireplace.  So he can sweat for an hour.  It's okay.

The bathroom.  Just look at how delicious that tub looks!  I had to take a bubble bath, just had to.  How could you not with a tub like that?

I also fell in love with the little green vanity, but there was really no place for it in my suitcase.  So I had to leave it there for the next guest to enjoy.

There was also a built in bookshelf, which my husband was convinced was a door.  It was not.  It was just a bookshelf.  How do I know?  He spent like 10 minutes checking it to be sure that it wasn't a door.  Boys and their crazy imaginations.  I blame too many Bond/Batman movies...lol.

The view of the hotel grounds from our door.  It was stunningly beautiful.  I could seriously spend an entire vacation just staying at this hotel and be perfectly content.

We had an entire day planned out, but scrapped the plan, after only making it out to one other vineyard, in favor of heading back to the hotel to relax.

 Bartholomew Park Winery.  Beautiful grounds complete with it's own museum.

Me with the lavender.  This picture is for you Aunty Cheryl.  We found lavender and we didn't even have to travel all the way to Europe.  :)

I'm not usually a 'hang out at the hotel' kind of person, but this hotel totally felt like we were staying in our own private Italian villa.  It was heaven.  We took naps, read books, and ate a disgustingly huge bowl of Pasta Alfredo for dinner that was to die for.  Like I said, heaven, pure heaven.

Wine...train?

After a much needed cat nap, we headed over to the Napa Valley Wine Train.  I heard about the Wine Train a few years ago on Top Chef Masters and put it on my bucket list.  The food was supposed to be amazing.  Well...it was just okay.  Better than the food that I've had on any previous trains (Yes, I've been on a train before...but that's a whole other story.), but nothing spectacular.  All in all, maybe a 2.5 out of 5 rating.

 On the wine train waiting for our lunch to arrive.  Our server was actually from Hawaii.  What are the chances of that?  He went on and on about how much he missed poke...lol.  Kind of made me crave a spicy ahi roll, which I devoured the day we got home.

The food wasn't great, but the wine tours were!  We got in-depth, fully personal tours at two wineries, Raymond Vineyards and ZD Wines.  The whole point of the trip, for me anyway, was to tour the inner workings of a winery.  We definitely got our moneys worth on that. 

First stop, Raymond Vineyards.  Our tour guide gave us an extensive tour of the grounds, including an activity where we learned how to pick out different aromas within a wine.  Why does one need to smell the wine in the first place?  Isn't that just something that people do to look like cool wine connoisseurs?  Well, yes, that is what some people do to look cool, but it actually serves a purpose.  The aromas of the wine give you an idea of its character, origin, and history.  For example, you may smell a hint of coffee or chocolate or cloves.  This could be something that is found in the soil (ie. grown in a near by field or was grown there previously, so the flavors are sealed into the soil and thus picked up through the grape as it grew.) or something that was picked up from the barrel during the aging process (ie. as the wine ferments it picks up the flavor of the barrel.  Depending on what the barrel is made from will effect the flavors that it transfers.).  Interesting isn't it?

 The wine vats that hold the wine until it is ready to be barreled and fermented. 

The tour ended with a wine tasting.  I love wine tastings.  They make my heart sing.

The Raymond Vineyard tasting room.

Next stop, ZD Wines.  We started the tour in their Reserve Room, the room where they keep all the expensive "vintage" wine.

  Where can I get one of these?  I need a Reserve Room filled with wine, stat!

The wine was really flowing at this winery.  I don't think I had an empty glass throughout the whole tour...lol.  By this time, I think mostly do to the wine, the other people on the tour with us started to open up.  We made friends with a family from Ohio.  Mama Ohio won my heart when she blurted out how much she loved Guinness beer and that she likes drinking Irish Car Bombs.  We were buddies after that.  Hey, not a lot of women will drink a Guinness!

The family from Ohio is behind La'akea.  Ohio family, if you are reading this, send me an email will ya?

ZD was truly awesome for me because it is an all organic winery run by a bunch of engineers.  Organic wine and engineers?  My two favorite things in the whole world!  And not only because my husband is an engineer, though that does help.  (Dorks of the world unite!)

One glass was my husband's glass.  I'm not double fisting...lol.

Our tour guide was funny and informative.  Towards the end of the tour we learned that he lived on Maui for a few years before coming out to Napa Valley and working at ZD.  So we got an "Aloha" and a shaka at the end of the tour...lol. 

Having lived on Maui and knowing that we were familiar with Maui and things that happen there, he told us a story about how a bunch of pot farmers stole ZD's solar panels a while back.  I guess the farmers thought that they could hook the panels up to their grow lamps as an energy efficient/under the radar source of power.  When they found out that they couldn't use them, they returned the panels back to ZD with a plate of hash brownies...lol.  I laughed and blurted out, "Well, sometimes pot farmers make bad choices, but they are basically good people."  (I mean everyone knows some one that smoked or at least tried pot in their lifetime.  I personally haven't, but they don't call it a gateway drug for nothing.)  After getting over the shock of a nicey-nice person like me possibly knowing anyone that smoked pot, Papa Ohio jumped on this one and said, "Ah....I see now."  *Pointing at me* "You're the farmer..."  *Pointing at my husband* "and he's the engineer."  Haha...very funny Papa Ohio.  :)

On our way out we bought a bottle of wine and stopped off to take a few photos in front of the fountain at ZD.  Our Ohio buddies offered to take a picture of us.  Mama Ohio said "Look lovingly into your husband's eyes.  You know, how you used to look at each other before you were married."  This is what we got...

I don't think that this is quite lovingly...lol.  We did try though, but it just turned into this...

So we opted for this...

Thanks Ohio peeps!  You guys really made the train for me.  Until we meet again...

Up, up and away!

The morning of day 4, I awaken to the sound of the alarm clock on my phone.  I roll over in bed to see that it is 5am.  The hubby and I sleepily get read for the day ahead.  Why on Earth would anyone on vacation get up at o'dark thirty?  Why to ride a hot air balloon, of course!  (See what I mean about my husband not being thrifty?  Lol...)

We jumped in the car and drove over to Domaine Chandon Winery, which is where the balloon meeting station is.  They pumped us with coffee while they explained what to expect and what to do and not to do while you are in the balloon basket.  (DO enjoy the scenery while staying relatively still.  DON'T try to jump out of the basket while the balloon is off the ground because you will die.  Etc, etc.)

We took this pic of the Domaine Chandon sign after the balloon ride.  It was still dark when we first arrived.

Once everyone was filled to the brim with coffee and information, we were loaded onto shuttles and taken to the launch site.  (We were also told to go to the bathroom before we got on the shuttle.  Apparently there are no bathrooms aboard the balloon.  Who would have thought?  How the Wizard of Oz survived on his hot air balloon trip I'll never know...lol.)  Surprisingly the 'launch site' was the parking lot of a near by store.  It was kind of a small space, but all the balloons were inflated there without a problem.

We headed over to the balloon that we were assigned to and climbed aboard.  There are no doors to the balloon basket, you just have to climb in and hope that you don't land on the other people that got in before you.  (Being the klutz that I am, I was really worried about landing on people.  I didn't, but it could have been tragic.  The gods have spared me this time...lol.)

Me breathing a sigh of relief for not crash landing on anyone while climbing into the basket.  We had 12 people in our basket.  There really wasn't too much room to move around, which was fine with me.  That meant no crazy thrill-seeker trying to rock the basket back and forth.

In a matter of minutes we were floating up into the early morning sky.

This is what the inside of the balloon looks like.  You could really feel the heat of this, which was kind of nice because it was really cold that morning.  It wasn't on the whole time, though.  They only need to heat the air to climb to higher elevations. 

The view.

This is how close we were.  La'akea is actually leaning backwards to get this shot.

As the flight went on we got higher and higher up over Napa Valley.  The view was incredible!

Our pilot gave us a whole tour of the valley.  Complete with bringing the basket down to where we could reach out and touch the trees.  He even had us reach out and pick the leaves.  It was really cool and totally unexpected. 

We floated around for a little over an hour and began our descent.  We had traveled almost 14 miles away from our starting destination.  Now I know you're thinking, "14 miles away?  How are you going to get back?"  We walked.  No, we didn't!  There is a team on the ground that follows the balloon around via van.  They meet you at the landing site, wherever it may be since it is different every time depending on the weather conditions,  and help you have a smooth landing.  Once the basket is close enough to the ground, they literally grab hold of it and pull you to the ground.  Then part of the team stays there to pack up the balloon and the rest of them shuttle you back to Domaine Chandon where you are greeted with a champagne breakfast.  Mmmmm...champagne.

Me happily on the ground again.

After we finished up breakfast we walked back to the car and headed back to our hotel.  We wanted to get in a little more sleep before our next adventure...the Wine Train!

Well we had to stop to take some photos!

In the wee hours of the morning my husband told me these were mushrooms.  It was dark and I was still sleepy, so I said "Wow those are the biggest mushrooms that I have ever seen!"  He played it off cool like they were really mushrooms.  I didn't protest because, let's be honest here, I'll pretty much believe anything at that hour of the morning.  

By the time we left it was bright and sunny and I had ingested about 3 cups of coffee.  When we walked past it again I had to check it out, thinking that I needed to get a picture of the hugest mushrooms on the planet.  When I saw them I knew I was had.  It was just a bunch of rocks stacked on top of each other.  He laughed for a pretty long time.  Nice one hunny.  Very funny....haha.

So I made him take this silly picture with the sign.  Who's laughing now?  Hehehe....me.