Dietz Summer Road Trip

This morning we woke up in our Motel 6 hotel. It was wonderful to have been able to sleep in a bed and have an nice warm shower this morning. We got ready and headed out for breakfast around 9 am. We found a plaza that had a Starbucks and McDonald’s. We had just ordered and spotted a Chevrolet dealership across the way. Since we just bought the truck, brand new this year, we have a service deal and get free oil changes/tire rotations/ etc… for awhile. John took the car over to see if they could do a oil change. We have driven a total of 5,746 miles so far and down to less than 20% oil life.
They were able to get us in. Meanwhile, John had dropped Danielle off at Target. The dealership ended up being about a mile away but they had a personal shuttle service. So John took the shuttle over to Target to meet Danielle. We had to get a few things and restock on some stuff. There was also an optional recall on the truck that they looked at for us. Around Noon we got the call that our truck was all done and good to go. They sent the shuttle over to pick us and our purchases up. They also threw in a free car wash. And after some of the places we have been, it really needed it! We are shined up and ready for the next part of our trip!

We now had to decide where we were going next. We have to be in Oregon by the end of the day but there are a few ways we could get there. We considered going to the Lagunitas Brewery or going out of our way for the Pacific Coast Highway. Instead we decided to and the afternoon in Napa, since it was only about 25 minutes away.

The first thing we did when we got there was go to Main Street, and what we think is the downtown area. We stopped at the Napa Valley General Store that had a wine bar, a few draft beers, and a lot of cute boutique type gifts. They also had a cafe there so we sat down for lunch. We got the Grilled Chicken Sandwich and Chinese Chicken Salad. Both very good and fresh.
    

  
Next we did what any logical person would do if they only had a few hours in Wine Country, USA, and that’s find the closest brewery. We went to Napa Smith, got good reviews and we never tried it. It was a cool place with a lot of people doing the sampler. We obliged and hung out for a while. It was gorgeous outside and the decorations inside the brewery were fun. (Coasters from all over the world lining the ceiling).

Then we realized that we can’t possibly be in Napa and not go to a vineyard or winery! A quick google map search led us to believe there was a tasting room less than a mile away. So we headed there. When we pulled up it was closed. We passed, what appeared to us, to be 2 other tasting rooms. We stopped at the next one. Definitely not a tasting room. We stopped at the third one called Bin to Bottle and walked in on 2 guys (one older, one younger) sitting across from each other with a row of glasses filled with red wine. They explained that this was not a tasting room but rather a warehouse. However, once it was explained to them what we were looking for and how long( and much money we had to spend) they have us 2 recommendations. The young guys recommended Cliff Lede (apparently it’s all rock and roll inspired). The older guy recommended Clos du Val. They argued amongst each other about their recommendations until we found an appropriate time to exit their conversation. We called Cliff Lede and they were closing in 10 minutes. So looks like we will go with the other recommendation. Called Clos du Val and they were open until 5pm.

It was really pretty to drive by vineyards and all of the rows and rows of grapes. There are hills in the background and it was the perfect day outside, sunny and about 85 degrees. At Clos du Val you can choose from 3 different tastings, each were samples of 4 wines. Danielle got the Winemaker’s signature and John got the Single Vineyard testing. They poured you one at a time and you were encouraged to go outside, walk around and explore. We got to check out the grapes and enjoyed our wine but just enjoyed the experience more. We are far from wine Connoisseurs, as evident when I almost said “brewery” instead of vineyard. But we were still able to appreciate the experience and our surroundings. Plus now when we see the wine on sale at Wal-Mart, we will know what it tastes like!

   
   
We ended up leaving Napa well after 5pm and had about a 6 hour drive to our campsite in Oregon. We hit traffic leaving and figures we would just drive as far as we could before we get too tired and see if we get there. We ended up making it to Medford, OR. About an hour away from the campground. We got in to a Motel 6 around midnight. Which we are glad we did because we found out the next day that the area we had made a reservation to camp at was questionable. So another night in Motel 6, but it was cheap and we got some sleep!