Michael and I stayed at The Lodge at Tiburon which is just on the north side of the bridge. It was a really nice upscale hotel. We had a spa room which had a huge over sized tub in it. It could seriously fit 4 people. The room was a little comical in that it had at least 25 mirrors in it. That included one over the bed and tub. This isn't necessarily my kind of thing...I don't really need to see every angle of myself thank you very much. But it did come in handy when Michael and I were watching a movie from the tub. Michael could sit with his back to the TV and still see it.
Here we are being silly taking a self portrait using the mirror above the bed. Oh my goodness!!! 
Weeks before we left on our trip I decided to make up an itinerary so we would use the little time we had to the fullest. So the second day of the trip we were supposed to drive to Napa and go to Copia a wine museum/tasting place. The lodge had sent me a brochure and it looked really fun. They even had a restaurant there called Julia's Kitchen that was for Julia Child and we were going to eat lunch there. As luck would have it Copia actually closed last November. So after twiddling our thumbs for a few minutes we decided to head over to the Visitor Center and find out where we should go. This really nice lady knew immediately where to send us and she even gave us a map (woman after my own heart)! So we drove a few miles north and went to Robert Mondavi's Winery.
This is the entryway into the building for the visitors. Michael and I decided to go on the Deluxe Tour that was 75 minutes long. Just like Alcatraz we knew it would be fun, but it really exceeded our expectations. It was a wonderful time and I think a lot of that had to do with our tour guide. He definitely loves wine and his job so that makes all the difference.
Robert Mondavi's Vineyard is huge...acres and acres. He just died last May and he had a huge impact on the wine industry here in America and in France. It was really fascinating to hear about all the different decisions that go into making wine.
Just a few weeks ago the vines weren't even green yet so we came at the perfect time so see them. There weren't any grapes yet, but the buds were there.
This is the first year cellar. They actually take the time to use the really bitter part of the grape that's not good for wine to stain the barrels red since it's red wine. They stay in this cellar for 1 year getting rotated barrel to barrel every 4 months to reduce sediment. Then they go to the second year cellar for a year and then they get bottled. After wine gets bottled it goes through what's called bottle shock and it tastes horrible for about 4 months until the shock from being bottled goes away. Robert Madavi's winery keeps it's bottles for a year after they are bottled just to be sure the wine is at it's best and bottle shock is over. They are very strict with their standards.
Here we are in the tasting room. Poor Michael I'm always cutting his head off in pictures. We got to taste one white wine and two red wines. I always thought I liked red wine better, but the white was really my favorite. We got to learn how to taste wine and why the first drink usually tastes horrible. The tour guide told us you always have to take three sips before you can judge the wine and he was totally right. We didn't end up buying any wine, but it was certainly fun.
This is my new favorite picture of me and Michael. After the tour we asked the guide if he knew of a nice place to have a light lunch. He suggested that we head north into Oakville and stop at this fancy grocery store and then head down to this Olive Oil store where they have picnic tables and have a picnic. We did just that, but I forgot to take pictures!
Later that night after we saw X-Men Origins we had a wonderful dinner at The Tiburon Grill that was located at The Lodge. The food was great and it was nice to sit and relax and enjoy reflecting on 10 wonderful years with the man of my dreams. Thankfully he's the man of my reality as well!
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