{"id":781514,"date":"2010-05-05T23:14:00","date_gmt":"2010-05-06T07:14:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.centerdeep2.com\/riverbendprep\/2010\/05\/05\/girl039s-weekend-with-heidi-and-lisa\/"},"modified":"2010-05-05T23:14:00","modified_gmt":"2010-05-06T07:14:00","slug":"girl039s-weekend-with-heidi-and-lisa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.centerdeep2.com\/riverbendprep\/2010\/05\/05\/girl039s-weekend-with-heidi-and-lisa\/","title":{"rendered":"Girl’s Weekend with Heidi and Lisa"},"content":{"rendered":"

Heidi and Lisa flew down from WA to have some fun with me!\u00a0 They arrived Friday, late afternoon, and I took them to see our church.\u00a0 Bayside Granite Bay<\/a>\u00a0 was hosting both the Dead Sea Scrolls and an event called, ‘Thrive’.\u00a0 The place was packed!\u00a0 We were able to get into the sanctuary for a few minutes before Thrive resumed with their evening sessions.<\/p>\n

Per Heidi’s request, we had dinner at Chick-Fil-A<\/a>, (if you have been to a Chick-Fil-A, and you know that WA state does not have them, you understand the reasoning behind this request.)\u00a0 After that, we went to the Fountains for some gelato at Miabella<\/a>!\u00a0 It was\u00a0a nice night to enjoy our dessert by the fountain…
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\nSaturday, we left bright and early for Napa Valley.\u00a0 First stop…Domaine Chandon<\/a>.\u00a0 We sat on the terrace and toasted Lisa and a new beginning with\u00a0her beloved, Dave, and their engagement!\u00a0 (Gorgeous ring, BTW, nice job, Dave!!)
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\nNext stop… Clos Pegase<\/a>.\u00a0 This was a new place for me, and I am so glad we went!\u00a0 It is up in Calistoga, and away from the congestion of the weekend crowd.\u00a0 This property is saturated with incredible sculptures and art throughout.\u00a0 It had a different feel from other properties.\u00a0 A side note: this property offers a free tour twice a day.\u00a0 We did not attend it, but thought it would be nice to mention, since most of Napa charges for everything…
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\nThese picnic tables were next to the fountain above.\u00a0 Can you imagine spending an afternoon here??
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\nIn the distance, you can see Lisa walking from the entrance (and having just changed into a lovely sundress), toward the tasting room…
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\nThere is a side room off the the tasting room that has original art from an artist in residence…
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\nThe tasting room was made all the more delightful by the fabulous staff.\u00a0 Cher, an employee for 13 years, was friendly and charming, and obviously loved her job.\u00a0 We walked away feeling like we had made a new friend.\u00a0 She made me want to go out of my way to visit this winery again, regardless of where else I might be in Napa Valley.
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\nAs we were leaving, we noticed that the artist was painting, using the same colors in Lisa’s dress!
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\nNext stop…Charles Krug.<\/a>\u00a0 We bought tickets for a special wine tasting,\u00a0sponsored by the St. Helena Appellation.\u00a0 There were about 30 wineries present, and appetizers were made by celebrity chef, Cindy Pawlcyn<\/a>, owner of three top rated Napa restaurants.
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\nThe woman in the white top is Cindy Pawlcyn.\u00a0 I did not want to be too obvious in taking her picture.\u00a0 She is talking to Heidi.\u00a0 I got to talk with her a bit as well.\u00a0 She is very down to earth and friendly.
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\nNext stop…our hotel, the Lodge at Calistoga.<\/a>\u00a0 They call themselves a boutique hotel.\u00a0 I would not go that far, but I would say they are a\u00a0decent “motel-ish”<\/em> hotel.\u00a0 Lisa and I laid by the pool for a while, before getting ready for dinner.<\/p>\n

Side note:\u00a0 I just had to interject here to say that I received a fabulous birthday gift from my friend, Jen Glover.\u00a0 She made <\/strong>me this tote.\u00a0\u00a0The detail is incredible, and there are even two interior pockets.\u00a0 Thanks to you, Jen, \u00a0for\u00a0your love and talent in making this.\u00a0 I will cherish it always.\u00a0 Props to Heidi for being a fine mule…
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\nDinner was at the Mexican restaurant, Pacifico, in Calistoga.\u00a0 All I can say is, ‘eh’, regarding the food.\u00a0 I liked the server, though.\u00a0 We walked Calistoga’s corridor and stopped to listed to some beautiful live guitar playing at the Calistoga Inn<\/a>.\u00a0 This property has a beautiful patio that, combined with the strings of lights, fountain, candles, dessert, coffee, and music, made for a delightful end to our day.
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\nSunday…
\nAfter an, eh…, continental breakfast at the property, we headed out to make the most of our last day.\u00a0 Our first stop was Bennett Lane<\/a> winery.\u00a0 This was not on my original list to attend, but it was one that was recommended by Cher at Clos Pegase.\u00a0 I am so glad we came here.\u00a0 It is a small winery, off the main path, and I thoroughly enjoyed their wines.\u00a0 I am thinking of becoming a wine club member of theirs…
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\nThey have what I think is one of the most beautiful views of the valley vineyards.\u00a0 They also have this sweet side\/backyard that is not permitted for weddings!\u00a0 Too bad, because it really is an ideal spot for a small wedding.
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\nNapa Valley\u00a0has identical signs when coming in from either direction…
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\nNext stop…Castello di Amorosa!<\/a>\u00a0 This property is one that my boys often ask when can we return.\u00a0 This is always a fun place to bring friends who have never been.\u00a0 Somewhere I read that it’s a Disneyland for adults.\u00a0 Slight stretch, but enjoyable nonetheless.\u00a0
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\nWe couldn’t resist…this is the confessional in the chapel…by the way, they have a Latin service there on Sundays.\u00a0 Next time…
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\nIt was lunch time, and a picnic lunch sounded perfect.\u00a0 We moved on to Beringer<\/a> winery, around since 1876, and broke into our picnic tote that I packed back at home.\u00a0 (Tip: If you want to purchase picnic items in Napa, you need to shop early in the day, otherwise, you will be waiting forever \u00a0in line with the rest of the Napa Valley weekenders).
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\nBeringer has a beautiful garden and picnic grounds, and on this day, they even had live music!<\/p>\n

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\nFinal stop…sparkling wine at Domaine Carneros.<\/a>\u00a0 The ideal ending to a special weekend…
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\nSalud!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Heidi and Lisa flew down from WA to have some fun with me!\u00a0 They arrived Friday, late afternoon, and I took them to see our church.\u00a0 Bayside Granite Bay\u00a0 was hosting both the Dead Sea Scrolls and an event called, ‘Thrive’.\u00a0 The place was packed!\u00a0 We were able to get into the sanctuary for a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-781514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-thisnthat"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.centerdeep2.com\/riverbendprep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/781514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.centerdeep2.com\/riverbendprep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.centerdeep2.com\/riverbendprep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.centerdeep2.com\/riverbendprep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.centerdeep2.com\/riverbendprep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=781514"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.centerdeep2.com\/riverbendprep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/781514\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.centerdeep2.com\/riverbendprep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=781514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.centerdeep2.com\/riverbendprep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=781514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.centerdeep2.com\/riverbendprep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=781514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}