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Timeless Journeys
Timeless Journeys with Sage RV Road Trip - Part 2: Napa
by Kimberly “Sage” Pridemore
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Welcome to Infinity Magazine’s exciting adventure feature, “Timeless Journeys with Sage.” Sage has been with the Infinity team for several years, her wisdom, knowledge and experience makes her a perfect fit as Infinity’s Travel Editor for this special feature. Each issue will be a wonderful adventure with Sage as she travels to amazing destinations. Sage will share her travels with helpful tips, interesting facts about her fun filled and relaxing get-aways!
RV Road Trip – Part 2: Napa
We had three fabulous nights overlooking the Pacific Ocean at the Malibu RV Park. It was a pleasure to stay in one spot for a while and enjoy the RV life. Much of our time was spent with my son, Ari, and son-in-law, David, who were living in Santa Monica at the time. We enjoyed an afternoon of visiting the Santa Monica Pier and kicking back at the beach for the ocean air and sea breezes.
Early Sunday morning, we embarked on our drive to Napa. Now the boys could experience the road in an RV firsthand. The drive is about six and a half hours from Malibu to Napa. We got an early start to make our first tasting at Domaine Carneros, located just outside of Napa. On our way, we stopped at a roadside papusa stand for wonderful flatbreads filled with beans and cheese. Besides almost running out of gas, panicking and taking the wrong exit at a toll road, we had a leisurely drive. National Lampoon’s Vacation not!
Our first sip of the day was sparkling wine. Domaine
Carneros is renowned as a small grower-producer of methode traditionelle sparkling and estate Pinot Noir. The views from the chateau are breathtaking, as are the formal gardens. We each enjoyed their grande tasting, a mixture of sparkling wine and Pinot Noir. We added the caviar flight featuring three different caviars and served with blinis, potato chips and creme fraiche. Delicious! We made our way to downtown Napa where we had rented an adorable yellow Farmhouse through Airbnb. It was walking distance to the shops and restaurants and had space to park our RV. After unpacking, I took a long, hot shower! It was the first “normal” shower of our trip. I strategically placed an Airbnb and hotel in the rest of our itinerary. I highly suggest including them for a two week RV trip! Yes, there is a shower in the RV, but ours had to be converted into a wine cellar. The RV parks also have great bathrooms with showers which suited Ray just fine. For dinner during our first evening in Napa, we visited Tarla Mediterranean Grill. After a nice stroll into town, we had a wonderful meal, which included an array of tapas and small plates. The night also included stuffed eggplant with caramelized onion-red pepper, California chickpea rice and tomato sauce and a Greek dip trio of hummus, baba ganoush, tzatziki, pita and olives. We had lots of great wine and conversation. Our group truly loved being able to walk back to our place, enjoying the night air and starry sky. This was the first trip to Napa for Ari, David and Ray. Besides Domain Carneros, I planned visits to wineries that would be new for us all. We had an entire day to enjoy an array of wine and experiences. On our list was Auburn James, Beringer and Walt Wines.
Auburn James was our first stop. They are located on the Silverado Trail South in St. Helena nestled between the Napa River and the Napa Valley Preserve. The experience was such a treat. Specializing in small lots of Bordeaux style Napa wines, Auburn James is more of a boutique winery, designated specifically for the Auburn James wine club membership. My two favorite bottles are the 2016 “1001” Napa Valley Rutherford Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve and the 2017 Auburn James Pinot Noir Yorkville Highlands Reserve. I did join their wine club that day and happily stocked our makeshift “wine cellar” in the RV. They have a beautiful cottage-like tasting room and our host, Eric, is amazing. We ended up staying a couple of hours and truly got to know the wines and the winery. Next stop was Gott’s Roadside. Every trip I make to Napa, Gott’s is a must for lunch. I like to visit the original location in Saint Helena. If you ever go to Napa this needs to be on your itinerary. They are the best burgers ever! The menu is vast, including every type of burger you could imagine. My favorite is the western bacon blue ring. It consists of a beerbattered onion ring, Point Reyes crumbled blue cheese, bacon, pickles, red onion & BBQ sauce on a toasted egg bun. The Vietnamese Chicken salad is the bomb. Consisting of romaine lettuce, kale and shredded cabbage tossed with cucumbers, carrots, cilantro, mint and peanut lime vinaigrette, the salad is topped with crispy fried chicken breast, pickled red Fresno chilis and green onions. For the more adventurous, try the ahi poke crispy tacos: ahi poke (Hawaiian-style, raw marinated, sushi grade ahi tuna), sliced avocado, green cabbage and cilantro slaw, green onions, toasted sesame seeds with spicy mayo in crispy taco shells! Aloha! Grab a glass of wine, a cold beer, or one of their famous hand spun shakes made with organic ice cream to go along with your meal. No one will be left hungry. The iconic Beringer Vineyard was next on the list. Beringer is the oldest continuously operating winery in Napa Valley, with a winemaking tradition dating back more than 142 years. Beringer was the first winery in the valley to offer public tours and remains on the top of a savvy visitor’s list of places to tour and taste. The Rhine house mansion has stunning stained glass windows and historic architecture. We did the legacy indoor tasting which included four wines from their current collection of limited released wines only available
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at the winery. We also enjoyed a walk around the beautiful gardens and estate. Our last stop of the day was a wine and chocolate pairing at Walt Napa’s Oxbow tasting room in the historic Oxbow district. Our tasting included five different wines featuring their single vineyard chardonnay and single vineyard pinot noirs and chocolate pairings from Kollar Chocolates. What a great way to end our afternoon.
Our dinner reservation was not until 8pm that night, so once we got back to our farmhouse, it was time to kick back and relax. Naps were taken, books read and journals written in, all with some lovely jazz playing in the background. It was pure heaven. My suggestion when visiting Napa is to do no more than three tastings in a day. Plan for some down time and enjoy other activities besides wine tasting, if you have time. Some cool suggestions range from horseback riding, spa treatments, balloon rides, hiking on the Oathill Mine Trail, a cooking class or climbing aboard the Napa Valley Wine Train. Of course there are tons of shopping opportunities, including art galleries, to explore from Yountville to Calistoga. During our last night, we had dinner at Grace’s Table. It was suggested by our gracious host at Auburn James. It did not disappoint. Grace’s Table is a cheerful Napa bistro serving dishes inspired from around the world. Chef/owner Mauro And created a “global kitchen” with a focus on the comfort foods from many heritages. We were once again within walking distance to our restaurant and, despite a slight chill in the air, we relished the invigorating walk to and from. This dinner was spectacular! We started with iron skillet cornbread with lavender honey butter, as well as Argentinian empanadas of beef, currants, olive, hard egg and Chimichurri sauce. I had potato gnocchi with gorgonzola dolce cream, walnuts, Bloomsdale spinach and pomegranate reggiano parmesan. Ray had the southwest tamale which had pulled pork shoulder, green chili, black beans jack cheese, chili lime slaw, cilantro dressing and cascabel chili sauce. Ari chose the roasted heirloom chicken with autumn vegetable quinoa and wild rice pilaf. Alongside was a butternut squash, parsnip root, English pea tendrils, dried cranberry and red verjus pan sauce. Lastly, David ordered the cassoulet, my favorite! Duck confit, pork shoulder, boudin blanc sausage, garlic sausage, butter beans, garlic and bread crumbs. So you should be hungry now! This trip was all about the food, wine and conversation!
The Zen moment for me on this venture has to be our down time at the yellow farmhouse simply enjoying the company of Ray, David and Ari. I will throw in that long, hot shower as Zen moment number two! Stay tuned for part three of this road trip which will showcase our journey back to Texas with stops in Palm Springs, Sedona and Santa Fe. As always I am sending you much light, love and Zen journeys! In gratitude, Sage About the Author: Sage Woman is an Intuitive and Spiritual Life Coach. Contact her to schedule an individual session with her. Her passion is to assist you in empowering and co-creating the life you desire with tools and practical applications along with intuitive messages to guide your journey. For more information, contact her at 512-234-2075, or email sagewomen61@gmail.com.
