The next day we were off again, this time to California Wine Country: Napa Valley. After a leisurely breakfast of delightful crepes in the city, it was only an hour and a half drive over the Golden Gate bridge and we were transported to a totally different place. The steep city building blocks turned into beautiful rolling hills with straight orderly rows and rows of vines. Pointing various sun facing directions as far as the eye could see and with grand estate homes watching over the fields. These italian and provence-style homes were dwarfed by the surrounding Mayacamas and Vaca mountains that encircled and created Napa Valley. 
We went to the visitor center to get some info about where to go bike and taste wine. For those of you who have not been on vacation with me, it is a well known fact, at some point on our trip, I will make you do something really strenuous, something physical to the point that it isn't *that* fun while you are doing it, but turns out afterwards to being really fun (or a good laugh or a good memory afterwards). Note: these things are always fun to me for some reason. So on this adventure occasion I decided we should bike to all the vineyards instead of driving. It was sunny, there was a great breeze and after texas, mid-to-upper 80s seems ideal to do just about anything (plus its a dry heat!). My sister and cousin swear the idea of doing this was fun sounding to them as well, but apparently it was my cycling pace that was not quite what they called, "Leisurely". I don't know about this, I totally felt like this was leisurely-ish, I kept turning around to see if they were still close behind me and they were, so I figured I was maybe going a bit too slow, so I may have picked up the pace here and there to take advantage of a hill to coast down. . . . . but I digress.
We went to two vineyards in 10 miles, so no long bike tour. I made sure we did the bulk of the ride first so that the remaining 1/3 of the ride would be an easy shot back to the rental bike place ($10-$20 fine anytime back after 5pm sharp!)
The winery I liked best, was PlumpJack. This place was no low end boonesfarm. It was $20 tasting and they were pouring the good stuff. Their specialty was: . My pick (and the one I plan to order and have shipped) was: CADE 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain.Our next stop, unfortunately, was up a large hill and then a bit of a coast to the next place. We just made it into the place before it stopped taking new tasters at 4pm. Cliff Lede Vineyards. We had a blast out here. We had very chatty neighbors who were on the more senior side who chatted up Triina and noted that the wine-tender(?) perked up the moment us three girls arrived. This was another great place. Since we were the last ones out there, they let us taste anything they had open, bonus! The pick at this place: 2012 Sauvignon Blanc. I liked their red despite the fact that their specialty was actually Cabernet Sauvignon. 
10 minutes prior to 5pm, we knew we had to book it the last mile to get back to the Napa Valley Bike Tours rental shop in time. Despite the heat and all the wine we'd had, we made it back with 4 minutes to spare! We returned our bikes then decided it was best for all of us to get some good food in our bellies before we even thought about finding a campsite for the night. PSI: there is great camping in Napa Valley. Its at the Bothe-Napa State Park. A cute, small park with a nice picnic and day use area and maybe 30 campsites, about half next to a small creek that ran through the park. Since it was Labor Day monday and just about everyone had left to go home earlier that morning, we had the pick of the place. We pitched our tents, light a fire and just relaxed to Triina playing my Uke, and then headed off to bed early. It was a warm night, no long johns or hats required for me. I could get used to warm-weather camping! 
Post Ride Pic: See, we didn't even breaking a sweat!
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