Napa Valley

Sorry, these pictures are not in order.  Today was our day to slow down and really enjoy.  We took the Wine train through Napa Valley.  The last picture shows Al.  It was almost impossible to wipe the smile off his face.  He thoroughly enjoyed himself.  We had appetizers of apple smoked cheese, hearts of palm, seaweed salad, grapes, roasted pork with a dijon sauce and 2 prawns with a sauvignon blanc sauce.  Al had Ahi tuna with  Sea Scallops topped with topica caviar and a coconut and mango sauce, and served with avocado, julienne veggies, baby asparagus, and fingerling potatoes.  I had tenderloin of beef with potabella mushrooms, baby spinach, caramelized onions, baby carrots with tops, and a wonderful cabernet sauce with baby mushrooms and alfalfa sprouts.  We also had a seafood bisque, and for dessert, a vanilla creme brulee.  The train ride was very smooth and of course they served a little wine with each course.  We then drove up to St. Helena and stopped at 2 wineries.  At one of them we met one of the owners and he was quite the character.
The winery had been in his family for 5 generations.

The strange pictureis that of a tree trunk about 14or more feet across.  These were plentiful in the valley.  It is a eucalyptus tree from Australia.  The man who brought them over here thought he was going to make a fortune selling each seedling for $1.00.  He sold a couple hundred and many are still here and they have a huge trunk and are very big.  I was fascinated by them.

Today, being Valentines Day, the train was full.  We were in the lounge car first, then we were moved to the dining car for the trip back.  As Al Said, this was worth every penny.  It was a wonderful and everyone should have this experience.

The other 2 pictures are pf wineries, one is Laird Estates wineries.  Wouldn't Eddie have loved that one?

Tomorrow, we will go to southern California and hope to get to the Hearst Castle.