2 posts tagged “napa valley”
So you're probably wondering at this point: okay, you've thrown massive amounts of cocky talk and food pr0n in our general direction for us to know you had a hell of a swell weekend in Napa Valley (French Laundry, Bouchon, BarBersQ) and San Francisco (supperclub). What the heck was the special occasion?
Right, right, so you're probably not actually asking or wondering about this. :) But let me show you anyway!
A good friend of mine had a conference in San Francisco the last week of January, and decided to troll OpenTable.com exactly two months and one day before her trip to see if she could book some coveted French Laundry reservations. She succeeded - somehow! - and since her sister had a timeshare at Vino Bello in Napa Valley, they decided to make a nice big trip out of it and invite us along for the spendy thrill of a ride. That's enough of a reason to visit our Toronto friends, so on Saturday we hurled a weekend bag into the boyfriend's Prius and drove up to Napa Valley!
We got off to a rocky start - the resort is located in some mysterious nowhere land (it looked like a corporate park) and our Prius's navigational system could not find it at all. We ended up having to pull up Google Maps on our mobile phones and visually comparing it to the car's map.
But, for my first time in Napa, I couldn't have stayed at a better resort! I have a mental checklist of what makes a hotel/resort room/suite "awesome" - on that list are things like a jetted whirlpool tub, spacious marble bathroom, fancy shower heads, fireplaces, large balconies, separate sitting areas, fancy king-sized beds with canopies and pillowtop mattresses, wall-mounted LCD TVs, kitchenettes, washer/dryers, and of course, FREEBIES - that extra something to make you feel like you're truly on vacation. Vino Bello hit every single item on that checklist, AND threw in a complementary bottle of tasty red wine for each room. I'd expect any other hotel to offer the cheapest wine they can buy in bulk, so I am happy to say that this bottle tasted neither bad nor cheap, and that we all enjoyed it very much.
Wth the timeshare arrangement and all, my perception of price here is probably very skewed. Suffice it to say, it was pleasantly inexpensive - and thank goodness, because The French Laundry was not.
We got a divided suite with a shared front door - inside the front door there were two separate, secondary front doors, each keycarded, for maximum privacy. Our room was a mini studio, with a kitchenette and spacious bathroom. Their one bedroom was one of the most phenomenal suites I've ever seen, with a fireplace in a plush sitting room, full kitchen and breakfast bar, an expansive balcony overlooking the pool, a humongous, canopied king size bed, in-room jacuzzi tub, and huge marble bathroom. To our amusement, the extra-large shower stall sported a total of five shower heads; one primary rainforest showerhead, and four mini ones on the wall that you could point in any direction. To slightly less of our amusement, it took each of us an embarrassing amount of time to figure out how to turn the damn thing on.
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As a spa junkie, I also have nothing but good things to say about Spa Terra, which is located within Vino Bello/Meritage Resort's impressive wine cave. The facilities are a bit more modest compared to some other full-service spas (as in saunas and steam rooms, not happy endings) that you can find around the SF Bay Area. They had a hot tub and a very nice sitting/relaxing room, nice showers and a full locker room, but not much else that I could see. For the full experience of indulgence, I would definitely recommend shelling out the extra cash for some pampering at any Las Vegas hotel on the strip, or Burke Williams in Santana Row (San Jose, CA) or Kabuki Springs (Japantown, San Francisco, CA).
But I do have to mention that the 50 min. deep tissue massage I got was one of the best I've ever had...and I've had quite a lot of massages. I'm pretty hard on my body, partially because I enjoy being athletic and partially because I'm in denial about getting older and creakier...so between physical therapy and rolling around on the ground on tennis balls, a nice deep massage to loosen up sore and tired muscles is a frequent must-have in my life.
Overall:
Unfortunately, it was pretty wet weather for a weekend in Napa. We were sprinkled on during our morning at Bouchon Bakery, and completely drenched while trying to tour a vineyard. But it was luxurious, beautiful, and a flat-out awesome place to chill at during the day, and to crash in after my fooding adventures at The French Laundry and Bouchon Bakery rendered me nearly comatose.
So, while I'm not saying I'd pass up a timeshare in Aruba or Cancun for it, I'm glad that Vino Bello was one of the most enjoyable timeshare/resorts that I've had the pleasure of staying at!
W00t! I'm in Napa Valley for the first time ever!
Three guys at the table next to us started to take interest in our constant yammer about setting up macro shots and taking pictures of every dish that came out way. Eventually they struck up conversation with Jen, and lo and behold, the guy was the OWNER of the restaurant we were sitting in. His name was Jean (spelling?) and he was a very nice guy who was very interested in what we thought of the place (and very curious of our gorillapods on our cameras). We ended up spending two hours eating, chatting, and taking pictures. Jean gave Jen a long list of wineries and restaurants he recommended, with Jen fervently taking notes. We're definitely gonna be running out of meals before meal ideas, but we'll make the best of our time here!! Here's hoping that the rest of this trip is as cool and promising as the start!
Full Flickr set here - will update as the days progress!
