Napa Day Trip

Y's sister came to visit her. As Bay Area locals, we felt obligated to show her around. First stop in her whirlwind tour -- Napa. Need to liquor her up a bit to leave a good impression of her vacation.

1. V. Sattui Winery

Since it was a long weekend and the weather was awesome, if not a bit on the warm side, the big-name place were PACKED! V. Sattui was named winery of the year last year, and I'm sure their wines are excellent, but we didn't stick around for any tasting. If it weren't for the crowd, I would have loved to try out the 8 wines for $10 offering they had. There were some interesting-looking wines I wanted to taste. =T I'll save it for next time....


In the cellar.

2. Opus One

Opus One is supposed to be one of THE wineries. With bottles easily costing 3 figures, and tasting is by appointment only (and costs something on the order of $30), we weren't able to go inside. Still, that didn't stop us from walking around and enjoying their beautiful grounds in this nice weather.


Y and sister.


Opus One main building.


Overlooking the front.


Looks like a spaceship!

3. Domaine Chandon

We did plan for some tasting of the bubblies and a winery tour at Domaine Chandon. They're famed for their sparkling wines. With a 2-for-1 tasting coupon, we tried out 7 different wines. They also have well-kept grounds.


Mushroom stone sculptures.


Huge steel tanks during the tour.


Barrels. What else do you see in a winery tour?


Our tour was interrupted by a bat flying around. It was too fast for me to photograph in the dim conditions, so we settled for a shot with the tanks.

In all, it was a short, fun trip to Napa. I increased my collection of wine glasses (from wine tastings) yet again.

Quick LA Trip

Took a quick trip down to LA this past weekend. Here are some notable pictures from Long Beach and Rodeo Drive.

Long Beach


Weirdest thing at the Aquarium of the Pacific


Queen Mary












Rodeo Drive

Ratatouille

Caught the sneak preview of Ratatouille on Saturday night. It's Pixar's newest movie. Maybe it's because the market is over-saturated with sequels upon sequels, but I haven't been that impressed with the offering of [supposedly] blockbuster movies thusfar this summer. Sure we're pulling in 9-figure ticket sales. Sure the special effects are out of this world. There's just a lack of movies with interesting/original storylines.

Anyways, I thoroughly enjoyed Ratatouille. It's THE movie to see this summer, or maybe even this year. It's so I-laughed-so-hard-I-peed-in-my-pants funny that I can't wait until the DVD comes out. [Note: No, I did not actually pee in my pants. It was just a figure of speech. I would advise against drinking stuff while watching this movie, unless you really have to.]

I waited through the entire credits for some outtakes or something special, but there wasn't anything to see. So save yourself a few minutes and leave when the credits start, unless you have a thing for reading something that's pretty much the entire Pixar payroll and all their second cousins.

Tour de Cure

This Sunday was the Tour de Cure ride in Palo Alto. Since I don't have a bike yet, I got to be the official photographer of Y and her coworker P. They participated in the "50K" ride.


Before the ride.

 

 


And they're off! (Just wanted to note that their numbers add up to 600)

 


Lance Armstrong never looked this good as a blur.


It's hard work laughing through "50K" of biking.

 


Almost there!

Alas, I was not quick enough to beat the two fast bikers back to the finish line for the money shot. Next time, I'll consider dragging my camera along for the ride.