Adult Disneyland

We spent the weekend in San Francisco and Napa Valley for Allison & John Spears' wedding. Thursday night we stayed in the Chinatown district of San Fran and went to Water Bar for dinner. The food was amazing - oysters Rockerfeller, prawns, and black sea bass with risotto. We went with two of Benton's IBM buddies who were out there for work.

I slept in Friday morning while Benton worked. We walked around the Union Square area and took some touristy pictures and did some shopping. We went to Neiman's and Nordstrom, but every store seems better when you're somewhere away from home!

Benton's rent car for the weekend was a big grey Mercury Marquis -not exactly cool to cruise around the wine country in, but it was free so I can't complain. We drove out to Napa around lunchtime on Friday and had a great lunch at Rutherfords. We also did a tasting at the Cakebread winery. I had been there when I went to Napa for work several years ago, and it was as good as I remembered. I highly recommend going there! The rehearsal dinner was at the Carneros Inn. The weather was perfect for cocktails on the lawn and the dinner was delicious with wine pairings for each course.

We stayed at the Harvest Inn in St. Helena for the rest of the weekend. The grounds were gorgeous and it was conveniently located in the middle of the valley. After breakfast the guys headed to Ana's Cantina to watch the USA vs. Ghana game. I got dressed and did some shopping in St. Helena - lots of cute shops with wine collectables, kids books, housewares, etc. We met up with Katie and Blair Lang for a burger at Gott's Roadstand, then it was time for wine! Benton's favorite winery is Frog's Leap in Rutherford, so he showed us out to their hidden vineyard and LEED-certified farm building. There were amazing wildflowers, a patio straight from a Crate and Barrel catalog, oh and the wine was great too! We also drove to downtown Napa so I could get a piece of champagne cake at the Butter Cream Bakery. Then Benton and I toured the Louis Martini winery and Mumm sparkling wines before getting ready for the wedding.

The ceremony was beautiful with the setting sun behind the Harvest Inn vineyard. We had more wine, a wonderful seated dinner, and great dancing with friends. We took some fun polaroids to go with their guest book and there was a large photo booth for the guests to play with as well. We were so thankful to be included for such an intimate wedding - thanks to John and Allison for an amazing mini vacay!

Parker the Munchkin was in Wichita Falls with both sets of grandparents while we were gone. From all reports, he giggled, cooed, squealed, and throughly hammed it up the entire time!