Napa, Vacaville and Whiskeytown

After saying good-by to family in San Jose, we traveled to Napa Valley for a three day stay in Calistoga, CA.  The heat in the northwest has been extreme, and Calistoga was no exception.  We intentionally visited only two wineries.  Beaver Creek is a small winery leased by a young family originally from Czechoslovakia.  All processes at Beaver Creek are organic. The term "helping mother nature" means no chemical intervention as may be true for other larger wineries.  The wine tasting room is rustic and comfortable.  We purchased a Chardonnay and Cabernet, both made with grapes from this winery, and we enjoyed talking to the young owner who told us about his love of the California valley.

Sterling Vineyards was the other winery we chose to visit.  Sterling is as large as Beaver Creek is small.  Sterling has the only tram in the valley.  To get to the winery for the tasting, we rode the tram, and the view of the valley was incredible!  We were at the Sterling Vineyard for three hours.  We were able to walk the winery villa, spending a leisurely time on various levels, enjoying good wine and the company of others.

View of Sterling Vineyards from the tram

Sterling multi-tiered villa

After our time in Napa, we headed inland to Vacaville, CA.  This was a maintenance trip.  Our water heater was leaking internally, something water heaters are not supposed to do.  The closest possibility for a warranty replacement was Camping World.  We arrived on Monday afternoon.  The service manager, Terry, was great!  Of course they did not have our model in stock, but it was ordered and on the way, with our replacement due to happen on Thursday a.m.  Terry invited us to dry camp in the parking lot and had one of the guys make a spot for us out of the way.  Since we had just filled with water and dumped the tanks, we were good to go.  We always take these types of delays as an opportunity to do the things, like paperwork, we ignore when we are doing other more fun things.  We did just that, and by Thursday p.m. we had a new water heater.  Friday a.m. we were on our way.

Next stop, Whiskeytown, CA.  When I called the State Recreation Area for a reservation, the young person on the phone describe the spot as a parking lot, which it is.  She also said, "You know, like WalMart..." which it was not as you can see from the picture below.

 Whiskeytown Lake is a popular reservoir in this area for good reason.  It's gorgeous!  And during the hot, dry summers it provides much needed relief from the heat.  During our brief stay, there were any number of boats of all sizes in and out of the water.  Point of interest... no jet skis allowed.

Another point of interest...  biking and hiking are very popular in this area.  We were amazed at the number of bikers riding in 100+ degrees of heat.  When it comes to heat, we are both wimps.

Whiskeytown Lake from the visitors' center

The Glory Hole

 The picture to the right is just below the Whiskeytown Lake dam.  The cement structure in the picture is called the Glory Hole - given its name because it looks like the blossom of a Morning Glory.  The Glory Hole was installed when the dam was built.  The structure is attached to a pipe that leads to the river.  When waters in the lake get too high, the Glory Hole takes the overflow.  The structure is fenced off on land, and you can see the barriers in the water.  Warning signs make it very clear there are no safety devices in or around the structure.  It drops 200 feet into the hole, and there would be no getting out if a swimmer fell in.

Jerry perfecting his panning technique

The draw to Whiskey town was twofold.  First, it is at the junction of US 5 and CA 299 which would take us to Highway 101 on the west coast.  Second, this was the first area where gold was discovered during the Gold Rush.  Jerry is a gold panner at heart and just had to give it a try.  So we hiked and panned for gold in Whiskeytown.  No we did not strike it rich, but we had a ton of fun.  I will say this.  Panning for gold takes real technique and is hard work.  After three days and heat in excess of 100 degrees every day, we took off for the coast on 299.

Highway 299 twists and turns with the Trinity River

I will say this, if you are looking for the curviest, skinniest, twistiest road ever, take HIghway 299.  Oh my.  We were headed west with the intention of hitting Chrystal City in northern CA by early afternoon.  We did make it to Chrystal City by evening.  The drive on 299 was breathtaking in so many ways.  Once again we were overwhelmed my the vast beauty of where our journey takes us...  and we were exhausted by the drive itself.  All that twisting and turning and braking is hard on the driver.  It's also hard on the passenger who of course has to help the driver keep the Whale upright and on the road by leaning and pumping the passenger side brake.  I have a love / hate relationship with high places.  I am drawn to the beauty and terrified of the sheer drop.  Much of Highway 299 also runs with the Trinity River.  At times the river was close enough to touch, and at other times we towered far above the river.

We were grateful for a spot at Wal-Mart that night where we ate supper and fell in bed.  The next morning we headed north on 101 toward Oregon to enjoy time on the west coast before heading inland.