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Anna S. E. Lundberg

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West Coast USA Road Trip: Yosemite and Death Valley

21 July, 2015 By Anna S E Lundberg Leave a Comment

One of my favourite places in the world is Yosemite National Park in California. Somehow it caught my imagination when I went there once with my dad and then again a second time when I visited while he was living and working in San José. I think it was the vastness of it all, the mythology of the Native Americans who had lived there, and the simply breathtaking natural beauty.

My aunt and I had booked the whole trip quite late, by which time the accommodation inside the Park itself was already full, so from Napa Valley we drove to Mariposa, just outside the Park to the west. When we arrived in the evening at our little hotel, we were greeted by a blackboard with our names and the message, “Keys in the door!” – and so they were. You have to love these little towns where crime seems not to be much of a concern. In fact the owner was still around and we gratefully accepted “some leftover wine”, which turned out to be a whole unopened bottle of Chardonnay, along with homemade cookies. The personal touch! And in the evening, there was live music out on the terrace under the stars.

Our first destination was Glacier Point, a couple of hours of driving from Mariposa. The weather didn’t look promising so we headed up as soon as we could in the morning. Just as we had gone round and taken all our photos, the clouds closed in about us, blocking any view of the world below as the rain started pouring down. We were incredibly lucky to have timed the visit so well, and the only downside was that I had to spend a few dollars on a bright yellow poncho to cover my optimistic shorts-and-top outfit I had chosen for the day. As the rain continued, we weren’t really tempted by further exploration of the park so we had a quick lunch down in the village and then drove back out to our hotel.

Half Dome, Yosemite
Here you can see the Half Dome off to the right, one of the most iconic sights in Yosemite National Park. It rises 5,000 feet up from Yosemite Valley and the adventurous among you can either hike the curved side (a 14- to 16-mile round trip) or climb the Northwest face over a period of 3-5 days. Good luck!
Yosemite
Pride Rock! And beyond that you can see Yosemite Falls. On a map, it looks like these are right next to Glacier Point but of course it’s a long drive back down and around…
Yosemite Falls
The next day, we made our way back through the Park taking the opportunity to stop off at Yosemite Falls. These waterfalls were burned into my memory from my first visits to Yosemite, though the power of the water varies depending on the time of year and the amount of rain.
Yosemite
It would have been nice to have had this weather up at Glacier Point the previous day, but what can you do?!
VW Beetle
Our second stop of the day was unplanned, as road works meant a 30-minute stop in the middle of the forest. We briefly considered climbing up the banks to find a private tree for a toilet break but our common decency prevented us from doing so and we decided to wait for the next actual toilet stop.
Tioga Lake
As we were finally permitted to continue our drive, the scenery changed to become even more dramatic as we passed some great climbing spots and the beautifully serene Lake Tioga.
Death Valley
From the lush green world of Yosemite, we drove on until we reached the valley of death…
Death Valley
I felt incredibly small in these vast landscapes, both Yosemite and Death Valley. In Europe we simply don’t have this scale; if we were to drive as far as we did in the States we would be crossing several smaller countries and many more towns and villages on the way.
100 feet below sea level
Death Valley actually encompasses the lowest point in North America, Badwater Basin (sounds like something from Doctor Who, no?!) at 282 feet or 86 metres below sea level.
Furnace Creek
We spent just one night in Death Valley – we had to break up the journey – in Furnace Creek, which according to Wikipedia “holds the record for the highest reported air temperature in the world”, 134 degrees Fahrenheit or 56.7 degrees Centigrade in July 1913.
Death Valley road
The road stretches out ahead for miles and miles with no sign of life on either side.

From Death Valley we continued on, past Las Vegas and on to our grand finale: the Grand Canyon.

 

The practical bit:

River Rock Inn – This calls itself Mariposa’s oldest motel, although there is a new owner who has taken over this year. I can also recommend Charles Street Dinner House, where we had yummy dinner both nights.

Furnace Creek Ranch – This is the cheaper of the two hotels that make up Furnace Creek Resort, the other one being Furnace Creek Inn. As usual since we booked late we didn’t have a lot of choice but this was a fun place to stay, it felt very “wild west”.

Filed Under: North America, Travel, United States Tagged With: death valley, furnace creek ranch, mariposa, river rock inn, road trip, travel, USA, yosemite, yosemite falls

West Coast USA Road Trip: Drinking and flying in Napa Valley

17 July, 2015 By Anna S E Lundberg 2 Comments

Gloria Ferrer
Cheers!

From San Francisco and Sausalito we headed out into wine country and kicked off our visit with a glass of bubbly at Gloria Ferrer. With views across the countryside, this was a beautiful introduction to the world of Napa.

Napa is known for its wine production and yet it only produces 4% of California’s total; at least 95% of the bottle needs to be coming from the area in order to have it named on the label. In 1976, there was a competition organised in Paris in which two French judges did blind tasting of both white and red wine from France and from California… In what became known as the Judgment of Paris, a California wine came first in each category, shocking the French who of course could not believe that the Americans could produce wine of such a high calibre. As if that weren’t enough, a repeat tasting to celebrate the 30th anniversary in 2006 saw California wines take the top five spots again….

Tasting room: open
And it begins…

Our first pre-planned stop was at Beringer, where we took part in a group tour that took us through the history of the winery and the winemaking process. I found the tasting particularly interesting here, as we experimented with the effect of eating something salty, something sour, something bitter and something sweet on different wines. After this we returned to our hotel for some wine and cheese and an early night, as we would be getting up early the next morning for a full-day tour that began with a ride in hot air balloon.

It was my aunt who had suggested the balloon ride and I, of course, said yes although it was only later that I realised that this was actually on my bucket list. We left our backpacks and handbags in a locker as there wouldn’t be space on board the balloon but I still managed to hold onto my phone, my big SLR and my Gopro mounted on a stick. Ridiculous. We drove out into the fields where three balloons lay waiting for us. Each balloon had the ‘cockpit’ in the middle where our pilot would control the burners and then two compartments on either side, each with up to four people in it.

Hot air balloon in flight
Photo credit: Napa Valley Balloons. The photo was taken by a GoPro mounted on one of the ropes leading up from the basket. We also had a drone following our balloon as we rose up from the field so if you see any videos on the Napa Valley Balloons site then keep an eye out for my aunt and me!
Hot air balloon
Adventure is out there!
Hot air balloon basket
Don’t look down…!
Vineyard
We landed back in a field that reminded me of some American film about alien crop circles. The sun was still rising and yet we’d already had this wonderful experience; I could get up at 4am every day if this were the reward I got!

The afternoon tour was a limo ride (“limo” being a bit of a stretch – or, rather, not a stretch, as it was actually a white van) that would take us to four different boutique wineries. The benefit of a tour like this is that you can all drink as much or as little as you feel like, without having the driving hanging over you. It was, as they promised, a very social tour, which saw us quickly bonding with our fellow passengers and culminated in a rendition of American Pie. I blame the wine. You really don’t get drunk, though, as the tasting is spread out throughout the day – it’s the same experience I had when I went on a cycling tour in Argentina, we were unaffected but we had a policeman following us by the end of the day as he was obviously used to rowdy tourists causing mayhem. My aunt and I instead finished off this long day in style with a delicious meal at Bouchon Bistro.

Andretti Winery
The Andretti Winery was established by Formula 1 racer Mario Andretti when he retired from the sport. (On the site it says, slightly worryingly, “It was Mario’s career in racing that led to his love of wine.”)
Tudal Winery
We had lunch after our tasting at Tudal Winery, which had a really nice informal style and a garden where we could cool off a little.
Dutch Henry Winery
At our third stop, we were led out of the heat and into the caves of Dutch Henry Winery.
Laird Winery
Our final tasting was at Laird, where we also had some welcome cheese and crackers.
Cork tree
The cork tree really feels like cork: spongey to the touch. In fact the corks at Stags’ Leap are obtained from elsewhere so this tree is just maintained in order to show visitors.

On our final morning – yes, morning – we finished our time in Napa with a last wine tour at Stags’ Leap Winery. Another beautiful location (though sadly they have no licence for wedding ceremonies – I asked) and the story of a strong woman behind it all, involving bootleggers and gangsters (some information on the site but you’ll have to do the tour to get the details!).

I’m not sure how much I learned from all this wine drinking, beyond the fact that I seem to like most (good) wines. My nose is somewhat attuned to different scents given that I worked in perfume for many years but I’m afraid I still can’t distinguish different grapes and I still have no idea what type of wine I really like. I did learn that when you want more of a particular wine you should ask to “revisit it” – that sounds much more refined than “Gimme more of that one” doesn’t? Of course the main thing, I think, is to enjoy the wine, regardless of the grape or the vintage.

Next: from the flowing wine of Napa to the waterfalls of Yosemite

 

The practical bit

Silverado Resort & Spa –  As the name suggests, this is a proper resort and could warrant a much longer stay than the two nights that we stayed there. It was a little out of the way from the action, I found, but I chose it to be within a short driving distance of the starting point for the balloon tour as I knew that this would be an early start.

The full-day tour – We did the Platypus package with Napa Valley Balloons, with an early morning balloon ride followed by a tour of some local wineries. The afternoon wine tour took us to four boutique wineries: Andretti, Tudal, Dutch Henry and Laird. Wine tasting fees at each of the different wineries were not included, which means that you don’t have to do the tasting at each stop if you find it all getting too much!

Wineries:

Gloria Ferrer

Beringer

Stags’ Leap Winery – Note the apostrophe: there was a battle over the name with another winery, which was settled by allowing that one to use Stag’s Leap Winery. Get it? So clear…

Bouchon Bistro –  The bakery next door is also well known. If you’ve read this far, all the way to the end of the post, let me tell you an embarrassing tale about this bakery: After our lovely dinner we wanted to pop in to get some breakfast for the next morning. When we tried the door it was locked, though, and one of the staff came out to tell us it was closed. I told him of our search for breakfast and he left us to it but my story must have been pitiful as a minute later he returned, carrying a little paper bag. “We usually give what’s left over to the local homeless charity but here you are.” Great. We’ve taken food from the homeless. We gave him a tip and hung our heads in shame. But the pastries sure tasted good the next day…

 

Filed Under: North America, Travel, United States Tagged With: beringer, california, dutch henry, laird, napa, road trip, stags' leap, travel, tudal, USA

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Anna Lundberg is a success coach and business strategist who helps experienced corporate professionals reimagine success outside of the 9 to 5.

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