In early April we were able to get two birds with one stone...cheer on our great friend Elias Erickson while he competed in his first Ironman and visit the famed Sonoma/Napa Valley area of Northern California.
With such a great line up, it's no surprise that we had a really fun weekend!
Kylan was a huge part of Elias' support crew and the two of them left our hotels at 4:15 to arrive at the site of the race. Kylan loves endurance races like this and besides feeling partially responsible for talking Elias into signing up, I know he just loved being at the start line to experience the excitement of race day. I'm certain another Ironman is in his future.
With three kids between the two of us and Brittany expecting twins, we chose to pass on watching Elias swim and opted to get there in time for the bike and run. We were able to connect with Elias at the halfway point on his bike and he seemed to be doing really well. It was so cute to watch their daughter Summer just stare at her dad, she was so excited to see him!
From early on we could tell that we were going to be great friends with the Ericksons (I think a lot of people feel that way about them!) and we feel lucky to have shared our Stanford experience with them. The are truly amazing people and the took us on lots of fun adventures!
After we met Elias at the halfway mark we planned to drive about 15 miles into the heart of Napa Valley to experience what we could of the famous California wineries - in whatever way you can when you don't drink wine! As we were driving through the beautiful countryside, we realized that we were still on the race route. So we watched carefully out our windows until we saw a familiar bike. It was so fun to be there to cheer Elias on and I'm glad we were able to catch a few photos of him on his big day.
The first thing I would say about Napa Valley is that it is just beautiful. There's just something about the miles of vineyards that line the rolling hills, that feels romantic. And even though we were there in early spring and the vines were still bare, it was stunning. The first little town we visited was called Helena and we went straight to the visitors/information center to inquire about tours and activities that we could do as non-wine drinkers. After a couple of very strange looks (who in the world comes to Napa Valley and doesn't drink wine?!) we were able to get a few recommendations. We visited a couple of shops that host olive oil and balsamic vinegar tastings (which were delightful!), got a recommendation for a great restaurant, and then headed to the castle.
That's right, there's a castle in Napa Valley. And it is amazing! It was built by a man who's ancestors immigrated to California from Italy. After a series of failed attempts as a businessman and restauranteur, this man turned his sites towards the wine industry.
As he started to amass a fortune from his successful wineries, this man decided to indulge a hobby he had always enjoyed - the study of medieval Italian architecture. After a time, he took that hobby to a whole new level by building an authentic medieval Italian castle in the Northern California countryside. The details on the castle are really amazing, and we had such a fun time exploring it! From the imported Tuscan stone, to the hand carved wood and metal work and murals, the details throughout the castle were really amazing. Definitely a great stop for any tourists in the region, but it was an especially fun diversion for those of us looking for something to do besides visit tasting rooms!
The tour price did include a couple of glasses of wine, so we shamelessly exchanged one glass of wine for a box of chocolates then asked if we could have a glass of the grape juice they reserve for children - which I thought was a pretty great trade! The grape juice was delicious and the girls thought it was pretty cool to drink juice that was clear!
This picture is of a historic wine press located outside the castle, although that's not what we were looking at. They had a little enclosure just outside the tasting rooms filled with exotic chickens. I've never had the experience of thinking that chickens were or even could be beautiful, but these were amazing! We were fascinated by the different types of feather patterns, colors and shapes and even tried to pet a few of them - unfortunately the chickens were not on board with that idea!
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