Napa Day #4: You knew I was going thrifting, right?

 You put me in one of the more expensive areas of the country and you don't expect me to go thrifting? Yeah, right.  :)  Today was Bread & Butter winery, thrift shopping, and dinner at RH Napa. 

Can I tell you how much I LOVED Bread & Butter? So much that I joined their wine club. They have a nationally distributed (1.5M cases annually) white label, and a smaller (3,000 cases annually) black label. I liked every single wine I tried from the black label, so subscribing was my treat to myself. 

On a related note: Something I didn't expect was the difference in how the varieties taste. Napa Valley is a 30-40 mile region divided into multiple smaller regions. Some of the larger wineries also get their grapes from outside Napa - south of LA, for example. I wouldn't expect the wines to taste so different, but they really do! Just a few miles different, where the plants are positioned on the hillside (amount of sun, rain runoff, etc), really affects how the grapes grow and how they taste. It's pretty darn fascinating. 

You know the phrase "I may have girl bossed a little too close to the sun"? Yeah, well I may have done that with the cork project. I've already filled my book bag and still have two bags to find room for, as well as what I'll get from the two wineries tomorrow. The UPS store in downtown Napa has to have seen this before, right?  

Thrifting in Napa: Some beautiful items, but the prices were not what I wanted to pay. Thank you, I can get a new COACH bag at the outlet for $150, I don't want to pay that for a used one. Even if it was Barbie pink and very cool.  I did find a great new keychain (pictured below, you'll laugh) and some vintage sink pieces I'm going to use to hang towels and robes on. Also, in the "Kelly can talk to a post" line of thought.....started a conversation with a group that had someone who worked in CLT, and turned out we knew some of the same people. I mean really - I'm on the opposite coast and I find people who know people I know. Very cool. 

Lastly, Mary and I got to go to RH Napa. We have one in CLT, but this one is grander with lights, crystal chandeliers and trees. Indoors! Fancy, fancy..... 

......and now, the pictures! 

Sunset in Napa. I mean, seriously......

Bread & Butter winery. Very unpretentious and friendly. 

Growing through a stone wall. Nature finds a way..... 

Yup, it's now on my keychain. 

These bags aren't full of wine, they're full of corks. And that's not all. See why I'm thinking of shipping? 

Dinner at RH Napa. Fancy, fancy.... 

There's a wine bar attached to the restaurant, this was the main chandelier. Yes, the "behold, she is singing to bring down the chandelier!" line from Phantom of the Opera went through my head while I was taking this photo. 

More of RH Napa

The famous French Laundry. There's not even a sign out front, this is tucked away in a small courtyard that you had to search to find. 

The only train that runs here is the Napa Valley Wine train, but darn it, I've always wanted my picture taken on train tracks. :) 

Las Vegas has their sign, Napa Valley has one too.