Confession time. Jeff and I don’t get the whole wine thing. I mean, if we have to drink wine, it’s usually Moscato or white zinfandel. Beyond that, we just don’t understand the appeal. Especially when it comes to that red, red wine…
By the way, did you know Neil Diamond originally did this song. It’s horrible. Trust me.
So when we realized Napa Valley was a super simple place to stop on our way out of Lake Tahoe, I figured I could find a couple of things to do and we’d spend the rest of the time catching up on laundry and other things.
The RV Park – Skyline Wilderness Park
We stayed at Skyline Wilderness Park. The park was once part of the near by Napa State Hospital until it was released as excess land. A group of citizens formed an association to lease the land and put it to use as a multi-use park. If you ask me, this sounds like the perfect beginning to a slasher movie!
The park is now the site of 4-H camps, horse shows, a frisbee golf course, an archery club, the California Native Plant Society, and 16 + miles of hiking, biking and horse back riding trails. Oh yeah, and tent and RV campground.
Unfortunately, while doggos are allowed in the RV area and main part of the park, they aren’t allowed on any of the hiking trails.
Making Friends
One of the great things about RVing is making new friends. Some of them are only friends while you are neighbors parked next to one another and others become friends for much longer.
Hanging out at the park gave us ample time to chat up several new friends, get some great recommendations for future travels and help out a few RV newbies with recommended RV accessories
Dog Park
There’s nothing better than an RV park that also has an off leash dog park and Skyline got this one right. During one of the trips to the park, Rizzo went crazy barking at something on the forested side of the fence. Turns out, we had a deer siting, enjoying a nice lunch.
The Cayetano Juárez Adobe
The oldest building in Napa was built in 1845 as part of a vast ranch owned by Cayentano Juarez. The building remained a home until the 1920’s when it was converted to a restaurant and has served as various restaurants in the 100 years since.
Today the building houses the La Cheve brewery, bakery and restaurant. Jeff and I stopped in for lunch. There’s a small indoor seating area and a decent size patio where we were able to bring Rizzo with us.
One of their signature foods is their Conchas, a traditional Mexican sweet bread. While they had many delicious looking dishes, I opted for the Concha French Toast and it was AMAZING!
Miles and Miles of Vineyards
Even if you don’t take advantage of one of the many, MANY available wine tastings and tours, you can still be amazed by the vastness of the wine industry represented by over 300 miles in just the Central Valley alone.
One thing is clear, vineyards are very proud! Every single vineyard has at least one sign letting you know who those grapes belong to. It might be Robert Mondavi, Sutter Homes or one of the small wineries that are much lesser known but they all post signs with pride.
The wine industry in California brings in over $73 billion a year and provides upwards of 400k jobs.
Clearly, our dislike of wine puts us in the minority!
The Stats
Miles hiked at this stop – 8.5
Animal Sightings to date – 3, add a deer on this trip.
Book & Movie Recommendations
The 1998 version of The Parent Trap was filmed at Staglin Family Vineyard in Rutherford, CA.