From Napa to Sacramento, Lodi and a Redwood City Christmas

It was a busy three days that involved 446 miles of driving from Roseville to Napa to Sacramento to Lodi to Redwood City, but I wouldn't trade them.

Before starting my whirlwind trip I enjoyed a Christmas dinner celebration for Bayside's North Campus at Skipolini's ... I ate way too much pizza and other goodies, but got to try lots of items from their menu that I had never even considered before and cannot wait until I return in the future. My table also decorated a ginger bread house, although when I was at The Meritage Resort and Spa the next day I saw that the professionals are much better building and decorating them.

In Napa on Friday I attended the Visit Napa Valley Bi-Annual Conference to see how marketing and tourism efforts are going ... and they are going great. From media attention to people visiting, tourism is up, and cities and towns from throughout the Napa Valley have great plans for the future. After the conference I was able to meet many of the attendees who came to the event at The Meritage Resort and Spa, while enjoying appetizers and, of course, red wine. We then took a quick trip to BANK Café and Bar at Napa's Westin Verasa. I tried the Duck Burger, which was good, but would have been better with bacon. Not completely satisfied with my meal, I headed back to Siena at The Meritage Resort to try their newly launched menu. I started off with calamari, then Porchetta and, my personal favorite, the budino chocolate cake for dessert.

On Saturday, I met with a friend from The Meritage at Oxbow Public Market for breakfast at C Casa and coffee/hot chocolate from Ritual Coffee. I then headed to Old Sacramento with my parents for some toy shopping for my nephews and niece, before heading to the Sacramento Republic FC's holiday mixer, a chance to meet the staff, try some food and I bought a new t-shirt. After that we went to a family friend's house for their Christmas open house, where they had their house fully decorated, including Santa in a bathtub (thankfully he was fully clothed), their festive snacks were truely amazing and creative though. In Lodi we ordered Chinese from Chop Chop and enjoyed it with family.

On Sunday, we headed to Redwood City to see my nephews sing in their church's children's Christmas choir, helped one of my nephews learn to ride a two-wheel bike for the first time, celebrated an early Christmas and dined on homemade noodles paired with fine wine and ham.
For those with iPads, photos available here.