Congratulations, Terry and Trace Napa Valley, California August 18, 2007
Upways: Our weekend in Napa
After only being back in town for a few days from Puerto we boarded another plane and headed to Napa Valley in NorCal for Terry and Trace's wedding. While we were there we also celebrated Isa's birthday. We went to Rutherford Grill where the food was yummy and the wine was extra yummy.
Terry and Trace
Our "Queen Bee" was married on Saturday at St. Helena Catholic Church. In between the wedding and the reception, we stopped by Taylor's, a burger joint that was featured on the Food Network. Their Ahi Tuna burger and sweet potato fries were excellent. The reception was at V.Sutti Winery. We took a COF trip there a few years ago and loved it. Buy their wine. Their muscat dessert wine and riesling are wonderful.
Hooray, we're all here. COF- (clockwise) Leia, Me, Tin-Tin, Terry, Cecile, Fantone, Isa, Anna, Annie, Larnie
FoCOF, Friends of COF- Michelle is Trace's sister and Thuy, according to Cile went to UCI with us. She really went to UCSB with Chary.
We couldn't not stop at Taylor's.
I love Ahi.
During the Hors D'oeuvres hour, Leia and Anna took a mini tour of the grounds.
Each table was named a type a wine. Ours was our favorite, Muscat. So sweet.
So pretty.
After dinner, we moved the party indoors to the wine cellar. Setting up the slideshow in there was hysterical. Video by Cile to be posted soon.
Hola! Mis amigos! y Bienvenidos! Como estas? Estoy bien. Y tu? Puerto was fun and filled with activities like swimming, snorkeling, canopy tours, atv, massages, foam parties and lots and lots of eating. We ate really well. Mucho gusto. Thanks to Riann and Joe and Rache for planning and to Randy, Bev, Ja, James, Cile, Leia and Larnie for playing. Luckily no one got piss drunk and ended up in jail. Mexico is the land of Tequila. That had the potential to be very, very mal or bad. We made it home safe and sound and everyone is still alive and well. Thank God.
Day 1: Chicken fight
First order of buisness, get in the pool.
We played chicken fight, tourney styles.
Guess which team won. Yup. Go James.
Then, the boys tried. Love this pic.
Why in the humid and hot weather did we get into the steaming hot pool? For foot soup.
Day 2:Paradise Village Resort
Poor Ja got eaten up by mosquitos.
Love pool bars. They're great!
I missed this. I was in the bathroom, but this happened quite often on the trip. It could have been worse, James. You got off lucky. Earlier in the day at Paradise Village, Joe and James won us a free bottle of tequila by guess tv and movie themes. Who knows the theme to the Incredible Hulk movie? Great job.
Happy Birthday, Ja!
Spoons is a great game. Swabs is better.
Day 3:Pool games y Daquiri Dicks
We'd make up our own pool games.
Top Gun ain'y got nothing on us. Yeah, right. Beach volleyball's hard.
Daquiri Dicks made the best margaritas I've ever had and
they also made the best shrimp taco I've ever had. Yummy!
Day 4:Las Caletas y Foam Party at Senor Frogs
I don't have many pictures from Las caletas or from the Foam Party. You'll have to check Ja's or Cile blog to see if they post any. Las Calatas was nice. We tried to snorkel while a few of us got kissed by a sea lion. Lunch was wonderful. There was a cooking lesson for paella. I lost another contact lens and slept in the hammock. The Foam party was ruckus. I don't think any of us had ever been. It was cleaner than I thought it was going to be. Many of us almost choked on those damn bubbles, couldn't breath, but we still danced up a storm.
Bailamos! from gwen78 and Vimeo. It took an hour to get from Puerto to Las Caletas on a boart. Randy and Rachey passed the time by dancing.
Day 5:Mayan Wrap y El Arrayan
Day 5 was recovery day. Riann, Rachey and I went to the spa and had massages. Rachey and my package included a Mayan wrap. After the massage they exoliated the skin, cover you with this really nice-smelling white stuff and literally wrapped you in plastic while they massaged your scalp. Heaven! I have never felt so relaxed. Meanwhile, the rest of the gang played in the Paradise Village resort area.
BIG BULLY from LBo and Vimeo. Apparantly, Leia is a bully in the water. But hey, their team won, so it's all good.
Day 6:Canopy Tour y Langosta mucho
The Canopy tour on zipline was really fun. We were on pedistals several feet up in the air swinging from tree to tree.
The guides took really good care of us and they were very funny, well a few of them anyways and very knowledgable. My favorite was Emilio, the one second to the left.
What a great little adventure.
We weren't allowed to take pictures up in the air. This is us all sweaty on the "nature" walk back to base camp.
Oh, langosta! Back to Paradise Village were we thought the ad said all you can eat lobster. Mentiroses. They actually meant an all you can eat salad bar with your lobster. All good. We still got alot for what we paid for. I certainly did. I guess something I ate didn't agree with my stomach. I made several trips to the bathroom that evening. Later in the next few day, Ja and Larnie suffered the same.
Day 7:ATV y Cafe de Artise
We got to the ATV place a little too early so we chilled at a plaza near the edge of the water. Joe's in deep thought here.
The ATV tour itself was fun, long and bumpy and muddy. Our guides, not so great. I'm just happy that Larnie is okay. Larnie played doctor on herself, yo. Assessments and all. You're awesome, a true trooper. Here we are in the beginning of the tour.
Floosey and Hussy shared a ride. Ja and Bev did, too. The rest of us were singles.
It probably rained the night before because on the trail were puddle of water. That was fun to drive thru. Got dirty and muddy. Yeah.
They took us to a tequila ranch were we tasted different tequila. Their shot glasses were not very nice. Crazy, but not very nice. Had to censor it out. Maybe we shouldn't have drank then drove. Still interesting to learn about agave.
Happy Birthday, Rachey! Check out this presentation. It's everyone's dessert on a mirror plate that read in chocholate, Happy Birthday Rachele. How cool!
Dinner was yums. Very fency.
Overall, Mexico was a fun and enjoyable place to play in and hang out. I haven't been this dark since I was ten when I played outside everyday, but it was worth it. So, Adios, Puerto. Muchas gracias y hasta luego.
