On our last full day in Napa we visited the Sterling Winery which was very cool and unique. The unique part was that to reach the winery you take a gondola ride up the mountain. Once there we were able to tour and taste and had great views of the Napa Valley.
http://www.sterlingvineyards.com/age_gateway?destination=home
We left Napa for Sacramento where we spent our last night in California but ran into a most pleasant and unexpected surprise on the ride. The Jelly Belly Factory! Whipping quickly off I-5 we pulled in and immediately joined what seemed like several thousand kids and kids at heart for a tour of the factory and free samples!
The tour was actually pretty interesting very automated and it seemed as if we were surrounded by billions of the tasty morsels! And of course we couldn't pass up a bargain so we took advantage of the by three bags of "belly flops" and get three bags free! "Belly Flops" are the ones that get culled out because the shape, size or logo are imperfect, however the taste is the same. Because I'm sure you are wondering, each bag is two pounds so we walked away with 12 pounds of Jelly Bellies, eight pounds of "Sour" and four pounds of "Regular". I think we've worked it down to 11 pounds already, it's a rough job but somebody's got to do it!
We didn't spend too much time roaming around Sacramento but "Old Sacramento" was interesting. It's very similar to the Fort Worth Stockyard area. The FW Stockyards were historic for the cattle drives and the Old Sacramento area is known for the gold rush, pony express and Wells Fargo Stage Coaches. The small but interesting Wells Fargo Museum provided some great history and was fun to visit.
https://www.wellsfargohistory.com
Once again this visit to Texas we're staying at the Marriott Champions Circle on the North side of Fort Worth which is quickly becoming one of our favorites because of it's rates and amenities. Later today Ben is going to join us and we're going to drive up to spend a couple of days in Fort Smith seeing Sarah, Joey (Happy Birthday) and of course Sweet Baby James!
Tuesday it's back to Florida where Nana will start pounding me in rummy, checkers and scrabble again!
I want to send a special "Get Well" wish out to Kandice Thomason! Thanks for having the foresight to order those THH lunch bags. The Idiots use it frequently and really appreciate it. Our prayers are with you for a speedy recovery!
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| Oxbow Public Market-easy walking distance from our Napa Hotel and Gott's makes a mean Blue Cheese and Bacon Hamburger! |
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| The watch may say 11:51AM but the song says "It's Five O'clock Somewhere! |
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| Sterling Vineyards-Napa |
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| Jelly Belly Factory! |
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| Wall to Wall Jelly Bellies! |
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| True Art-The Mona Lisa made entirely of Jelly Bellies! |
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| My best Intoxicated on Jelly Bellies Look!!!! |
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| God Bless Texas!!!! |
