Erica Kartak

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays as it is the only one with multiple days off of work, which makes it ideal for a long weekend away. With San Francisco a quick flight away from Phoenix, we were able to leave on Thursday morning and arrive in Napa before noon, which was just in time to stop at Boon Fly Cafe at The Carneros Inn.  Boon Fly Cafe has the best donuts! By the time I remembered to take a photo, there was only one lonely donut left. I’ve stayed at The Carneros Inn in the past and it’s a beautiful cottage style property. I highly recommend staying there or stopping in to enjoy a meal at Boon Fly Cafe or Farm.

After checking in at The Westin Verasa Napa and a relaxing afternoon (we may or may not have gotten stuck on an Alaska: The Last Frontier marathon…who knew Jewel was related to Atz?!), we headed to Celadon for a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. The preparation and clean up of a big Thanksgiving meal can be stressful and I prefer to leave that stress to someone else!

The weather in Napa was perfect – warm enough to wear a tank during a hilly training run and a light shirt for wine tasting.  We headed north to Calistoga to visit Lava Vine and T-Vine wineries. The guys at Lava Vine are my favorite. Very knowledgable about the wine and funny as hell. Plus they play excellent music! T-Vine just opened a new tasting room and it’s beautiful. They have a little outdoor area with great views.

On Saturday, we grabbed both breakfast and lunch at Oxbow Public Market. If you’re headed to Napa, you need to check it out. Oxbow Public Market has a mix of food vendors and other items, such as olive oil, wine, meat and cheese. It’s a quick walk from the Westin, but would be worth a visit on its own.

We rounded out our wine tastings with visits to Regusci Winery and Black Stallion before heading to Berkeley for a quick visit with family. We had heard Regusci mentioned at T-Vine the day before and also found them in my favorite Napa winery guidebook, Back Lane Wineries of Napa and thought we’d give them a shot. Their property is really nice with lots of room for tastings both inside and outdoors. I prefer smaller wineries and Black Stallion was a little too large for me, although the tasting was really reasonable.

It felt fitting that we stopped in Berkeley for more food and fun before heading home. We drove up some of the steepest hills I’ve ever seen and were treated to a beautiful sunset. It was cloudy over the bay but you could make out the top pillars of the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance. It was my first visit to Berkeley and I can’t wait to head back to check it out again!