Part 2 of this year’s summer family vacation took place in Napa Valley. My good friend Andrew moved to the area with his family nearly 5 years ago and before now we never could make the timing work. Coupled with the Yosemite visit, this was the perfect opportunity to take up their open invitation. We stayed at their lovely house in Angwin and made short day trips to the towns in the valley. Highlights included; picking blackberries, wine drinking at Rombauch, the Napa County Fair, and the pool at Leah’s parents place.

While that was all great stuff on its own, my personal favorite activity was a 45 mile bike ride, led by Andrew, through the Sonoma County wine growing region. I hauled a bicycle on the back of our car across half of California just so I could do this ride on our last full day. We lucked out on the heat and with our early start it never got hotter than 75F. Strategically, we ended in the parking lot of Russian River brewing so we could indulge in fresh pints of Pliny the Elder after ride. Looking forward to having another excuse to go back North and stay at The Riha B&B.

Check out the highlights below and click any photo to see the full Google album.