A couple weekends ago, we took what we hope will be an annual trip to visit our cousins, Kyle's sister, and our brother-in-law in Napa. It was a quick trip, and it was bookended by colds for both kids, but we had a fabulous time.
I love Northern California. We flew into Sacramento, which is a small, easy, manageable airport, and upon our exit from the airport, we noticed that the air smelled like flowers.
We drove to Napa and ended up at Audrey and Eric's house. Their kids are awesome, and I love watching the cousins play together.
We went with Audrey and Zoe to a little kids exploratorium type place when the older kids were at school. It was fun warehouse full of cool things to play with. Here is a picture of sister and brother, acquiescing to my request for a photo.
Kyle and I snuck out during a nap to taste wines at Darioush (slick, Persian, corporate feel) and Judd's Hill (down-home and educational).
At Judd's Hill, we learned that Napa Valley is only about 30 miles long by 5 miles wide, and the area produces only 4% of the grapes grown in California. Most of the grapes, for Gallo and another giant winery, are grown in the Central Valley, in Modesto, where the land is much cheaper, but the weather isn't as good. We also learned that a vine doesn't start producing grapes for 4-5 years and that it's at it's peak when it's about 30 years old.
The timing of our visit coincided with 'bud-break' where the vines were just bursting through the old vines.
After the vineyards, we stopped by The Hay Barn, which is the workshop for the artist, Gordon Heuther. It's around the corner from Audrey and Eric's house, and it was a huge space. He creates all kinds of big art for airports, hospitals, campuses and peoples' homes. Lots of dichromic glass, helices, self-references, and allusions to nature.
This neon piece was in the bathroom at the studio.
This was a planned piece for the SLC airport, based on the Narrows in Zion.
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