California Trip 2010

We were invited to Calistoga, CA, for a friend’s wedding. Greg was to be a groomsman.

We have always wanted to take a train trip, so we decided to take the California Zephyr from Denver to Sacramento. This route is known as a scenic route since it passes through the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada mountains. It lived up to its reputation. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful!

Days 1-2

Our train trip began with a cab ride to the Amtrak station. Parking costs near the Amtrak station run $17 a day so we priced it out that a cab would be much cheaper. The cab was almost a half hour late picking us up, so Amber was quite stressed by the time they finally arrived. We had a ton of luggage (mostly because of Bree), so they had to send out a van to transport us.

After arriving at the train station, we learned that our train was delayed by an hour. Figures. We left Denver around nine a.m. on Wednesday, September 15th.

Amtrak Denver Train Station

Taking the train was definitely an adventure. Especially with two young children. Some advantages to the train:

• You can easily walk around or use the bathroom at any time.
• The seats lean back more than an airplane and there is a lot more legroom.
• There is a dining car and lounge.
• You can also enjoy the beautiful countryside.
• There also seems to be a bit more camaraderie amongst the passengers.
• We didn’t splurge for the sleeper cars so the cost for four tickets was less than it would have cost for the four of us to fly to California.

Some cons:

• LONG trip
• Getting comfortable at night, even in the reclining seats
• Keeping the kids quiet and entertained, especially at night (and especially Bree)
• Though there is food available, it is mediocre and overpriced.

Greg and Bree in our Coach Car

The hardest part of our trip out to California would have to be that first night on the train. Bree didn’t sleep very well at all. I probably nursed her more during our trip than normal just trying to keep her happy and quiet. Bree is such a momma’s girl so it definitely helped. But during the night when everyone was trying to sleep, I finally took her to the lounge car so that she wouldn’t disturb anyone else. There were only a couple other sleepless souls there at that late hour. After a couple of hours, Greg came in to give me a break so I could go back to our coach and sleep. The car was so cold that I woke up Adrianna so she and I could cuddle and keep each other warm. Adrianna slept great. That little nap kept me going.

Other than the sleepless night, I really enjoyed our train ride. We spent some time in the lounge car during the day too. I worked on a digital scrapbook page on my laptop while Adrianna happily drew some pictures of Princess Peach, Bowser and Mario.

Enjoying the Lounge Car

I had brought along a Christian Fiction book for some light reading on the train; one of those Amish books that seem to be so popular these days. I didn’t read it for the first few hours though since there happened to be three young Amish gentleman seated right in front of us. I wonder what they think of those books or if they are familiar with them?

Between Denver and Frazier we got to go through the 6.2 mile long Moffat tunnel. It took us 10 minutes to go through the tunnel as it took us below the continental divide.

There weren’t many families traveling on the train. The most common demographic would have to be retirees, many of them traveling in large groups. Most of them seemed to enjoy talking to Adrianna and Bree as they walked by our seats. We only saw (or heard) maybe two other babies the entire time. We stopped in Salt Lake City around midnight to pick up passengers and I saw a little girl around Adrianna’s age get on. They were still on by morning, so when Adrianna awoke she was very happy to have a playmate. Cheyenne was four and they enjoyed watching the Barbie in a Mermaid Tale and Toy Story 2 movies together and generally created a lot of extra noise together afterward.

Cheyenne and Adrianna watching Toy Story 2

We finally arrived in Sacramento a little after 2:00 p.m. on Thursday, September 16th. Right on time, in spite of the delay to board in Denver. We picked up our rental car, which was a red Ford Explorer. We had originally reserved a mid-sized car but due to all our luggage, we had to upgrade once we got into town. Babies require a lot of stuff!

After picking up our rental car, we had a nice lunch at In-N-Out Burger. Since we had the rest of the day and part of Friday to ourselves before getting caught up in the wedding stuff, we decided to drive 2 hours to the coast to Bodega Bay. We found a nice little place to stay, the Bodega Coast Inn, and went to bed early and slept until the following morning.

Bodega Coast Inn

Day 3

We heard that Bodega Bay was a good place to see whales, so we drove to Bodega Head to see if we would get lucky and see any. Unfortunately, it was too foggy to see that far out into the ocean, but we still enjoyed watching the ocean waves crash against the rocks and the scenery was still gorgeous. We also walked down to a beach and looked for shells. We visited three separate beaches, but the first one at Bodega Head was our favorite. It was too cold to swim and the beaches weren’t safe to swim at anyways (dangerous undertow and sleeper waves).

Bodega Bay

Can I have this one, Dad?

After enjoying the ocean, our next order of business was to find a place to eat. We were hoping for a nice little local cafe. We drove around for awhile until we finally found one. Except it wasn’t what we expected at all. We walked in only to realize that it was an Indian Restaurant. We thought about turning around and walking back out, but the place was deserted so it would have been pretty obvious. So we stayed. I had never had Indian food before and being a picky eater, might never have had agreed to go to an Indian restaurant under normal circumstances. But it ended up being good food. I suppose if we’d paid closer attention to the restaurant’s name, The Sizzling Tandoor, perhaps we would have realized before entering that it was NOT just a local cafe.

On our way to Calistoga, we stopped to visit the Armstrong Redwood Forest. We were in awe of the tall (up to 300+ feet) and very old (up to 1400 years) trees. The place felt a little magical. By the end, Adrianna was imagining seeing and catching the toad characters from Super Mario Brothers.

Armstrong Redwood Forest

Calistoga and the Napa Valley is very scenic. Manicured grape vineyards nestled amongst the mountains and hills. Winding roads and lots of trees.

For our accommodations in Calistoga, the bride and groom had arranged for the groomsmen to stay at a nice estate at the top of a hill. Since we were the only ones with children along, we had a separate little two-room cabin a short walk away. We were the first to arrive so we hung out at the big house for awhile and explored the nearby area.

Next to our little cabin was a large tee-pee. As we walked up to it, Greg jokingly told Adrianna that the tee-pee was where she was going to sleep at night. At first she didn’t believe him but then as we got closer, we saw there was an actual made-up bed in it. At this point, Adrianna thought Greg was serious and was then a little sad when she learned that he was just teasing her and hadn’t known that there was a bed in it.

After awhile, Sara showed up with some dinner so we enjoyed the meal before heading to town to pick up groceries. As we were backing out of the long driveway of the guest house, Greg backed the rental car into a tree. There was a loud crunching sound and I am told that I shrieked. Fortunately there was no visible damage, once the bark and sap had been wiped off. We are so thankful for that since we’d opted not to purchase the extra insurance.

On our way back, there was a shuttle bus blocking the driveway. After asking the driver to kindly move forward so we could drive back up the winding road to the estate and cabin houses, we noticed a bunch of people walking up the long driveway, hauling luggage behind them. We recognized one of the guys and realized that the rest of the groomsmen and their wives had arrived on that shuttle from the airport. Since we knew they still had quite a trek ahead of them, Greg told them that he would drop us off at our cabin and drive back down to pick them up.

After everyone was transported up to the estate house, the girls and I said goodnight and Greg ended the evening with a dip in the hot tub with the rest of the guys.

Day 4

On Saturday, Greg’s day was pretty much spent with the groom and the other men for the wedding rehearsal followed by a bachelor party of various wine tastings. Adrianna, Bree and I took it easy and slept in, moseyed up to the estate house for lunch and then headed out to see the nearby Old Faithful Geyser of California. It goes off every 30 minutes. I had warned Adrianna that the water was very hot and to be careful so for awhile she wouldn’t even approach the benches around the geyser even though I had assured her that those would be safe.

Old Faithful Geyser near Calistoga, CA

(Greg) The day consisted of a rehearsal, a wine tasting at Del Dotto’s, lunch, a wine tasting at Cakebread, and a final wine tasting at Ehler’s. Del Dotto’s was the most ostentatious of the three wine places, with lots of marble columns and hoity toity ness. Cakebread was more down to earth, and Ehler’s was probably the one everyone liked most, since we got to sit at a table in an olive grove.

At dinner time, the guys arrived back to the house in time to get ready for the rehearsal dinner at a fancy pizza place. The girls and I were invited too. We had really missed Greg during the day so it was nice to have dinner together.

Once again, Greg ended the evening with a nice dip in the hot tub with the other guys at the estate house.

Day 5

The day of the wedding. Festivities didn’t start until the early afternoon, so we took advantage of a lazy morning. I finally got my own dip in the hot tub (relaxing!) and Greg took Adrianna for a swim in the pool. We found out that Joanna had looked up the address of the estate house where we were staying and found an MLS listing it for sale for a cool $5 million. Wow. I imagine that does include the land and the cabin we were staying in as well, and possibly the fruit orchard in front of our cabin too.

Enjoying the Guest House

The girls were a bit restless during the wedding ceremony so I ended up bringing them to the back and watching from a distance. The wedding was outside in at the Hans Fahden Vineyard and it was beautiful.

The guys wore dark brown tuxes with light pink vests and bow ties. The outfit I had planned on wearing was also brown and I had packed pinks for the girls. I didn’t realize that we would match Greg so well but it made for some nice pictures!

Greg was so handsome in his tuxedo. 🙂

After the ceremony and cocktail hour was a nice dinner in a room that was like a large cave. I was very happy that the groomsmen were seated with their families rather than at a head table. That sure makes it easier with two little girls! And sitting at Adrianna’s seat was a little pink Hello Kitty bag with lip gloss, crayons and other goodies. So thoughtful! It kept Adrianna occupied during the meal and also on the train the next day. She also got her own kid-friendly meal, which was great.

My new favorite picture

The evening ended with a dance. Adrianna was so excited and danced and danced and danced. She danced with Greg and also once with the bride. Darn camera batteries died so I didn’t get a picture of Adrianna and the lovely bride. Greg and I tried to do a slow dance on our own but Adrianna wanted all THREE of us to dance together. She did twirl around on her own for a couple minutes though before coming back and monopolizing Greg on the dance floor.

Days 6 and 7

We had to get up very early on Monday morning to drive back to Sacramento and catch our train. Thankfully Bree did better on this overnight ride even if it did mean that I pretty much held or nursed her the entire time, nodding off when I could. Though the train ride home was beautiful as well, we were all quite anxious to get home and into our beds.

Bree enjoyed looking out the window while practicing her standing skills

Entering a tunnel

Enjoying the Lounge Car

It was a fun adventure but we are glad to be home. Now I just need to face the mountain of laundry (still).