Birthday in Northern California, Day 3

I was woken up by the extremely loud dump trucks roaring through our alley at the ripe hour of 6:45am. I was supposed to be down at the Ferry Building by 8:15am for my Napa Valley Wine Tour so I just used the roaring as an alarm clock. Barely alive I headed through Chinatown, getting a Sesame Ball for breakfast (which I finally learned are referred to as the Chinese Donut).
Arriving at the Ferry Building the sky was just clearing up from the morning coastal fog and I had a beautiful view of the Bay Bridge and the rigs off in the distance. Our tour group consisted of about thirty people, mostly a bit older. I found myself in a completely different world than the previous days, spent around hostel dwellers, beat poets, and the crazies of Haight Street. Here I was with all American tourists who were staying at fancy hotels and spending a TON of money buying every wine that pleased their pallet. Quite the culture shock, but everyone was very nice to me. I was the only one there that didn't know a soul.

(Bay Bridge in the morning... trying to be artistic)

Our guide was an older gentleman by the name of Tom, who kept us quite entertained the entire shuttle ride out to Napa Valley with a history of the surrounding areas. The drive to Napa was wonderful, going over the Golden Gate Bridge, past Sausalito and arriving in the beautiful valleys filled with rows of rich green vines, prime of the grape-picking season. We visited four Wineries over a couple of hours: Andretti Winery, Rutherford Grove, V. Sattui, and Rutherford Ranch.

I realized half way through I was not fit for such heavy wine tasting, but felt pressure from the others and to prevent standing around awkwardly to participate in the wine tastings at every place. Luckily we had a wonderful wonderful lunch at V. Sattui, one of the more popular vineyards in Napa Valley. I had a crab cake with macaroni & truffles at their little Deli, a place once recommended by Rachael Ray!

Here are my picks for the best wines I tasted at each Winery:
Andretti Selections Barbera 2008 (great medium bodied red wine. Left behind great legs)
2005 Estate Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain (very earthy and rich)
V. Sattui's 2006 Reserve Napa Valley Merlot (spiciest merlot I've ever tasted, I actually purchased this one!)
2006 Rutherford Ranch Zinfandel Napa Valley (quite fruity and smooth)

I was unsure if I'd make it to the last few wineries but I definitely knew I would not be awake on the shuttle ride to the ferry in Vallejo that would take us back through the bay area at sunset. It was incredibly beautiful though the ferry was a bit bumpy. At this point my health wasn't so good. I was not sure if it was the wine, the sunburn, or if something else was wrong but I was feeling extremely ill.

Back at the hostel I crashed on my bed where I stayed for the rest of the evening, talking with my new roommate Laura from the UK. It was such a surreal experience, having the sun go down slowly, talking to a girl from overseas about relationships, and slowly starting to suffer from the flu. That night ended up being one of the most horrible nights on the trip. I was tossing and turning, sweating, having chills, and fevers. I did NOT want to have swine flu just in time for my birthday, but I definitely had a bad case of something.