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I think it’s a good thing to call your winery Storybook Mountain instead of the Grimm Winery…how about you?

How can a destination be a kitchen store, you ask?????

Well, when it’s Shackford’s Kitchen Store & More…the & More says it all. Located in Napa, CA, this store is not just the plain vanilla kitchen store you find in every mall.

The window is loaded with unique ceramic kitchen stuff…from gaudy painted chickens to mostly attractive kitchen critters. Don’t that those fool you.

Walk inside…through the narrow aisles…slowly so you don’t miss anything. What ever you are looking for or didn’t even realize you were looking for…you will find it here. Don’t see it? Ask and a knowledgeable friendly staff person will find it for you. Chances are it’s located right next to some other kitchen utensil you always needed!

This in itself is a destination. It could take you hours to wander around. Happy snooping.

Storybook Mountain Vineyards were first planted in 1883 by Adam and Jacob Grimm, German winegrowers. Three tunnels were dug 100 feet into the volcanic rock and established Grimm’s Vineyards and Wine Vaults.

In 1964 a devastating wildfire destroyed the Grimm’s winery and vineyards. In 1976 Jerry and Sigrid Seps bought and renamed the property Storybook Mountain Vineyards.

Planting Zinfandel grapes at that time, the first wines were released in 1983. Since that time those Zins have been winning awards all over the world.

In 2003 Wine and Spirits includes Storybook among the top 100 wineries in the world.

The hills showed their colors this past weekend…golds, reds, oranges, and greens.

One of the tunnels dug by Chinese workers through volcanic rock.

This grove of Redwoods withstood the devastating fire and stands strong. As typical of a Redwood grove, temps were cool among the giant trees.

Sunday was another beautiful soccer day, with sunshine and a light breeze at times.

The flag is at half staff, honoring those who died at Ft. Hood, Texas.

Good soccer played by both Standford and Cal.

The Cal Keeper was busy all afternoon.

Great skills shown by all the players.

More Keeper action.

The final score of 4 to 1 was impressive enough. But with 27 shots on goal by Stanford to 5 shots on goal by Cal, this was a Win in many ways.

Not only did Stanford keep their #1 women’s soccer ranking but they will now have home field advantage for the tournament. Way to go, ladies.

Perhaps this was a day trip for the squirrel. At any rate, he seemed to enjoy tormenting Luna.

If only there wasn’t a screen on this window…

Last Sunday was the perfect day to watch the #1 Women’s College Soccer Team in action. Stanford hosted Arizona. It’s easy to see why Stanford is #1. These women play as a team, all have super foot and control skills, they play smart and they can run.

It didn’t hurt that the temps were in the high 70’s to low 80’s, sunny with no wind. Plus Stanford is a beautiful university. The finals start this weekend and Stanford is ranked #1 for those as well. If you are around, head to Palo Alto to see a great game this Sunday. Game time is 1:00.

Auberge du Soleil in Napa Valley, with its terraced accommodations sits nestled in along and down the hill side. You sort of see the cottages, maison rooms and main guest house as you wind up the driveway.

If you are in the area and don’t have an extra $500 to $4500 to spend on a night, stop by the terraced bar for a drink. Go prior to sunset for views worthy of photographs and paintings. Watch as the sun changes the hills from greens to grays to pinks.

When visiting many different wineries in the Napa Valley area, take time to check out the art. These toadstools are really sculptures at Domaine Chandon. But they look so real.

Many wineries have fountains, waterfalls, and water features. This huge fountain was soothing to look at as it was to listen to at Groth.

Cliff Lede Vineyards showcases this sculpture by pop artist Jim Dine.

All these are free and worth looking into the next time you visit. More later…

Traveling this past week to Houston, Texas I was reminded that not everyone is as savvy about airport security as I think. I often take for granted that all travelers know about Zip-loc bags, 3 ounce containers and what exactly to do with them. Not so my dear fellow travelers. On more than one occasion did the security line grind to a halt while patient and not-so patient TSA folks tried to explain the process. The concept of clear bags, little bottles stuffed in all corners of some one’s purse and “yes we really do mean all containers of liquids” was explained to a passenger.

One TSA agent was astute enough to take the confused person off to the side and let the rest of the shoe-less line get through security.

So, I have decided to take extra bags with me in my purse and hand them to anyone in line that doesn’t have one. Mind you, I’m not going to explain the rules…but at least they will get a bag.

Or they could just read this blog and find out what to do with their bottles of hand lotion and hair conditioner.

I have been in airports that have extra bags for passengers. Houston does not. Don’t really know how they expect a passenger to find a bag once they are already in the security line, but perhaps that is not their problem.

Did you know that Napa Valley has over 400 vineyards? And did you know that those more than 400 vineyards produce about 4% of the state’s wine? The focus here is quality not quantity.

In the town of Napa there are 18 tasting rooms within walking distance of one another. A $20 Taste Napa Downtown card gets your a pour at 13 of them. Officially the winery tasting rooms are supposed to charge you 10 cents for a taste, but most do not. Check out www.napadowntown.com for more info.