Kickin’ it in Calistoga, California

Another fun start to the summer with a couples trip to California wine country! A nonstop flight with Delta Airlines to San Francisco, a fun Mercedes Benz from SixT car rental and off we went. For a little lunch break along the way, we stopped at Cornerstone, located just outside of Sonoma. This is a quaint area with shops, wine tasting and the restaurant, Folktable. Folktable is a Michelin Bib Gourmand awarded restaurant serving locally sourced cuisine. It is worth the stop, you will not be disappointed. The steak tartare and home made mac & cheese is amazing!

This year we chose to stay in the town of Calistoga. Calistoga is located in the northern part of Napa Valley, less than two hours from San Francisco. The City of Calistoga was founded in 1868, when the railway was built to accommodate travelers en route to visit the local volcanic hot springs. Calistoga has the “Small Town USA” vibe for sure.

We were looking forward to staying right in town with restaurants, wine tasting rooms and shops lining main street. On this trip we chose to stay at the Mount View Hotel & Spa, a 1920’s themed hotel reminiscent of the Great Gatsby era. This hotel had many guest room styles, seating areas, a large heated pool and a mineral water hot tub. For a little hometown feel, homemade desserts were served by the pool at sunset. Even though the hotel was busy, it never felt crowded. Attached to the hotel were two restaurants/bars. Johnny’s, a small sports bar with live music and Amaro Italian Kitchen, a restaurant serving Italian inspired lunch and dinner.

Is Calistoga really known for their hot springs? We had to check it out for ourselves, so we booked a treatment at the Golden Haven Hot Springs Spa & Resort. The experience lasted about an hour and a half and was well worth it! A mud bath, mineral bath and a little nap with the scent of eucalyptus in the air……..my skin never felt so good!

Oh, did I mention the restaurants? I have never had a bad meal in wine country yet! We dined at Evangline, Calistoga Inn Restaurant, The House of Better, Cafe Sarafornia and Solbar at the Solage Resort. It was fun and easy to try new places as they were right out our front door.

Ok, so we didn’t spend our entire trip bumming around town. We made our way down the valley for some special experiences. We used a few different car services on this trip. Gino, was our driver for our favorite car service, Executive Car Service of Napa Valley. Unfortunately, they were not able to accommodate us the entire trip and recommended to use Manny’s Wine Tours, which also was great, thanks to Manny Jr. On one of our days we only needed a service for a few hours so Christine from Uncorked Napa Tours helped us out. Christine comes to your location and drives your car while you sit back and enjoy the scenery.

On this trip we booked a few seats on the Napa Valley Wine Train. It was a fun way to enjoy the country side and evening sunset while having a gourmet dinner. We chose the dome car, which is a Pullman railcar from the 1950’s, other cars on the train date back to the early 1900’s! The wine train runs out of the train depot in the City of Napa and takes you about an hour North and back again. A fun fact, the train operates on the same track line that established the City of Calistoga. If you’re looking for a daytime experience, the train also operates during the day with designated winery stops.

Our other special experience was The Cellarius Kitchen Experience, hosted by Chef Travis Westrope at Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars. This is a small and intimate setting with only a few others present. Chef Travis and his team put together their culinary art while we were educated on the wines that Stag’s Leap produced from their vineyards. For those who did not know about Stag’s Leap, it was their Cabernet Sauvignon that won the 1976 Judgement of Paris (along with the Chateau Montelena Chardonnay) that helped put California on the map for fine wines.

We also filled our time in the valley by visiting a few wineries. Below are the grounds of Quintessa Winery, where we were whisked away to a room of glass, over looking the vineyard, for our private tasting.