The Honeymooners: Day Five

First, thank you all so much for the kind words and congratulatory wishes following my half marathon race on Sunday. It meant a lot for me to be able to share the experience with you and I am already looking forward to the next one, with an even better training plan!

Ready for the final installment of honeymoon posts?

• Day One
• Day Two
• Day Three
• Day Four

When we last left our honeymooners, they were in a bit of a bike crash conundrum.

The following morning, we decided there was no way we would be playing golf as planned. Bobby’s wrist and shoulder were really hurting him and while we thought it was just a sprain, we decided not to take any chances and drove into Napa for a trip to the hospital.

On the way, we stopped for breakfast at Gillwoods Cafe.

The restaurant was the best-rated in Napa Town Center and there was certainly plenty to choose from! I started out with a glass of orange juice, which unfortunately tasted like Sunny D.

But the food on the menu more than made up for it. I chose the Napa Scramble, which came with Aidell’s Smoked Chicken Apple Sausage, mushrooms, spinach and cheese. Alongside the scramble were hash browns and whole wheat toast.

It was a very hearty meal, indeed! But I loooove chicken sausage, so it really hit the spot.

Afterward, we explored Napa Town Center for a while before making our way to medical.

When we arrived at the hospital, a few X-rays and waiting rooms later, it was determined that Bobby had a scaphoid fracture, otherwise known as a broken navicular bone.

Gulp.

No matter how you read the description, it isn’t pretty:

The pattern of blood supply in the scaphoid presents a problem when you sustain a scaphoid fracture. Because of the tenuous blood supply, a scaphoid fracture can sever this blood flow and stop the delivery of necessary oxygen and nutrients to the bone cells. When this occurs, healing can be slow, and the scaphoid fracture may not heal at all.

Double gulp.

Bobby was given a temporary splint and told to see a doctor as soon as possible when we got home to Chicago. Fortunately, after receiving more complex X-rays at home, it was determined that the bone was not displaced, meaning that it is able to heal properly and Bobby will not need surgery. He has since been fitted with a handsome blue cast (signed by me!) twice. The first one lasted six weeks and now it looks like the second will be on for another six. With fingers crossed, the cast will finally be able to come off in mid-February.

That’s 12 WEEKS of only being able to use ONE hand.

Fortunately, he writes left handed, so that part wasn’t a problem. But before the accident, he did almost everything else with his right hand, so as a result he has had to train himself to type, cook, shower, etc. with his non-dominant side.

He’s been doing an absolutely amazing job but can’t wait to have two working arms again. Like I said, this will definitely be a story for the ages. Our future children are going to laugh at us.

When we finally left the hospital, we lifted our spirits with a visit to Butter Cream Bakery, where we picked up some challah bread for the road.

We were determined to make the most of our last day of the trip. Though we had originally planned to play golf, we decided instead to explore a few of the places on our original “must see” list that we thought we weren’t going to be able to visit – every crash has a silver lining.

Our first stop: Castello di Amorosa!

Hello, I am an Italian castle in the middle of Napa Valley.

No really, it was an Italian castle.

You know, with towers for princesses…

…and corridors with open courtyards.

In other words, it was stunning!

We ventured inside for a tasting in the castle basement.

Our guide was very sympathetic toward Bobby and his broken wrist. He brought us complimentary chocolates and told us which wines to pair them with. Amazing!

Our favorite was by far the Sangiovese. The cool – and mysterious – thing about this winery is that you are only able to purchase the wine when you are actually visiting or through their website. We decided to bring a bottle back to my parents, since they are really the ones responsible for showing us (OK, mainly me) what good wine tastes like!

After the tasting, we explored the castle grounds and snapped some fun pictures.

I would love to eat a meal at this table!

And then we bid adieu to Castello di Amorosa. My poor guy with his splint.

On the way to our next stop, we passed a very famous sign and had to pull over for a picture!

“…and the wine is bottled poetry.” I love that!

We also broke open the challah from Butter Cream Bakery. I think this picture does the talking.

The next stop on our trip was Etude, which we also found through Groupon.

We got a kick out of the greenery outside the winery doors!

I highly recommend a tasting here! The staff was personable and knowledgeable. We also got into a fun conversation about honeymoon accidents, and found out that one of the other couples who was there spent their honeymoon in the hospital because the wife had blown out her knee while swimming in a pool! It made our bike crash seem a bit more…epic.

The tasting room is also uniquely designed.

The chandeliers were made to look like wine barrels. There was also a lot on display, including the various soils that the different wine grapes are grown in. It was fascinating to hear about the soil engineers, whose job it is to make sure the ground is perfect for wine making!

We finished our tasting just in time to catch the sunset for the last night of our honeymoon.

Simply gorgeous.

We walked the grounds, basking in the fiery glow and then made the trek to the final wine tasting of the day (and one of our favorites): Folie a Deux.

Please excuse my miserable attempt at nighttime pictures!

Folie a Deux is one of our favorite wineries because they are the makers of Menage a Trois, a household staple for us! It was fun to instead try some of their other varieties:

• Folie a Deux Napa Valley Chardonnay
• Folie a Deux Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon
• Napa Cellars Pinot Noir
• Napa Cellars Zinfandel
• Napa Cellars Syrah
• Napa Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon

Once again, they took pity on the man with his arm in a splint. We had a great conversation with the staff in the tasting room on using wine as a pain reliever. Who needs a prescription?

When we had finished our final wine tasting of the trip, we headed down the street for our final honeymoon dinner at Brix.

I had received several recommendations via the blog and Twitter for this one and it definitely did not disappoint. We started, as usual, with a big ol’ bread basket.

For my first course, I decided to go with the soup of the day, which was cream of mushroom.

This was incredible! Smooth with a touch of cream on top, I gobbled it down very quickly.

Bobby went with the prime rib for his entrée. He needed some help with the cutting, but with a little teamwork, we were able to get it done. This prime rib melted in our mouths.

His meal also came with rosemary garlic potatoes. I may have had one or two. Or five or six.

For my part, I chose the traditional pasta route with tomato sauce. It was very fresh tasting.

The end of the meal was bittersweet. Our wonderful, eventful vacation was nearing its end…

…and so it goes.

We had an absolutely phenomenal honeymoon. I would recommend San Francisco and Napa over and over again in a heartbeat. If you are planning a special trip this year and are even considering either of these places, email me at eatingbender@gmail.com. I will convince you of all the reasons you need to experience what these cities and areas have to offer.

Although there were a few bumps and bruises along the way, we could not have asked for a better way to spend five days, six nights and our first few moments of “forever” together.

Question: What is one vacation or trip that left you feeling completely revitalized?

The cool, crisp but dependably comfortable air of California has me sold.

I know the honeymoon was in November, but I feel like the end of this post is my official “back to reality.” I know now why it took me so long to write these recaps! When does winter end again?

Abrazos,