November days are some of my most favorite of the whole year.  The leaves are turning, the air is clear and the light is amazing.  I find that more locals populate the tours in November. Maybe the month of November scares away people from locales with worse weather than we have out here, and draws those that know better.  I had two couples today, one from San Francisco and one from Santa Rosa.  The day was fantastic, and we bonded quickly.  It was often hard to focus on the wine sometimes with conversation flowing so effortlessly from one topic to another.     Another winner of a day.

-Ken

Mt. St. Helena behind the vineyards

Hanging out with the wine barrels

Taking a break from winetasting

Even though the mornings have turned quite cool, these fall days are still stunning.  The group was six today.  Two from Michigan, two from Indiana and two from New Hampshire.  Cycling down the backroads of Calistoga the vines put on quite a show.  The leaves on the zinfandel vines are turning as deep of a purple as the wine, and the syrah leaves are a lime green tinged with red.  We meandered, mingled and made merry and time flew by as always.

Paddling on the Class 1 Russian River

Paddle down the warm Russian River. Steel Head Beach to Odd Fellows Road about 3 hrs of Kayaking.

The fall is such a beautiful time to be on the river.  The trees are turning color painting water color pictures in the deep blue water.  Blue Herons greeted us and and bid us farewell like gate keepers to this magical river.  We glided peacefully on our kayaks and shared lots of laughter.  We had the perfect day!

We went out to Armstrong Redwoods for lunch and everyone hiked the trail on the valley floor surrounded by giant redwoods Now that is truly awesome!

-Mary Carmen

Lunch time on a Getaway Adventures Tours yumm

What a glorious day!

Weather was fantastic and the fall colors are starting to really kick in. We had a spirited group staying at the Calistoga Ranch and kept a pretty good pace as we biked up the Silverado Trail. From there to our 1st winery, Bennet Lane Winery, and their incredible Maximus collection of wines.  We had a great lunch there and then cycled over to Summers Winery where we lucked out and saw the crush in progress. Grapes being process and pumped into tanks.

Calistoga never looked better as the fall sun lights up the Palisades and caressed our faces. Back the Calistoga Ranch by 4 pm and that’s a great day!

Grapes are coming in fast and furiously to beat the fast approaching rains. Everywhere you see the 1/2 ton white bins that are used to carry harvested grapes. Recently on a Pedal N Paddle, we tasted juice right out of the fermenting bin, the wine maker literally dipping his  wine glass in the for a sweet and bubbly concoction. This was at Cahill winery in the Green Valley appellation, Sonoma’s up and coming appellation with the new generation of wine makers making their mark. From Cahill we went on to Iron Horse and Russian River Vineyards before launching down the warm Russian River 2 hours Class 1 kayak adventure..

A view of the Dry Creek Valley

It’s wonderful to ride through the Wine Country with people who truly enjoy biking and can’t imagine a better way to experience this beautiful area!  Today’s tour was led by Mary Carmen, and she had a wonderful time with her two guests from Boston.  Their favorite wineries were Bella and Preston, but the whole Dry Creek appellation won their hearts!

A beautiful Napa Valley day!

The day began under a beautiful blue sky with the temperature climbing by the minute.  We got in an early long ride to beat the heat before we did our first tasting at Frank Family.  Our guests really enjoyed the wines, having a private tasting with Tim from Frank Family, and humor provided by guides Dave and Ken.

After the first tasting it was time to do some more riding, so we headed north to our next stop at Lava Vine.  Christy and Mike, who run the tasting room, do a great job pouring wine.  Before the tasting we visited with the lamb (see picture below) and drank some much needed water.  The guests again enjoyed both the wines and the great service at this small winery.

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Napa Valley Sip 'N Cycle

Today Dave had two guests out for a bike ride and wine tasting on a glorious day in the Napa Valley. The weather was perfect; we enjoyed blue sky, a couple white puffy clouds, the green grape vines covering the valley floor like a carpet, all in 75 degree weather.

We started off the morning heading south for a 45 minute bike ride down to Frank Family, where we tasted some great Chardonnay, Zinfandel, and Cabernet.

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I met my guests on Thursday the 25th for the first day of two days of long riding. The weather was perfect, and the highlight of the route was a Napa classic: Pope Valley/Ink Grade/Howell Mountain

We started off day one with a 10-mile warm-up roll down the Silverado Trail, soaking up the scenery and getting ready for the long climb that lay ahead of us. We branched off onto Sage Canyon Road, rolling slightly up hill and passing by beautiful Lake Hennessy on our way to Pope Valley. At the head of the lake we turned left onto Chiles Pope Valley Rd and continued our gradual climb before descending into Pope Valley.

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A really nice group showed for the Peddle & Paddle. We had nine guests Geri & Jim, from Carlsbad California. Leah & Jerry From Martinez California (celebrating Jerry’s Birthday). Isabel, (originally from New Zealand now living in Japan), Sandra & her Daughter (who lived in japan for a long time now living in Sacramento Ca). And Samantha and Adam both College students at Sonoma State. We had 3 guides John, Tom, and Eric.

We started out the day with a bike ride from the campground to the Robert Young Winery. Stopping at one point along the way, for a well executed wine 101 with Tom. We tasted at the Robert Young Winery. Again a well executed lesson on wine and wine tasting. We then Proceeded to the Mosaic Winery (which has changed it’s name to DeLorimier). We tasted more, and enjoyed a lovely meal.

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