Northern California Style

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Bloggers in Napa Valley

IGTravel Thursday- Instagrams from Napa

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Today I’m joining my fellow bloggers from  the Napa Valley trip to be part of Skimbaco’s Instagram Travel Thursday.
Skimbaco, a lovely travel and lifestyle site, asked us to chose our favorite Instagrams from our Napa Valley trip.
I was only too happy to sift through the photos and relive my favorites….

I just love this!
Our first lunch together at Yountville’s Redd.

  A dressed up alfresco cocktail gathering at our lovely Andaz Hotel’s Mercantile Terrace restaurant.

Andaz’s fabulous breakfasts- quinoa pear oatmeal!

Waking up in my dreamy room at Andaz.

 And speaking of dreamy, (did I say that ;), Domaine Carneros with the sparkling wine expert and host, Sean Donaghue.
The unbelievable views and the beauty of the Chateau.
The fabulous bubbly!!

Pine Ridge Vineyards’ wonderful Rose’ and their very deep wine cave.

 Sipping wine while wandering through their Stag’s Leap Vineyard was an unforgettable experience.

The pretty Merryvale and meeting it’s equally as beautiful and sweet proprietress, Laurence Schlatter.
I just love Tamera and Laurence’s chic and summery stripes.

Merryvale’s historic cask room.
I’m dreaming of the dinners we could have there.

The loveliest lunch ever on Merryvale’s veranda with their cold Sauvignon Blanc. 
I want to go back!!

Barrel tasting and learning about Merlot with winemaker Mike Bolen at his small batch winery.
Bolen Winery was a blast!

Our final lunch at the charming Archetype in St Helena.
A must for anyone into decor who appreciates the details as we all did.
What a find this was.

 

Of course our trip wouldn’t be anything without our expert Napa guide and driver, Mike of Napa Valley Tours and Transportation.
We loved Mike!

This trip was a lot of fun, but the time spent with these women was the best part.
I came back feeling so inspired and enlightened by these amazing ladies.
To see more ITTravel Instagrams from these four, follow Adrienne of The Rich Life,  Heather of StyleMindChic, Tamera of Tamera Beardsley and Jennifer of A Well Styled Life. You can also find our guide Mike Johnson who takes fantastic shots of his region at Napa Chauffeur.
We are sharing and connecting with other traveling bloggers today who are using Instagram.

You can join our Instagram Travel Thursday just by adding #IGTravelThursday to your photos on Instagram!

Find more travel blogs and stories at Skimbaco Lifestyle and visit Leigh at The Hines Sight Blog.

Getaways- The Hip and Lovely, Andaz Napa

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Last week our, Bloggers in Napa Valley event happened after much planning and excitement!
We checked in to the very fresh and chic, Andaz Napa.
It exceeded our expectations in so many ways.
You can’t get a better spot in Downtown Napa. It’s close to the charming little walk to the riverfront, and many excellent restaurants and shops.
As it’s a short drive from the Silverado Trail, and the neighboring towns of Yountville, Rutherford and St Helena, it’s the perfect base for exploring Napa Valley wine country.

Loved the entry and the gorgeous ironwork on the windows.
The welcome is there the moment you arrive. 
They insist you relax while they check you in on an IPhone and hand you a glass of Napa Valley’s finest.
Nice!

Heather, and I were already giggling.

We had just had an alfresco lunch at Redd in Yountville. (More to come on that.)

Tamera, Jennifer and Adrienne getting silly in the lobby which had a nice buzz.  There are many spaces to chill and kick back here as well as fruit waters, nuts and other goodies to snack on.
We headed up to check out our rooms and get pretty for our little cocktail meet up we planned for a few Napa Valley friends and fellow bloggers who could make it.
The rooms were beyond.
My particular room was a corner suite that was like an apartment.
I loved the big sitting area with the sectional. It was perfect for having all the girls up later for more chatting and goat cheese. (Told you this was a girl’s getaway!)
The bed was as heavenly as it looks. 
Yes, I did take a bath! How could I not?

Much space to spread out including a desk and dresser..
Can I tell you how spoiled I felt to have my own space, as I live with 3 men?
I spread my things about!
Had to keep pinching myself. The rain shower and large bath were indulgent as well.
After I roused myself from this, and secretly schemed how I could stay a few months :D, we headed up to the open terrace top of the hotel.
Andaz’s lovely Mercantile Terrace did not disappoint. 

It’s a place to dine and socialize with fire pits and sofas, rockers and even swings.
There’s a fun vibe out here and frankly, the last thing you want to do is leave your hotel for dinner,  after a day of wine tasting.
We all ended up in some form of black. This is my favorite Instagram of the 5 of us.

There was some serious display of jewels by my fellow bloggers!

Jennifer and Tamera had some beautiful necklaces.

Adrienne wore her wine county necklace she had been working on for this trip. Love it.

We gravitated toward one of the fire pits and met some really great ladies.

Heather and Tamera with the lovely Contessa from The Vintage Hen House, who made the trek up from Orinda. 
So fun to meet her and she’s as fabulous as she appears in the blog world!

We also got the pleasure of meeting the charming Wine Country stylist, Malia. 
This girl is seriously talented and funny as heck too. I am hoping to get to work with her as Adrienne did for her photo shoot and also for her shopping expertise!

After a late dinner out there we all went up to Adrienne’s to chat more. 
Her suite had a fireplace and different configuration and was spacious too.
Couldn’t resist sharing cute Tamera in her sequin pants. 
We were like girls in slumber party mode and yakked late into the night..
It was hard to leave my cozy room in the morning…

 The sun streamed in and there was a pretty view of the little downtown and the hills beyond.

The fog was still burning off here.

We had room service the first morning. I adore the cute boxes they brought it up in.
This is my quinoa oatmeal with pears and almonds as well as proper Earl Grey tea, loose leaf and all.
Delicious.
There is a also cute breakfast bar where one can grab coffees, smoothies, oatmeal and more.
 We did this the second morning and ate at a high table.

The darling Famer’s Table Restaurant is another choice in the hotel for food.

Just adored the lobby. 

Fantastic huge map of Napa.
There’s a good feeling about this whole hotel. 
The spaces were so well designed for socializing and relaxing. 
A breakfast bar in the lobby becomes a fun regular bar later in the day.

I cannot say enough about the good service at Andaz. 
Everyone was so friendly and excited to share knowledge about the area and other great spots as well.

We lingered for a long time before departing on the last day.
 It was such a joy being together at this beautiful spot.
I am absolutely coming back to this gem. If you are planning on a trip to the Napa Valley, Andaz is a wonderful choice for so many reasons! 
Thank you to Andaz Napa, and all the lovely folks there who sponsored our stay and made us feel so well looked after. As a woman traveling alone, I really liked that.

Andaz itself, was a holiday and the highlight of this trip.

I am excited to show the other fab parts of this adventure- the friends, the spots we went, the wine we sipped, the hats we bought, the shopping, and our great guide, Mike of Napa Valley Tours and Transportation,  in my Girl’s Guide to Napa Valley, up next!
xKim
 A special thanks goes to my dear friend Adrienne who did so much work for this to happen. 


Disclosure: Andaz Napa generously sponsored my lodging for two nights. I paid for food, parking and other incidentals while staying at Andaz Napa. All opinions expressed in this post are my own.

Photos Northern Cal Style and top Andaz exterior photo and Farmer’s Table pic courtesy of Andaz Napa Pinterest.

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