Babymoon Wine Tasting in Napa and Sonoma

With five weeks to go before our due date, my wife and I took a 36-hour babymoon to Napa this weekend.  Of course she couldn’t taste any of the wines, but she did use her pregnancy-powered super olfactory ability to find notes that the commonfolk couldn’t detect.  She also got to select fancy cheeses for our vineyard picnic seeing as how cheese has become her main caloric vice these days. 

How do you keep your pregnant wife happy in wine country?  Give her fancy cheese, lots and lots of fancy cheese (pasteurized of course).

Going to Napa for cheese is akin to going to France for Kentucky Fried Chicken.  But my wife had Marriott points to spend from her work travels, the landscape is pretty, and it’s an hour away so her bladder could last until we arrived.  Plus, she could finally enjoy a bed with a million pillows without my angst.  We enjoyed the hotel’s wine tasting, olive sampler, fire pit couches, and concierge lounge happy hour and breakfast offerings.

We also tried to be all sorts of healthy by going to the fitness center to offset our food gorging.  Tucked away in the corner of the room, between exercise balls and a mirror, was a 3x3” sign (not pictured below) that warned us that the room “…contains chemicals known to the State of California to cause birth defects or other reproductive harm”.  I continued to exercise and my wife promptly turned around and left.  A sign like this should be more prominent, like on the door to the fitness center.

No workout is worth the chemical exposure risk or energy required to find out exactly what the chemical exposure risk entails

Chalk this up to another concern we didn’t sweat (a pun!) before getting pregnant (or moving to California a year ago).  The sign’s due to California’s Proposition 65, the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986, that provides Californians with a right-to-know of chemical exposure.  It sure scared us enough to not have my wife exercise, but a simple sign doesn’t tell us enough.  If she just used the elliptical and not the foam stretching mat, would that be safe?  It was easier to not use the fitness center instead of researching the chemicals and products in question and I’d bet that that’s how almost everyone deals with these signs.

Sonoma square is nice, especially when roses are in bloom

We wrapped up our Napa stay with a stroll around the always reliable Sonoma Square where we tossed a Frisbee, stopped and smelled the great rose varieties, and did some window shopping.  Finally, we swung by a winery for me to taste; for my wife to smell; and for us to enjoy a nice meal among the vines, a pond, a friendly dog, and great weather.

Our picnic included the four CH delicacies of cheese, cherries, chocolate, and chardonnay (pictured: before we started)

We enjoyed the peace and quiet; being in each other’s company; and eating a simple meal without worrying about bibs, sharp objects on the table, and getting dirty looks from others when our kid doesn’t stop crying.  There’ll be plenty of time to worry about finding a babysitter later.

  

 My wife and her degree in chemistry called it a methane picnic.  Why?  Because CH4 is methane’s chemical formula.  I needed her to explain it to me too. (pictured: after we stuffed ourselves)