Another Weekend Away

Last weekend, we zipped up to another little cabin in the woods! This time, we went to Bothe-Napa Valley State Park, just a couple hours north. This cabin was really cute and way more hotel-like than the one we had at Little Basin last month. There was a kitchenette and a full bathroom! Plus, the bed was more comfortable. And, we were there for two nights instead of one!

We slowly made our way up there on Friday. I went down to the barn that morning to ride TC around bareback and just hang out with him without worrying about work. Then we packed the car and headed out.

View from almost the top of the hike we took 

These Manzanita trees were so cool!

I’ve been telling the SO about this one taco place in the east bay since we met. It’s my favorite place in Northern California even though I’ve only been there a few times. FINALLY we got to go for lunch on our way up there and it did not disappoint. The SO hasn’t had enough good tacos to be obsessed with them like I am, but the three he ate got him a bit closer.

We then drove another hour or so and stopped at the grocery store for some food for the weekend. We didn’t know we’d have anything but a tiny fridge and a microwave, so we mostly grabbed prepared food or things we could microwave.

Finally, we made it up to the cabin and settled in. Luckily, we had phone signal, though we spent a good amount of the time keeping our phones on airplane mode so that we could get away from the constant news cycle. We made ourselves at home, relaxed for a bit, then went on a walk around the campground and out to this really odd little cemetery/nature walk.

Full sized bed with a surprisingly comfortable mattress

Kitchenette (there was a sink to the right of this picture

Tiny, but full bathroom with a shower next to the toilet

Saturday, we had the whole day up there. We decided to sleep in a bit, then head out on a hike after finding out that the visitor center would remain closed the whole time (it's been a little bit of a bummer because I collect magnets from wherever I go, but it just means we have to go back!).

First of all, everyone on the hike was once again really respectful and kind about masks and social distancing. Even on trails where you could stay apart, we put on masks as we passed each other.

The hike was super fun, but the view from the peak wasn't anything too exciting. We actually enjoyed the views from a few other places more, but there was a feeling of accomplishment of making it to the top.

Coming down on a different trail, we must have passed a yellow jacket nest or something because poor SO got stung (for the first time ever! wtf how has he escaped being stung by a bee for so long) and then to my horror, the bee kept landing on each of us, so I'd swat it off and then we'd both run away while he was clutching his finger, which then started to swell.

We made it back just fine (we were luckily about a mile out when he got stung) and he felt better, but we still opted to go into town to both explore and see what we could pick up for the sting.

Starting out on a nice wide road/trail

This was the "view" from the top of the peak

On our way up to the park, we passed through a little town called St Helena, which is really rather adorable. So we headed down there and went to a couple of little shops before they closed.

I've been talking about getting hiking shoes for a long time now. I wore tennis shoes for a long time to hike and now that I have no more tennis shoes, have been wearing my metcons out there (since I don't do CrossFit anymore after not being able to find one suitable for me nearby, maybe when we move this fall, I'll find one!). Those kinds of shoes are so slippery and we do a lot of hiking, so I've been interested in finding something that has a bit more grip and is rather lightweight/breathable.

Sure enough, the first shoes I looked at in the little outdoor sports store were PERFECT. They were lightweight, had great tread, had a boa dial rather than laces, were exactly my size, and the best part: they were 50% off (because the original price would have been *way* too much for me to spend on shoes).

We then went across the street to this cute pharmacy and chatted with the pharmacist about the bee sting, she had some good recommendations and we bought a couple of things that made SO's finger feel much better.

St Helena was rather liberal, lots of BLM signs
and these signs too!

RIP

That evening, we went out with the camera and tried to take some pictures of the night sky but kind of failed, it was our first attempt with the camera, so we need to read up a bit more on that. Still, it was fun to wander around at night.

We then went to sleep and got up the next morning to pack up and head out. We stopped in St Helena for breakfast and to wander around a bit, then leisurely made our way back home. We were home in the middle of the day, which was perfect because we were able to get everything unpacked and relax a bit from the drive before having to work on Monday.

It was such a nice trip! I'm so glad that I impulse reserved all these little cabins for the rest of the year. It gave us something to look forward to at the end of June/early July, and these days there's just not a ton to look forward to. We're already talking about coming back up next year and staying in one of the yurts (my only complaint about the cabin was no fire pit, booo, so the yurt is a good compromise on that front), which sell out more aggressively. But overall, such a fun trip!