My Trip to Napa

Last week a colleague and I flew to California for an education conference on project based learning, called PBL World.  Our days Monday through Thursday were filled with learning from 8:30 to 3:30, and our evenings were free to explore the beautiful Napa Valley, which is actually her childhood home. We flew in early on Sunday and spent the day touring San Francisco with an old college friend of mine who was kind enough to show us all around. Here are photos from the trip:

In San Francisco, a whole alley of painted murals

My friend Dave, our guide around the city

Dolores Park, with downtown San Francisco in the background

An old time streetcar

The entrance gate to Chinatown

A cable car downtown in front of the Ferry Building

Looking out over the bay toward the Oakland bridge

The cottage where we stayed in Napa at the RiverPointe

The Wine Train passing by while we ate dinner Monday evening at the Rutherford Grille

Wild turkeys while climbing a hill on my Tuesday morning run

The sunrise at the top of the climb

Requisite tourist photo while driving up Napa Valley Tuesday evening

Pretending to eat baby grapes at a vineyard

Castello di Amorosa near Calistoga, a castle and winery

Tuesday evening picnic outside a vineyard with our Charles Hendricks wine

Watching the sun set over a lake on our way back to Napa Tuesday evening

The downtown Napa river front

Napa's refurbished theater

New Tech High, where our conference was held

At the conference I made contacts from around the world, including Australia

The river trail that ran near our hotel, good for running

Proof we were at the conference!

A burger from In-N-Out, their burger chain similar to Five Guys

The note I woke up to Saturday morning

UPDATE: I forgot to add a photo of the cool souvenir I brought back for Charles. A bottle of wine from Hope & Grace Winery, where the winemaker is Charles Hendricks, who named the winery after his daughters. He graciously signed a bottle of Riesling for me to bring home to my Charles Hendricks. He signed it "To Charles Hendricks, From Charles Hendricks."