I’m on an Alaska Airlines flight to Lihue, Kauai right now.  I am sitting next to Imagineer and Broadway in a group of three seats, while Mountain Man and Bam Bam are in the two seats to my right across the aisle.  The interior of this plane is decorated in greys, blues, and taupes.  We have already had three rounds of drinks, including orange juice, tropical mango juice, and cokes.

The group of passengers onboard seem to all be in good spirits.  Who wouldn’t be when you’re headed for Hawaii.  I mean, seriously, does it get any better?  Warm water, white sandy beaches, no alarm clocks, body surfing, real surfing, surfing lessons, and tropical hikes and waterfalls.

We are staying in Hanalei on the north shore of Kauai for the next 9 days and are really looking forward to tropical weather.  My iPhone weather app is showing 90-91 degrees for every day in this next 7 day period.  The temperatures have been dropping in the bay area, and we are all seriously missing the warm sunshine.

Imagineer and Broadway are watching the first Harry Potter movie on our iPad, and Bam Bam is watching it on Broadway’s iPod.  Thank goodness for eleven year olds.  Broadway was responsible for all of the entertainment set up for the plane ride.  This included downloading current favorite songs, downloading Harry Potter from iTunes, ensuring everyone had a notepad to draw or write on during the flight, and helping to make sure everyone was set with a book that they were excited to read.

I brought “Remember Me?”, by Sophie Kinsella, Imagineer “The London Eye Mystery”,  Broadway “The Dragon Rider”, Bam Bam “Diary of a Wimpy Kid, the Ugly Truth”, and Mountain Man the third book in the Hunger Games series, whose name escapes me right now (update: Mockingjay).  He’s currently asleep in the middle seat, with Bam Bam turning the pages rather quickly and LOUDLY in his book right next to him.  I swear Mountain Man could sleep in the middle of grand central station.

About an hour ago, we enjoyed the onboard breakfast, a “Hawaiian breakfast skillet” meal.  Really yummy.  The base was sticky rice, with creamy scrambled eggs on top mixed with portuguese sausage and topped with spring onions.  The skillet meal was lined with chunks of pineapple.

Once we land in Lihue, we will head to Costco which is near the airport, then go to our house that we have rented through vrbo.  So excited to see it in person.  The reviews were excellent from past travelers. We are walkable to cute downtown Hanalei, a 5 minute stroll to Hanalei bay and we’re located on a cul-de sac.  The only negative review I could find was regarding some rooster noise early in the morning.  Apparently roosters are unaware of the appropriate time (according to humans) to start sqwuaking, but they seem to consistently pick 5am.

About an hour before our touchdown today, the flight attendants announced they would be delivering complimentary mai tais for their last round of drink service.  This was met with applause.

As we were getting closer to Kauai, we had a gorgeous view of the island of Oahu, then a few minutes later, Kauai.

My four year old, Bam Bam, was beside himself with excitement as he viewed the beaches from the plane.  When we touched ground, he kept repeating, “please take me to the sand and water now, please……….he said “Dad, you go get the rental car and Mom can take me to the sand and water”.  He just did not want to wait one more second.  He apparently also temporarily forgot the word beach and substituted it with sand and water. 🙂

About an hour later, he was riding the very calm waves of Hanalei Bay and grinning from ear to ear.

Sometimes its nice to step away from the laundry, the broken sprinklers, the door that refuses to close without sticking, and the coat closet that needs to be cleaned out, and just leave for an overnight with the hubby.

Getting out of my 3 mile radius for a getaway is just the ticket for rejuvenation and fun.

Yes, you guessed it, Mountain Man and I slipped away to Napa Valley this weekend for a getaway.  Napa is the perfect spot to rejuvenate.  I discussed my love for the wine country a few months ago when I wrote about our Sonoma Getaway for our 15th wedding anniversary that we enjoyed in April of this year.

This weekend we decided to try Priceline for the perfect hotel for our getaway.  The best deals we have found are always through the “Name your own Price” feature.  We choose the four star hotels and try to grab the lowest price possible.

This time we landed a deal at the Napa Valley Marriott Hotel and Spa.  Although the outside looks a little dated, the inside is spacious and completely updated.  We really enjoyed the comfy outside seating surrounding an inviting fire pit.

Every time I encounter a fire pit, I always think about how much fun it would be to have one in my backyard.  They allow you to dine outside year around, and they’re pretty. 🙂  I just love them.

Mustards Grill

When we first arrived to Napa, we dined at Mustards Grill.  Oh. My. Goodness. The dishes here are beautiful, organic, and absolutely delicious.

We started with the toasted baguette bread served with goat cheese, sun dried tomatoes and roasted garlic.  So good.  I did not realize until today, how easy it is to spread garlic if you cook it long enough.

We spread the goat cheese on the bread, then spread garlic on top, then sprinkled the sun dried tomatoes over the garlic.  Apparently, if you cook a whole head of garlic at 400 degrees for 40 minutes, it is possible to achieve this garlicky goodness in your very own home.  We are definitely going to try this soon.  The sweetness of the garlic really shines through when cooked in this manner.

For our main courses, Mountain Man ordered the barbecued ribs complemented with jalapeno corn stix.  I ordered the “Ever Popular Seafood tostada”.  The “Ever Popular” part in the title really grabbed my attention.  The tostada had several layers including a freshly baked corn tortilla, black beans, breaded petrale sole, cabbage salad, and an incredible dressing that was the perfect blend of sweet and spicy.  Incredible.

For dessert, we treated ourselves to the lemon lime tart pie.  This is one of the most unique pies I have ever tasted, and I would say Mountain Man agreed.  It begins with a lemon lime cream filling and delicious crust.  The awe factor of this dessert comes with the 6 inch high meringue.  Its called meringue, but it is not like any meringue I have tasted before.  It tastes like it has cream in the topping, and its cooked until slightly browned at the top.

I don’t know why, but this sculpture in front of Mustard’s Grill just cracked me up, so I had to snap a shot.  Its a very skinny man holding an umbrella in the fountain.

Around 5pm that evening, we were treated to a wine tasting reception in the hotel lobby and enjoyed a chardonnay and merlot.  The wine tastes so much better when you are actually in wine country.  The difference is incredible.  It reminds me of the difference in the taste of Hershey chocolate from a grocery store versus eating chocolate while you are in Hershey, Pennsylvania.  Hershey tastes gourmet while in the chocolate making town.

After the wine tasting, we decided to explore downtown Napa, as we had never really been to this part of wine country.  We typically spend our time touring the vineyards and bike riding.

We were pleasantly surprised with downtown Napa.  Totally adorable and quaint.  Loved it.  There is a river that runs along the east side of downtown, providing many lovely riverside restaurants for visitors to enjoy.

Before choosing a spot to dine, we strolled for awhile along the river and by the many boutique type shops and wonderful smelling restaurants.

Fish Story

Finally, we came across a fish restaurant called “Fish Story” that looked promising.  We were able to grab a table outdoors directly next to the river.  Picture perfect.

Mountain Man was excited to order oysters and I was looking forward to my bowl of clam chowder.  Having stuffed myself with goodness at Mustard’s Grill earlier, I was not very hungry, so the chowder seemed perfect.

Check out Mountain Man’s beautiful oyster dish presentation below.  The taro chips were a pleasant surprise.  Delicious. Taro chips are now on my ourgroceries app to purchase during my next grocery store outing.  And, oh my goodness, the ceviche in the foreground of the photo was to die for.  I’m not normally a lover of cold fish stew, but this was amazing.  Perfect fish and spices topped off with lemon juice.  Yum.

We also both ordered from the artisanal wine selection.  Mountain Man enjoyed the Laird Pinot Grigio  and I went for the Baileyana Chard pictured below.  Both were exquisite.  Again, so fresh and perfect.

The view from our outdoor table.  The river is behind the tree, just in case you didn’t already notice. 😉

Fish Story’s Sign.  Isn’t it cute?

There was a super cool metal sculpture of a very large calamari in the front entry area to Fish Story that I just had to snap of photo of in aperture mode, no less. I’ve been trying to get out of automatic mode and test the waters of aperture.  I will share more in a future post. This photo is highlighting the sculpture, clearly.  With aperture, the background fades and becomes darker, allowing the primary image to shine.

Downtown Napa

After dinner, as we were walking around the downtown area, we ran into a 15 foot tall pumpkin headed ghost!

Then we ran into a lesson on how to do the cha cha cha. There were bronze and silver steps that had numbers on them for the steps for the man and woman dancing. We followed the step numbers, and were doing the Cha Cha Cha in downtown Napa. 🙂

Buttercream Bakery and Diner

The next morning, we yelped a few breakfast spots in Napa, and decided on the Buttercream Bakery and Diner.  Any eating establishment that has the word “bakery” in it is usually a slam dunk for me.  There are not many authentic bakeries around where I live, so when I see one, I get really excited.

Mountain Man absolutely loved his “Baja Omelette” and I liked my “Country Scramble”.  I will admit, Mountain Man’s was better.  Order the Baja Omelette if you ever have the chance to go here.

I just had to snap a few shots of the delicious treats in the bakery case.  SO good.

This was our last stop on our 24 hour getaway.  It was wonderful, rejuvenating, and now we have a list of adventures we need to come back to Napa to enjoy.  Bike rides, new restaurants, kayaking on the river, and checking out a few new wineries to name a few.

I love getaways with my hubby.  They’re the best.