A trip to Napa Valley

A drive on winding roads with rugged hills in sight, passing through a string of villages and acre after acre of vineyards, my eyes and soul feasted on the moment.I was on a day trip with friends to Napa Valley, an enchanting landscape seated in Northern California.With hills and valley floor speckled with wineries and stone-built homes and a backdrop of green mountains, it wasn’t hard to tell it was a photographer’s dreamscape. To my frustration, I never had enough of it because my camera ran out of memory!Recognized as the American wine-producing region, Napa now boasts of over 200 wineries from only over 50 in 1975.A crown jewel of Northern California, it promises sunny days and cool evenings throughout spring, summer and fall with temperatures varying from 10 to 12 degrees.The highlight of our day was a visit to Sterling Vineyards, one of the most visited attractions, that sits invitingly at the top of a 300-foot knoll overlooking the sleepy yet spectacular town of Calistoga, a tiny village in Napa known for its mineral springs and mud baths.Too bad, the aerial tram was under repair when we got there. It was supposed to take us from its grand entrance on the ground up the air to its winery, said to have reopened recently after a $14 million renovation, putting it in the list of top destinations in Napa Valley.Without the tram, a shuttle bus hauled us up anyway. A self-guided tour of the facility and storage cellars, and tasting of its traditional favorite wines like Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Merlot, and Cabernet Sauvignon were fun.Sterling’s “Winemaker’s Video Tour” that showed the winemaking “grape to glass” process on large flat screen TV reminded me of the deliberate art and science of winemaking.Not just wines, by the wayNapa Valley is known not only for fine wines and culinary excellence but also for hot air ballooning that give riders all-four-window views of the landscape of the valley.Promising a serene and stress-relieving flight, ballooning will take you to a sea of tranquility and the spirit of flying.But for those whose knees shake when it comes to heights, they can choose to stay on the ground - dive into warm pools of mineral water or melt away mounting tensions at one of Napa’s number of spas and mud baths.Surely, Napa Valley has enough to offer.