Calistoga, Wineries, Horses, and Balloons

We have been in Calistoga, at the northern end of the Napa Valley, for nine or ten days so far, and I must say that I am in love. Some of the towns in this valley are so beautiful that they seem almost unreal. They seem like a movie set for A Perfect Town. Calistoga doesn't feel like that. It's pretty regular-seeming, and unassuming. There are natural springs here, which is why people have been coming here for mud baths and mineral baths for a hundred years or more. Like a lot of those kinds of places, there is still something kind of funky about the town, in spite of how relatively upscale it has become since I first came here in the 1970's. Mud baths or something comparable are for next week's agenda, but this week we have been drinking wine and riding our bikes, meeting up with friends,  and doing quite a bit of hanging around. It's all good. I spend a lot of my time fantasizing about how I can spend a month of the winter here every year from now on. We'll see how that goes.

A vineyard on a cloudy day

But in the meantime, one of the reasons we chose Calistoga as our base for our time in the wine
country, besides its beauty and relative unpretentiousness, is that when Bob retired he was given an extraordinary gift by his Board. They gave him a gift to be redeemed in Calistoga, because they knew we would be spending some time here, and because they also knew we would never do these particular things, which we would deeply enjoy, without  their intervention in the form of a gift.

The gift had three parts: a hot air balloon ride (which Calistoga is famous for); bike rentals and trips to wineries on the bikes; and a beautiful champagne brunch in a lovely restaurant.

Because we brought our own bikes and have been riding them to some wineries, that part of the gift didn't turn out to be practical, so we asked at the balloon place what we could do instead. They suggested wine tasting and horseback riding in the vineyards of what is probably the most beautiful winery property in this area. If not the world.

The Chalk Hill Winery, where we drank wine and rode  horses in the vineyards

We aren't exactly horsey people. We have each been on horses only once or twice before. But this was a leisurely and relaxed ride, actually in the vineyards, and couldn't have been a more calm and beautiful and breathtaking experience. Also we got to try some of the loveliest wines we have had. It was unforgettable.

How hard to believe is this? Back in the barn after the ride

On another day, we went on the balloon ride. This included watching the balloon get unfolded and laid out on the ground, filled with air, then filled with heat, and then getting to climb inside! That was so much more peaceful and delightful than I could possibly have imagined! It was not remotely scary. It was just the most gentle floating feeling, looking down over the countryside. As soon as it was over I wanted immediately to go AGAIN. RIGHT NOW.

Filling up the balloon

What it looks like from inside the basket

What Bob looks like when he is in the sky in a balloon

The shadow of our balloon as we float along

Heating up the air in the balloon

The world on the ground as we float along

Speaking of it being over, we had quite a California moment at the end. The ballon pilot sends up some trial helium balloons to watch what happens to them, as a way of guessing where the big balloon will go. You can apparently control the balloon's vertical movement down to the inch, but can't control the horizontal movement at all. It just goes the way the wind is going. So, we were drifting in a very lazy fashion when the wind started to change, and the woman who was piloting the balloon told us that we were drifting eastward rather than to the south or west, as we had planned. All seemed well until I guess we drifted TOO far east, because at one point she said, We have to come down,  NOW. And suddenly we started descending, and it seemed a tiny bit unplanned to us, because  we landed in a golf course! We were all guessing that this must NOT have been what she intended! After our (easy) landing, she told us that if we went any farther in that direction,  we would start to drift over a large marijuana field....and that the one time previously that she had drifted over that field, someone down there had SHOT AT HER.  So....we wouldn't be going that way! I have to say I was just as happy not to have someone shoot at us. And now we are left wondering whatever the marijuana farmer had been thinking...if you have a secret farm, and you shoot down a balloon with people in it, it won't be secret anymore! (I guess he wasn't thinking well?)

Anyway, we had a lovely ride, and then a beautiful breakfast with champagne, and then we came home and slept for a while. The balloons have to take off before the sun is fully up and the weather starts to change. So we had to be there  at six in the morning! It's hard for retired people to be somewhere at six in the morning! What a lovely and special experience, and what a beautiful gift to mark Bob's retirement. Any of the three parts would have been a wonderful gift, and we would remember it always. But this combination of things was just.....magical.