Day 2: Tuesday, October 18th

We awoke in our cottage to discover breakfast from Bouchon Bakery tucked in a basket on our front door. (Like the beginning of a fairy tale! Ha!) I wish I had a basket elf that delivered breakfast to my apartment every morning! The pastries were delicious--and made me want to try Bouchon.

Another amazing discovery was the heated tile floor in the bathroom. Yes, I would sleep on a cot for a year and wear flip flops everyday for two years if it meant I could get one of those installed in my house!
Did I mention another elf comes by sometime during the afternoon and leaves a basket of smores on the porch? And that you can see almost EVERY star in the sky from the comfort of your very own fire pit lounge?

I could go on, and I do--on Yelp:
http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-cottages-of-napa-valley-napa#hrid:NM9NVo2-c3rlTaYPwl6ewQ


Lunch was at Pacific Blues--nice, involving carnitas nachos, outdoors, in that Yountville place again:
http://www.yelp.com/biz/pacific-blues-cafe-yountville#hrid:JPrSXmKXGO-4nDHOJfC1Xg

We then had the strength to venture out to Hess--a suggestion from a friend at work. The art collection was fantastic and powerful--all modern/contemporary with installations by Andy Goldsworthy (weird melting mounds and a dizzy circular wall (literally, he made a wall) sculpture entirely out of thorns that kind of blows your mind engineering-wise. The wine was eh. We were kind of entertained by a guy who insisted on telling us every place we needed to go, and then equally entertained by the man pouring wine who contradicted everything that guy said:
http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-hess-collection-winery-napa#hrid:WgP16VVDgPIrPJUstoYBHA
After a short siesta, we went back to Yountville (yes, again!) and had dinner at Redd, because apparently it takes 8 years and half your savings (and maybe your first born?) to get into French Laundry.
Redd was delicious and the setting very sleek and calming. Here's the menu (with stars next to the dishes we had) Of course the pork belly was delicious (I have a theory that pretty soon there will be no more pigs left on earth, that's how much pork has bewitched all us pork-eating cultures:( The lamb bolognese was also delicious.

Here's the link to the brief yelp review. I waited so long to write it it's hard to remember all the details...that also might be a by-product of lots of wine, so there's a picture below of one of the dishes (again, don't remember which):
http://www.yelp.com/biz/redd-yountville#hrid:jSsi9UrFrkCzQBKXjpSW6A

Here's the map of our trip on Day 2:

October 17th - Honeymoon Day 1

After an eventful morning we made a mad dash up route 5 to make our dinner reservation at Ad Hoc in Yountville (also known as yont-ville, yowntville, yonkville, ewe-nt-ville...not sure I ever got it right). The dash got even madder when we called the restaurant and found out they were serving fried chicken that night. Luckily, our ever-accommodating hosts at the Cottages of Napa left our vouchers at our cottage and Yountville was only about 2 miles up the road, so we made our reservation.
Ad Hoc was awesome. Fried chicken was right up there, but totally different from some of the greats (Larkin's, The Kitchen, Hodak's, and Canele). It was impossibly tender, the crust was flaky without falling off or being greasy, and they did something with thyme and buttermilk (?) that was delicious. We had a delicious half-bottle of wine from a local winery call El Molino. Check out the ode to 70's illustration that is happening on the label.

you can check out the full review of Ad Hoc on yelp (if you are so inclined to hear me gush over all the deliciousness):

http://www.yelp.com/biz/ad-hoc-yountville-2#hrid:HmaXBY5LUjEazR4bPBjmIA


And here's a picture of the menu from that night--look at the cute little pig! Wearing a hard hat?

The Honeymoon!

We had such a fantastic time on our honeymoon to Napa and Sonoma and had a chance to try a lot of food (and wine, duh), that we thought we would share our enthusiasm for one of the coolest places ever by posting on our blog!

Cheers,
Erica & Rob

We drove the putt (Erica's car) up and back--the Animal antenna ball reflected the mood of the trip very appropriately by looking progressively crazier and more drunken as the week unfolded...

Wedding Attire (in case you were curious)

So of course I didn't think to put this on the invite (let's just say there wasn't any space;). Here goes:

We'll say "Dressy Casual" meaning:
Guys: suit or a button-down and trousers, tie and jacket optional (but please wear a shirt;)
Girls: Dress or dressy skirt and top

Directions to the Wedding

Here's how you get to the wedding and here's what the place looks like:

From Burbank Residence Inn:
1. Head southeast on S First St toward E Verdugo Ave
312 ft
2. Take the 1st right onto E Verdugo Ave
0.2 mi
3. Turn right to merge onto I-5 S
8.5 mi
4. Take exit 137A toward State Route 110 N/Pasadena Fwy/Pasadena
0.1 mi
5. Keep right at the fork, follow signs for Broadway and merge onto W Ave 21
0.6 mi
6. Turn right onto Pasadena Ave
0.3 mi
7. Turn right onto N Broadway
Destination will be on the right
0.3 mi


View Larger Map

Here is a photo of the front of the building--there will be a valet out front and the gate will be open.

View Larger Map

Valet--oh yeah!

We are having valet service at the wedding. Just pull up and hand your keys to the nice gentlemen, who will find a parking spot for you. No muss, no fuss, no cash necessary.

And in case you were thinking of parking down the street--don't. Trust us on this, parking in LA is not fun and not convenient (and our venue prohibits parking on the street--out of deference to the neighbors). If you need a ride to the venue, let one of us know--we will help you find transportation, whether it be a rental car or a ride with someone in-town.

A few driving tips for out-of-towners:

Do not talk on your cell phone while driving. It's illegal here, and the tickets are expensive!
Add 20 minutes to any estimated drive time. Traffic can strike without rhyme or reason in the middle of the day or night.
When in doubt, don't park there. Sometimes signs are hard to find, and if their aren't a lot of cars parked around, chances are they have learned their lesson (or have been towed).
All the best places to go are reached by car, so definitely use a GPS!

Safe travels!

Children

We are not inviting any children under 13 to the wedding outside of the wedding party. While we love children, our site is not child-friendly and on the small side. We understand if this creates a difficult situation for some guests and hope that you can still join us to celebrating.