Vacations Blog

Purple Roofs is “your GLBT key to world travel” and features Gay and Lesbian Bed & Breakfasts, Inns, Guesthouses, Hotels, Travel Agents, & Tour Operators.

The site is run by Mark and Scott and they have been kind enough to share some of their favorite vacations with us.

Today we’re looking at the weekend getaway of Amador County in Northern California for wine tasting, bed and breakfasts and everything in between.

When most people think of California wines they think of two places: the Napa Valley and the Sonoma Valley, and then they go there by the busload.  This premier wine region in Northern California overflows with tourists in the summertime, and wine tastings are often $5, $10, or $15 a glass.  Yes, for a tasting.

However, there are a number of other lesser-known wine regions in California that offer fantastic local varietals, scenic vine-covered hills, and best of all, elbow room.

The Shenandoah Valley in Amador County is such a place.  It is a lovely wine-growing region about an hour southeast of Sacramento. There are at least 32 wineries here within 15 minutes of each other, most of them can be found on one large loop of road that makes it easy to enjoy the grand tour.

How to Get There:

From the East (Lake Tahoe/Highway 50), catch Highway 49 in Placerville south. In 14 1/2 miles, you’ll reach the small town of Plymouth – make a left onto Fiddletown Rd., and you’re there.

From Sacramento proper, you have a couple options. The shorter route is to take Highway 50 up to El Dorado Hills. Take the Latrobe Rd. Exit (it only goes south), and follow Latrobe Rd. about 14 miles south to Old Sacramento Rd. This runs about 5 miles into Plymouth, and becomes Fiddletown Rd., leading you right into the wine region.

For a slightly longer scenic route, exit Highway 50 at How Ave. Go South on Howe and make an almost immediate left onto Folsom Blvd. Stay to your right – in about a block, Folsom veers left and Jackson Highway (16) veers right. Stay on 16 for about 30 1/2 miles, passing through lots of farmland and rural scenery. 16 then becomes 49 north bound and veers to the right – a little more than 2 miles takes you into Plymouth. Make a right onto Fiddletown, and you’ve arrived. Read More »

Silverado Mansion

Now this is a contest.  If you have a love for all things spa, wine and blogging with just a pinch of the misandry, then the “Spa Girl Package” is the prize for you!

UpTake has partnered with the Silverado Resort in beautiful Napa Valley for a blog contest with the prize being a “Spa Girl Package” for you and three of your friends.

It’ll be just like Silverado the movie, but without Kevin Costner acting all goofy.

Prize
One winner will receive a “Spa Girl Package for Four” (valued at $1,140.00.) This is the perfect Napa Valley spa package for you and three of your closest friends. Enjoy all that Wine Country has to offer with this Napa Valley vacation package.
Package includes (per person):

• Shared accommodations in a spacious fireplace suite with kitchen, living room and dining area
• One 50-minute Spa treatment and full use of The Spa at Silverado and 20% off additional select 50-minute spa services
• Wine Tasting at Black Stallion Winery
• Silverado Resort tote bag
• Breakfast in either of our cafes
• All taxes, service charges and Resort Fee

Cheers! It's the wine country.

Deadline
The blog contest begins at Midnight on April 15, 2009 (PST) and ends at Midnight on May 15, 2009 (PST).

Submission

1. Write a post about why you deserve a getaway on your blog and include a link to the UpTake.com homepage (www.uptake.com.) Linking to the home page on the UpTake site is a requirement for entry.
2. You must also tell us you entered by commenting on this post. Please include your email address in the comment field. We will contact you using this email address if you are the winner.

Requirements & Criteria

1. The winning post will be judged upon the quality of its writing, its originality and how well it conveys why you and three of your friends deserve a getaway more than any other entrant. Since UpTake is a family-friendly site, we require the post be “family-friendly” and reserve the right to reject unsuitable or pornographic material.
2. Only one entry per day per blogger. Each entry must be associated with a new blog post. Each participant may submit up to ten posts total.
3. Entry materials may not infringe on any third party rights and you must have obtained permission from the third party if their property or image appears in the text of the post or in any photos included with the post. We can disqualify the entry at our sole discretion if we cannot obtain the necessary permissions for any element or component of the post.
4. Prize must be claimed within one year of the contest conclusion. Accommodations and Spa appointments are based upon availability at time of booking.”

Judging
The winning post will be selected by the Silverado executive team by May 22nd, 2009. Winner will be selected on the above criteria.

Terms and Conditions
Since UpTake is a family-friendly site, we reserve the right to reject unsuitable or pornographic posts or images.

Copyright

1. Copyright for any of your original posts will be licensed to UpTake under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).
2. Copyright of the post remains the property of the blogger.
3. Entries must be submitted by the original author. Only posts submitted by the original author will be considered. Do not submit a post written by someone other than yourself. You must be the sole owner of the copyright of any post submitted. Your submission of the post is your guarantee that you are the author and copyright holder of the post.

Official Rules

Please go here for the official rules.

Haven’t we all read the Peanuts books or watched the television specials that showed Snoopy fearlessly flying across the fields into enemy territory? I for one recall sitting in my bunk bed when my grandmother would babysit, and pretend I was Snoopy chasing the Red Baron across France. Ra-ta-ta-ta-tat!

Last spring I got to live out my fantasy and ride in a red open cockpit bi-plane. Vintage Aircraft Company has been around for ages. If you drive to the wine country on a regular basis, you will recognize them because their sign and location is on Highway 121 just before the final turn towards Napa Valley.

They have several different vintage planes including a World War II Warbird. My choice was definitely one of their Boeing PT-17 Stearmans, and on the day I went up they had a bright and shiny red one ready for me! It can accommodate two passengers but I wasn’t about to share this ride, so I had a great time sliding about the 32″ seat.

When we got there I learned they offered aerobatics for an additional fee of $50 on any of the planes including my open cockpit bi-plane. Of course I said yes to that and I think they gave me a “famous Cuban Eight” but I couldn’t tell you because unlike regular planes, you don’t get a headset with a mike connected to the pilot. It is a bit like water skiing, just tap your head to ask them to slow down or give the slashing across the neck if you are done.

My 20 minute tour over the beautiful Sonoma Valley was the best. After I stopped thinking about the reality of my possible death, I loved soaring just a few hundred feet above the fields and vineyards.

If you want more they also offer 40 minute flights:

The Wine Country tour: Catch an Eagle’s View of the world renowned vineyards of the Sonoma and
Napa Valleys, heading east across the bucolic Carneros region to Napa, Turn north to St. Helena, West
to glen Ellen then back south through the lush Sonoma Valley. Grapes galore.

West to the Pacific: Aviate over rolling hills and open pastures of Sonoma, Novato and Petaluma;
then head out to Tomales Bay and absorb the Majestic magnificence of the Pacific Ocean.

Spires of “The City”: Drift south toward San Francisco. A panoramic outlook of the Sausalito and
Tiburon Harbors: outlying views of the Golden Gate Bridge and the Marin Headlands,
then circle Mt. Tamalpais en route to Point Reyes and your safe Sonoma return.

And this adventure is also available for kids too. They can accommodate a child about 40 inches tall with their booster cushion, though all kids under 10 years must fly with an adult.

When your ride is over there are lots of great Sonoma Valley restaurants nearby or drive a little further into Napa Valley for world class restaurants or maybe just a slice of pie at Cindy’s Backstreet Kitchen.

Here is me "Amelia Snoopy Earhart" in my shiny Boeing PT-17 Stearman

There’s some spas in Napa which take pleasure in treating guests like pigs. Yep, that’s right – you’ll end up wallowing in mud up to your neck. This would be the mud spas in Calistoga, where a mix of volcanic ash, essential oils and water from the region’s mineral hot springs are used to offer a body and skin treatment which, believe it or not, is actually cleansing and relaxing.

Before we get to the spas offering this treatment, here’s a bit of background about why these mud spas are centered around Calistoga. For that, we need to go back 148 years to 1860, when a bright spark called Samuel Brannan had the idea to mix some volcanic ash from Mount St. Helena with the plentiful mineral water from the hot springs in the area  and offer spa treatments at his’Calistoga Hot Springs Resort. The mud bath thing kinda caught on, and now Calistoga is ground zero for mud baths, with a string of resorts and spas offering said treatment. For the record, Samuel Brannan was Calistoga’s founder, and a cottage built by him – The Brannan Cottage Inn – is now a Bed and Breakfast.

The spas offering mud baths in Calistoga include the Calistoga Village Inn & Spa, Golden Haven Hot Springs Spa & Resort, Solage, Oasis Spa, Indian Springs Spa and the Lincoln Avenue Spa.

Of course, spa treatments are not just about minerals and massages, so it helps that Napa Valley in general, and Calistoga in particular, offers a splendid vista and a beautiful landscape for a romantic holiday or getaway. Poking around the wineries and the historical landmarks, with some relaxing downtime at the spa in between, is what really makes these Napa vacations really memorable. And you get to fool around in the mud without anyone telling you to get out of there at once!

Photo copyrights – Golden Haven Spa

Napa Valley Mustard Fields

February 2008