Karen, Elizabeth, Courtney and I headed off to Napa Valley and Calistoga to begin our pilgrimage to our spa experience. Wine tour and tasting at Beringer vineyards. We toured the grounds and were taken through the original tunnels the were excavated over 150 years ago. This is the oldest vineyard and winery in Napa valley as well as one of the few that remained open during prohibition under the guise of produce religious wines... many in the valley became devout followers and frequented the vineyards to procure the religiously sanctioned grape. Dinner at the fantastic Mustards Grill. This was phenomenal, the menu speaks for itself. Much time was spent soaking in the hot mineral pools of the Calistoga Spa hot springs. Ahhh! Most of the time was spent in the super hot hot spring, some time spent in the very warm spring... not time in the cooling spring. I want a natural hot mineral spring in my back yard! Walked through the village of Calistoga, very cute, plenty of quaint looking shops and restaurants. We stopped and played a game of croquet, making up rules as we went. This is a town I would want to visit again, it would make a great starting point for exploring Northern California, which is what we will have to do on our next visit. Stayed the night here before going on to the other spa for our indulgent treatments. Stayed up late chatting over our steaming cups of coffee. I miss that, just gabbing with the girls, most of my girlfriends are no longer in town where I live. It was so nice to have just girls to talk to. We enjoyed a wonderful assortment of pastries from a local bakery, along with some coffee of course, for breakfast before setting off to Napa for the other spa.