Nico & Elena's Classy Escapades in Napa, Part the First

First, I suppose I should preemptively apologize for the lack of photos in this entry.  Elena and I just finished watching some bad reality TV (what better way to end Day 1 of our classy escapades in Napa?) and we're both kind of pooped but we took some pretty awesome pictures of us at the wineries today.  Said pictures forthcoming.

Highlights of this post:  (1) How little I knew about wineries before today; (2) Precious

Quick recap of the adventure thus far.  (Bullet points for readability and because I'm obsessed with them.)

• Flight from Memphis to San Francisco scheduled to leave at 7:30 pm but ended up leaving at 10:15 pm and I ended up getting to her house in Napa at around 2 in the morning Pacific time, which was 4 in the morning Central time. Awful.
• Woke up at 8 am. 
• First thought in the morning: (as always) Oh god, why am I up so early?
• Second thought in the morning: OMG I'm in Napa in Elena's house!
• Went back to sleep, only to be awoken by Elena with a beaming smile and an offer of crepes that I couldn't refuse.
• Tour of downtown Napa by Elena, the best host ever.  Impressions: this town is so quaint and so so classy. 
• Lunch at the best Mexican restaurant I've been to in a long, long time.
• Best part of the day: Visiting a whole bunch of wineries in the valley. I guess here's a good place to stop bulleting and start writing my thoughts.

First, I should comment on my embarrassing lack of knowledge regarding the wine-making process before today.  Like, legitimately, I knew zero about wine-making.  Apart from that wine comes from grapes.  And even that was hazy.   So it was awesome to take a tour through a few wineries and see how the grapes were harvested, crushed, stored, fermented, and all that jazz.  And the view in the valley was unbelievable.  If you've ever been to Tuscany, then you'll already know exactly how it looked.  Seriously, it was crazy how much it felt like we were driving around the Italian countryside. On our way back from the cutesy little towns in the valley, we took a more scenic route and the landscape was incredibly beautiful.  Imagine wineries as far as the eye can see with rolling hills in the distance.  So awesome.

After we got back from being classy, we watched Precious.  When Elena and I were in Buenos Aires last summer, we took a sixteen hour-long bus ride to Iguazu Falls on the border of Argentina and Brazil (a must-see if you're in the area any time soon) and the bus showed the movie Phat Girlz for entertainment.  It was fantastically bad and featured some fantastically bad acting by Mo'Nique.  So...you can just imagine our surprise when we found out a few months later that Mo'Nique had won an Oscar for her role as a supporting actress in Precious.  Of course we had to watch.  So we did that today at her house.  Ok so I don't know if you've seen it, so I don't want to give too much away but the last 15 minutes were the most intense 15 minutes of a movie I have seen in a long, long time. I mean, who knew Mo'Nique could transform herself from the leading comedienne (I dare not say actress) in a low-budget production (I dare not say movie) that is as underdeveloped a plot as anyone has seen to a critically-acclaimed artist in a widely-praised movie that was recognized by the Academy Awards.  Incredible.  With the caveat that it is a really heavy movie that gets kind of difficult (that is to say, jaw-dropping) at times, I would definitely recommend it.

Went to dinner with her fam (who's hilarious and awesome, especially her brother Nicholas) at this classy Italian restaurant, then ended the long day with great YouTube videos, "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" (which, thanks to Eddie, is my new favorite TV show...blog post about this brilliant show to come), and, as I mentioned, fantastically bad reality TV shows.  Elena and I are huge fans of a variety of fantastically bad productions, including the show Temptation Island, that movie Phat Girlz, and that old Mary-Kate and Ashley movie Passport to Paris.

Anyway, big day tomorrow as well!

PS Thanks to everyone who's been reading!! It always amuses me that people are actually interested in whatever nonsense I have to say.  You guys are the best.  Especially the ones that have commented.  That makes my day :)