Among Friends

• Good friends are a treasure indeed. Although our stay was short, our Bay area friends made this visit memorable with an outing to two fascinating sites we never even knew existed. They were Castello di Amorosa and the Petrified Forest, both near the town of Calistoga.
  
  To honor his Italian heritage, Dario Sattui has created an authentic Tuscan castle on 170 acres of prime Napa Valley real estate. In his own words, “The Castle contains all the elements a medieval castle would have possessed --- a moat, drawbridge, 5 towers, high defensive ramparts, courtyards and loggias, a deep well, a functioning church, stables, an outdoor oven, an apartment for the Nobles, a Great Hall and even a prison and torture chamber, and some of the most beautiful vaulted wine cellars in the world.” His castle has been open since April 2007. The photos below speak for themselves:
  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  Did we mention the Castello specializes in small lots of premium quality wine? Naturally, in the wine cellar we had to taste the local vintage as it cannot be found in any restaurant or store ...
  

  

  ... except, of course, in the gift shop upstairs:
  

  

  After exiting the gift shop, Patty was hand-picked by this young man, surveying the experiences of Napa Valley visitors. The survey was, obviously, a fun experience for both:
  

  

  
  Only a few miles away, we ventured into the Petrified Forest, a privately-owned park. It contains whole redwood trees, truly giant in size, that were knocked over in a volcanic blast long ago and buried in mud. Over centuries, moisture replaced wood cell by cell with crystalized silica until each tree became fossilized stone.
  

  

  Strolling through the forest, visitors encounter first a lone pine tree, excavated to reveal its 43 foot length:
  

  

  There are many other fallen giants, all Coastal Redwoods. Below are a few examples, including “The Queen” which was 2000 years old when toppled. It is 65 ft long and 8 ft in diameter:
  

  

  Another, “The Monarch”, was only 6 ft in diameter but has a 105 ft length, exposed by tunneling:
  

  

  

  The Petrified Forest was also a scenic spot for photographing people. Messing about with good friends, Judy and Dave, Karin and Jim, this special day will be long remembered.