Frank floats out of Spa Terra after his first massage of his life.
Neither one of us imagined we wouldn’t be excited to go to Wine Country, but here we were at Post Ranch Inn, waking up to a sunrise view at the foot of our luxurious bed before immersing ourselves in a delectable 5-star breakfast buffet at Sierra Mar, while gazing out at the Pacific Ocean cliff. Checkout was at 1 p.m., but we had to leave earlier to get to our spa treatment in Napa, our next stop.
Regretfully, we packed up, and left our space in Heaven. As everyone has to grieve, we did as we drove out of Big Sur and Carmel, but once on the highway, the excitement to visit Napa was building.
We arrived sooner than we expected, bypassing the Golden Gate Bridge in a shortcut, thanks to Frank’s GPS he brought on the trip.
Meritage Resort & Spa was our destination for Napa, night one, and it was appropriately situated off the highway entering Napa. Ironically, we entered an industrial park to get to Bordeaux Way, but once we entered the courtyard in the Meritage Resort, all was ok.
A vineyard lined the roof of the natural caves of Spa Terra, a Tuscan-inspired design that also housed a small space for the signature Trinitas tasting bar. Once in robes and slippers, I met up with Frank in the meditation room, where he seemed surprisingly at ease. From there, we were led to a room of grandeur – large Tuscan doors that opened under the curved archway into spacious room with two massage beds leading to a Jacuzzi for two, already bubbling with sparkling wine and infused berries. We had 25 minutes to enjoy the Spumante treatment, and we did. As we soaked and enjoyed the jets, we drank champagne and snacked on chocolate truffles while classical music surrounded us. A knock on the door and we had to dry off and pick out an aromatic oil of our choice. Frank chose a de-stress oil, while I chose a de-tox version. This would be Frank’s first professional massage, and he had no clue as to how good it would be.
Our back, shoulders, neck and head were worked on with perfection, and we never said a peep to each other during the process. The two masseuse’s worked our knots out before sending us back to the mediation room with a stress-free state of mind. Frank was floating along the hallway cave with a look on his face that spoke volumes of the massage’s effects. He absolutely loved what had "just happened to him," as he has since referred to the treatment. Although resistant when I first told him about the spa treatment, he will never again argue when it comes to accepting total relaxation.
We left the wine cave, crossed the courtyard and headed back to our room that overlooked both the poolside courtyard, Spa Terra cave entrance and the vineyard.
Once dressed for dinner, we headed to the hotel lobby for a quick wine-tasting, compliments of Gundlach Bundschu winery in Sonoma. From there, we headed to Mustards Grill in Yountville, open for 25 years, and where many local winemakers meet for lunch. It is also where a Mongolian Pork Chop beckoned me, and Frank had the quail as our entrees. For appetizers we enjoyed a bowl of mussels and clams in a chowder, and a bowl of Dungeoness crab chowder, which we shared. The wine Frank selected, a half bottle of Proprietary Red, Bradford Meritage, Napa Valley 2003, was out of stock, unfortunately, so we settled on a bottle of Bell Claret Napa Valley 2005, which was delicious. For the first time ever for both of us, we witnessed our server as she decantered our wine for us at the table. It was sophistication at its best.
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