Wonderful family glamping at Val's!
My husband, young daughter, and I had an absolutely fantastic time at Val's place. As my daughter said, "If you have a place as nice as this, you should be proud of it!" The yurt itself was nice, clean, and cool, even though we had 90-degree days during our stay. There are several trees shading the yurt, and it had several mesh windows, which we left open all the time. The bed was very comfortable, and we brought a small camping cot for our daughter, although Val offered to provide an air mattress for a fee. The yurt is located about 25 feet from the pool, hot tub, and a building housing the kitchen and bathroom. The garden along the path is gorgeous, and Val has about twenty, different fruit trees! So we feasted on fresh plums and mulberries and admired his apple and pear trees and some absolutely enormous squash plants, of which Val gave us a few to take home with us. Next to the building with the kitchen and bath and adjacent to the pool was Val's house. Val was an incredibly friendly and interesting host. He provided us with a very nice bottle of red wine on our arrival, told lots of great stories, gave us good recommendations for restaurants and activities, made a campfire for us each night in the fire pit, and pointed out lots of interesting tidbits about the local flora and fauna to my daughter. She was captivated! The pool and hot tub were wonderful, and Val provided a raft and some pool noodles to float on. We spent a whole evening just splashing around. There is also a bridge right next to the yurt that crosses a small creek over into the neighboring vineyard, where we took a peaceful, relaxing walk in the beautiful surroundings. We didn't really use the kitchen for cooking, but Val left us some space in the fridge to store leftovers from restaurants, and I can attest that the kitchen was fully stocked with anything you would need to prepare a meal. The bathroom had a shower, toilet, and sink with good water pressure and plenty of hot water. We brought our own towels, and there was some shampoo and body wash to use.
Val's place is about 20 minutes from Napa downtown and 20 minutes from Lake Berryessa, and we visited both. Val's place is out in the country with few neighbors, so you are really out in nature, yet close to plenty of Napa vineyards, farms, parks, etc.. In Napa we visited the Oxbow Market, the CIA at Copia, and Grace's table for great meals in an upscale setting. We took our daughter on a farm tour at nearby Connolly Ranch for the animals and the tire swings. We visited the Trefethen and Andretti wineries for a few tastings. We also drove to Spanish Flat on Lake Berryessa for a day of jet skiing on the lake, which was super fun and amazingly beautiful. We stopped at a cafe Val had recommended called Turtle Rock near the lake; it ended up being a cafe/biker bar and was decorated with tons of $1 bills people had signed and draped from the ceiling, which had a cool effect. We also stopped at Larry's Produce Market on our way home - another one of Val's recommendations - and picked up some wonderfully cheap and wonderfully good fruit and veg. The place was swamped, and they had a taco truck and snow cone stand on site to feed all the hungry shoppers. All in all, we had a wonderful time and hope to return in the fall. Thanks, Val!