Wendy Brandes Jewelry Blog

Never Is the Next New Thing

Up, Up and Away in Wine Country

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Something I did in Napa Valley: Hot-air ballooning.

balloon2

balloon1

Both balloon photos were taken by me.

Something I didn’t do in Napa Valley: Grape stomping.


I Love Lucy grape-stomping episode



News reporter grape-stomping fail



Family Guy’s Stewie imitates the reporter’s grape-stomping failure

UPDATED TO ADD MORE PICTURES:

Here’s one from the air.

I'm in the front wearing my Francis patchwork plaid jacket/

You can recognize me by my Francis patchwork plaid jacket.

After the flight, we had breakfast at a Tex-Mex place, where I was amused by this sign.

sign

Believe it or not, I had nothing to fear because I wore sneakers in order to climb into the balloon basket. MrB thinks it’s the first time he’s ever seen me wear sneakers outside of the gym. He took a picture in case people didn’t believe it really happened.

Believe it or not!

Believe it or not!

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Comments

  11. That seems like it would be great fun! Especially if it was ballasted down with water balloons, because you know, there are probably people below you at some point.

  15. Hi Wendy!

    You just made the entire blogosphere jealous with your hot air ballooning adventure!

    And that Family guy grape stomping parody is too funny!!

  19. Cool! I’ve always wondered what it would be like to go for a hot air balloon ride! And how do they land those things anyway?

  20. I’ve lived in SF 21 years now and have never gone hot air ballooning in Napa – it looks like so much fun, so beautiful. BIG note to self “GO HOT AIR BALLOONING IN NAPA!”. Ha! I remember Lucy’s grape stomping episode!

  22. WOW! I’ve always wanted to do this too! Your photos look stunning. So beautiful and makes me feel happy just looking at them.

  28. LOL! Good for you with the hot air ballooning. I’d be hardpressed to blow up a balloon right now, hee hee. That must have given you a spectacular view! When I grow up, I want to be brave like you!

    Have a great week, my adventurous one!

  29. Holy cow! In a zillion years you couldn’t pay me to go ballooning (you know my height thing and the urge to jump…). Was it scary?

    Grape stomping I’d do.

  30. Hot Air Ballooning?! That looks fabulous! As does the grape stomping. Speaking of which- that sounds like a great work-out for your legs… and then you could celebrate with a glass of wine- haha! That should be a new exercise video.

    ps- thanks for the sweet comments about the photos, WendyB. I give credit to my Nikon D40 and my photo shopping skillz (I’m a graphic designer in “real life”).

  32. funny story about lucyyyyy:

    when i moved to illinois i was SHOCKED to find that they sell wine in the grocery store! bc i am from the south and we just don’ do that! so anyway, i was browsing through the wine and noticed a brand that had a baby’s foot stamped on the wine label … this baffled me EVEN MORE!

    so i thought and thought and finally, with the help of lucy, i figured it out! the foot represented the old world way of gettin wine from grapes! yay lucy!

  36. Oh, WendyB, I’m so envious. I’ve always wanted to fly up in a balloon. And in Napa Valley, too! One day!

    P.S. That poor reporter sounded like a wounded dog. I had to laugh.. in horror! =(

    anti-spam word: vanguard

  37. I used to live 15 minutes from Napa and worked there for a few months. Every weekend we got to see the hot air balloons as they floated along. It was so nice to see and something I miss here in this desert I live in now :-p

  40. I am oh so jealous. I’m terrified of heights but I’d absolutely love to go hot air ballooning. They’re so magical somehow.

    “You can recognize me by my Francis patchwork plaid jacket.”- Haha, as if we could ever miss that killer smile.

  43. Your blog has such a pretty layout! Love it.
    The balloons are gorgeous!! I’ve never ridden in one, but I can just imagine that it is truly a memorable experience 🙂

  44. I have to believe that last picture of you in the sneakers is actually the Photoshop shenanigans of ENC.

  45. woohoo, that looks like tons of fun. and thank you for what is probably the worlds’ biggest grape stomping videos-compilation. and lastly: i wore sneakers today, too. we are crazy.

  49. I have a phobia of heights so I do not share your enjoyment of hot air balloons.

    Plus two different hot air balloons have crashed into my house and did considerable damage. So my family is not a big fan of them.

  50. DUDE!!! you are so brave!!! i would be a BASKET CASE (pardon the expression) in a hot air balloon! i am chickenshit of heights!

    but i would love to stomp on grapes. in fact, i would like to stomp on a LOT of things.

    p.s. you are gorgeous!