It was a sunny day on March 9th , 2009 , two days after the celebration of the Town Fiesta of MAONCA . Dick and Ditas and I ( who stayed overnight at the Sarzaba residence ) woke up early waiting for Marilou M. Jue and her sister , Lani M . Basuel . It was the day we were booked to the famous Napa Valley Bus Tour . The four hosts , took time off from work to be with me for the tour that Marilou booked . After a quickie breakfast after Marilou and Lani arrived , we were ready to leave .
The bus tour originated in San Francisco , so , Dick drove his car with four ladies on board and parked at the Holiday Inn parking . It was a cold morning and I was given scarves by Ditas and Marilou . After coming back from the Philippines , I was not ready for the cold weather in California . I borrowed a coat from my niece , Imelda , whom I have stayed with , during my stay in California .
We did not wait very long for the bus ....
The four , Marie , Marilou , Dick and Ditas huddled together in the cold morning while waiting for the bus . Lani was the camera person .
Marilou and Marie settled in the front seat of the bus ..
This was the first winery where we had our wine tasting session . The white wine was good , so we bought some .
The next winery was a smaller one but has excellent wines . See those oak barrels ? They were imported from Italy .
We proceeded to Sonoma ...
Dick with some tourists listening to the tour guide ....
It was lunch time and we needed real food , ( after too much wine tasting ) and we finally found a good restaurant .
Dick was our photographer so he was nowhere in these two tables . But he did enjoy the food , too .
This was our " after lunch " photo . Do we looked stuffed ? We were ready to continue with our tour .
But wait , we can't go yet without tasting some cheese at the Cheese Factory , which was our dessert .
Now , we are back to the wineries . This time , one of the tourists took the picture so Dick was with us .
What a humonguous wine barrel ! ! !
Dick and Ditas finally had this picture taken , like honeymooners on a tour ..........
Our last stop was the Olive Press , makers of excellent olive oil . That concludes our tour .. It was a great tour with a great company and a special bonding ! Thank you so much , Ditas and Dick , Marilou and Lani and the MAONCA officers who invited me to be their guest speaker and extended to me the best hospitality possible . A million thanks ! ! !
Cheers and God Bless MAONCA ! ! !
By Marie A . Junio
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