A quick trip to Napa

Things were looking a little gray in Reno, so we decided to take a quick trip "over the hill" and visit springtime. We took a lovely walk around a landfill on the Wetlands Napa River Bay Trail.

 The landfill was no longer in use, and is completely covered and planted, but they are still harvesting methane.

It was foggy/overcast, but still a beautiful mid morning walk

We saw lots of birds, most were too far away to photograph well.  We watched a pair of swans take flight.  It was amazing, they are such large birds, we could hear their wings flapping as they struggled to get in the air. I enjoyed watching the spectacle so much I forgot to take a picture, but here they are before they launched.

As we were walking we stumbled upon this bench. Does that name look familiar?

 It is nice to see blooms in winter

And green grass

We walked down to "Glass Beach" which I suppose might be a remnant from the landfill.  Not a beach you would want to play on, but pretty.

Hiding in the reeds near Glass Beach we spotted an egret that obligingly took flight just as I was taking pictures.

We drove to Calistoga for lunch and then Calvin rode his bike back to the hotel while I stopped for a few more pictures of blooming mustard in the vineyards.

In the evening we took a stroll along the Napa River.  

Napa really is a beautiful place.  It is even nicer on a Monday when all the crowds have gone home.