Driving Ms. Pamela – Napa Valley

Long flight from New Orleans to San Francisco, and long drive from SFO airport to Napa, through bumper to bumper rush hour traffic. Beautiful sunset as we arrived though. Relaxing after preparations–having to ship boxes of books and bookmarks to our hotel ahead of us. Too heavy to carry on the flight. Last time I did this, UPS had a freak fire in their warehouse and the books arrived days after I’d already left for home and smoke damaged!

Anyway, here we are in Napa! We’re starting the pre-release book tour for Secret of the Shroud in Napa, sort of a vacation to start things off right. (All right–it’s a bribe)–vacation being the operative word for this first part of the trip because…guess what. There are NO bookstores in Napa (the town) new fiction. NONE. (Where do people around here get their books?) So this part of the trip is just for R&R.

Napa valley is such a beautiful place on the globe. The grapevines are bright green, lush, and heavy heading into the fall harvest. Some vineyards plant roses at the head of each row, adding a dramatic contrast of color. I didn’t take many pictures today because I forgot, but here’s one that I think is interesting. A weird 12th century castle (!) created in 1994 by someone who moved it stone by stone from Europe.  

And time’s never wasted in a place like this when you’re writing. You learn all kinds of interesting things at these winery estates: pioneer stories, odd little facts, like the fact that gases drifting up from cauldrons of fermenting grapes can kill a person, etc. My friend, best-selling author Erica Spindler, says she got the murder idea for her last book ‘Bloodvine’ during a visit to Napa valley!

The best part  of today was the Napa valley Wine Train–a three-hour shuttle around the valley at sunset. Gourmet dinner on board–amazing if you could see the tiny kitchen on board. (Despite the name, non-alcoholic drinks are available too). Food was great, and even better, the train was right out of an old English mystery. The railroad was built in 1915 to shuttle supplies throughout the area. As you dine the train winds through miles of vineyards, trees, and flowers and the sun sets over the mountains. Inside the large windows beside each table are curtained as they would have been almost 100 years ago. Brass trim, mahogany woodwork, soft lantern lighting, paintings on the walls, carpeting, long whistle blowing, wonderful service. Don’t miss this treat if you’re there. Other than the train, the best part of Napa (in my opinion) is …ta da…Yountville. Great outdoor cafes for people watching among the flowers.

 But the reason for this trip is the book tour: Here’s the idea – town to town, bookstore to bookstore throughout the state to meet the managers and employees and talk to them about my latest book.  You definitely need GPS to do this. We’ve named ours Amazing Grace. It’s a love-hate relationship but there’s no way we’d find our way around without her and she knows it.  Each night I Google ‘bookstores’ in the cities we’re going to visit the next day, and pick out the stores that might be interested–deleting bookstores that only sell used books, university stores, most specialty stores, etc. Usually I try to call each store before taking off because the internet is unreliable. My phone calls this morning to the few stores listed gave me the clue – some unanswered, some went straight to voice-mail. Nada.  

Tomorrow we’re off to Sonoma and Santa Rosa where there some great bookstores. We’re planning to have lunch in Bodega Bay, which is right on the Pacific, and the site where Alfred Hitchcock’s movie “The Birds” was filmed. Then on down the coast – talk to you soon!