Yountville, here I come!
July 30 marked my four-year anniversary of moving to Rutherford, yet my focus was not on celebrating with a glass of wine from the Rutherford AVA but instead on leaving Rutherford. That’s right. I’m leaving Rutherford, the hamlet I love so much!
I love waking up to vineyard views from the top floor of my rented two-story home.
I love stepping out onto the balcony from the sliding glass doors in my bedroom and my dressing room and soaking up the vineyard and mountain views.
I love standing in my kitchen or living room on the bottom floor and seeing a beautiful garden through the living room’s picture window when I look one way and vineyards from the long kitchen windows when I look the other way.
I love stepping into my backyard and seeing not just vineyards but mountains on two sides.
I love having my own pool, despite the tiny size.
I love saying I live in Rutherford because the population is less than 200.
I love having wineries as neighbors.
I love being 90 seconds from my job.
I don’t love giving up all of this, but there are times when it is best to walk away, whether it be from a relationship, a job, or a home.
Next month, I will move to Yountville, which has a population of just under 3,000, a real mayor whom I like a lot, and its own weekly newspaper which I read from cover to cover every week when it is delivered to me. Yountville is also the culinary capital of Napa Valley with three-Michelin star chef Thomas Keller of The French Laundry fame dominating the restaurant scene.
At my new abode, I will have mountain views on one side and hillside views, well, sort of through the trees, from the other side but no vineyard views like I have now to remind me that I live in Wine Country as soon as I open my eyes.
I finally decided that I don’t need vineyard views as much as I do central air/heat. I’m tired of the inefficient wall heaters that can’t heat downstairs properly and waiting more than an hour until the AC unit hanging out of a wall in my bedroom cools down that room after I come home from work – or avoiding upstairs altogether on the weekends. And, I don’t want to take care of a house owned by someone who makes me pay for things that she should, i.e., tree trimming so I can see the vineyards, cleaning the gutters and paying the gardener enough to take care of the front and back yards. Without getting into unnecessary details, the irrigation system in the front and back yards cause me too much stress. Enough! I want to see green from my windows, but I don’t want to take care of green.
I also don’t want to look into the neighbor’s windows, which is what I will be doing should I remain in Rutherford. For more than a year, I’ve endured construction of a 4,000 square foot home going up next door to me. I haven’t been able to use my backyard as much as I would like to due to the continual presence of construction workers. I’m looking forward to peace and living, hopefully, spider-free. Don’t get me started on the spiders!
Rather than put any more money into this house to get it ready to rent again, the 80-year-old owner has decided to cash out. The listing price is $1,295,000 – for a tear down. That’s how great the views are. The house was built in 1955 and some parts are still original, a challenge to say the least. The kitchen is somewhat new because of a fire that occurred a few years before I moved in.
On the other hand, the townhouse where I’ll move just finished being updated. The central air/heat system is brand new and so are the bathrooms, flooring, carpet, paint and cabinet facing. And I have an attached two-car garage for my still kind of new fancy car, a private downstairs patio large enough for my firepit, double lounger, BBQ grill and table as well as a spacious balcony upstairs. The complex has a community pool and tennis court. (Do you think I can get Venus to give a tennis clinic?) I do wish it had a gym since Yountville doesn’t have one; though there are Zumba and Jazzercise classes at the Community Center. I’ll probably buy a treadmill.
I’m excited to finally become a Yountvillian. For years, I’ve wanted to live in the town of Yountville because it seems so idyllic and like nothing can ever go wrong there. Unfortunately, things have gone wrong – terribly wrong in 2018. Yountville lost its innocence in March 2018 when there was a murder-suicide at the Veterans Home with a troubled combat veteran killing three Pathway Home staffers. Then, in November 2018, Pepperdine University student Alaina Housley, whose parents own Ranch Market Too in Yountville, became the youngest of 12 victims of a mass shooting in Thousand Oaks, Calif. These two tragedies rocked the town of Yountville, where I almost moved in Dec. 2016.
I came thisclose to moving to Yountville and had signed a lease on a 2-bedroom house. But I ended up staying in Rutherford after my new Yountville landlord turned into landlordzilla when I asked her to fix a few things before I moved in. She cancelled the lease I wanted to break but did not for fear she would make me pay royally for doing so. As it turned out, God was looking out for me – as usual. Two months later, the fine arts photographer I always shared the Rutherford home with moved when her lease ended. I signed a lease in my name and remained. For the last 2 ½ years, I’ve lived in the roomy 3 bd+ house on a quarter of an acre by myself and gotten really chummy with my wonderful neighbors.
I’m so glad that someone of you reading this had a chance to visit me in my Rutherford home, where I loved to entertain in the huge backyard. When I told one East Coast friend that I was moving and I would really miss the vineyard views, she said, “Forget the views! What about Rutherford Grill?” It’s true, being within stumbling distance of the restaurant as popular with locals as it is with visitors is fantastic. The Grill is definitely my Cheers, and I’ll continue to go there for lunch.
Now, I’ll have to learn everyone’s names at R+D, also part of the Hillstone Restaurant Group and where I already go from time to time. It’s just a few minutes’ walk from my new place. Everything is a short walk in Yountville, and I’m looking forward to walking. I plan to buy my first bike and take advantage of being at the start of the Vine Trail, a multi-use path that goes to south Napa and one day will stretch all the way north to Calistoga. I already told the Yountville mayor that I’m moving to his town and will get involved in the community.
In 2016, I began volunteering at the Yountville Community Thanksgiving Dinner. Maybe I’ll write an occasional column for the weekly Yountville Sun newspaper. It’s no secret that the owner would like to sell the paper and retire, and she mentioned this to me when we met for drinks a year or so ago. As much as I love newspapers, being a publisher is not on my list of things to do – although I sometimes did think that I could start a monthly paper in Rutherford. Oh well….
For those of you who didn’t visit me in Rutherford, well, you can still do so for a little bit longer. Just be ready to pack boxes.
