A large group of us were on a shuttle bus headed toward the Silverado Resort and Spa in Napa this evening. This resort property is so large that unfortunately, not every room or apartment is walking distance from the main mansion and ballroom area, so instead of walking, we were told we had to call a complimentary shuttle to take us to and from each day. I really didn’t like the idea of this, especially since last year, I was spoiled and had a room that was less than a five-minute walk to the mansion. This year, based on the map, I was far, far out, and so the Silverado workers insisted that I take the shuttle. Another colleague who has been coming here for the last 4 years insisted that no cottage was more than a 10-minute walk from the mansion. A colleague was somewhat close to my apartment based on the map, so we thought we’d be independent and walk there on our own… which was a huge mistake. At past 9pm when it was pitch black outside with very little lighting along the way, we probably walked over 1.5 miles over half an hour, through streams, bridges, a golf course, to finally end up in the private condo properties that, while they are technically part of the Silverado resort, we were not actually supposed to be in this area given we do not live there. We were about 100 yards from the area we were supposed to be, but were fully blocked off by an iron gate that required a code to be entered, which we obviously didn’t have. So we sucked it up, called the front desk, and asked them to come pick us up after giving them our estimated cross streets. The driver was not amused with us and was flabbergasted that we would even attempt walking so late at night when it was so dark. “No one walks here!” he said to us, obviously with a hint of judgment in his tone. “It’s way too far and way too dark.”

Well, at least we made it to our rooms.