Living in Napa

What's it like to live in Napa?

Nov 2005

Do any bpn subscribers have information on what it is like to live in Napa? I am new to the area and would like to hear other people's impressions. Thank you. Napa Mom

Hi --

My husband and I lived in Napa from '93-'97 (before kids), and I grew up visiting my grandparents' farm every Sunday as a child. Then and more recently, I LOVED Napa, although by '97 it was becoming VERY congested and ''citylike''. At that time, we were living on my grandparents' farm on 5 acres right smack in the middle of the valley and very close to town. While I tried very hard to continue to love it, weekend, especially in summer, were a NIGHTMARE to navigate in town because of all of the people pouring (no pun intended!) into the valley for weekend wine tasting. Summer was worse because of the tourists.

Schools were fair, some better than others, but not terribly different than many areas in the East bay area. There were LOTS of fabulous places to eat, some fun parks for the kids, and going upvalley to St. Helena was always a treat (again NOT on weekends or in summer). The town plaza had a great ''farmer's market'' on Fri. nights in town, where there was great food (from local chefs) to purchase while listening to good music and shopping for produce.

Lots of new homes going up, including on my grandparents' farm! : ( Life moves on, but if you want a new, less-expensive-than-the _East Bay home (but prices are still high!), you might want to check it out. Trish