The Cork Board

This one is unbelievable. In general, we’ve taken the stance that tourism and much of the growth and development in the Napa Valley is not the terrible, awful thing that many seem to believe it is. That being said, we DO have our limits…check this out.

A couple articles published Friday note that a company called Airship Ventures has just received some $8 million in funding. Great. Just another day in Silicon Valley we thought. But, it’s what they plan to do with that money that we’re still in shock over.

According to reports, the company plans to “…import a Zeppelin from Germany for use as a tourist trip that would embark from Moffet field and cruise to Napa and back.” WHAT?! How ridiculous is that?

OK, a wine train that shuttles tourists up and down the valley several times a day is one thing, but a giant Zeppelin floating in wealthy Silicon Valley types is (pun intended) way over the top. We sent the company an email to ask what specific plans might be (i.e. are they hoping to land in Napa before returning south?) and here’s what they had to say:

We’ll be announcing specific routes later this year. But to answer your question as much as we can for now…Because the mast truck is our “airport” we can operate from any sufficiently large (and safe) space. It is also possible to operate from, for example, Napa or Sonoma County airports.

Has anyone else from the valley heard about this? Is Mayor Jill Techel on board?

TechTags Plugin [ Napa | Napa Valley | wine | winery | Zeppelin | Airship Ventures | napa zeppelin ]

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