Nice to have company. But nice to have a little down time as well. Jameson was off to lunch with friends from Evergreen at Both Ways Cafe in Columbia City. I’d never heard of it, but it gets good reviews. Might have to check it out, but not on the weekend for bunch.
Dinner tonight are a couple of veal chops, some roasted potatoes, a nice salad with anchovies and home-made croutons and a little red wine.
Jameson’s visit makes me realize how much I enjoy his company and that I need to spend more time with him… like maybe three nights from the 31st of May to June 3rd staying at the WorldMark Tahoe in Stateline, NV, just up the road from Jameson’s place.
Hopefully the massive snows they have had this winter will have melted. Looks like renting a car is going to be necessary, I can deal with that tomorrow. It’s not right in Stateline, but outside of town. Between the shuttle, and then getting to the place, I think it will nicer to have a car. I booked a two-bedroom so Jameson can stay in a little bit of luxury while I visit.
While I was booking, Jameson was packing. Sigh.
All packed and ready for a really early morning run to the airport. Please note the ukulele sticking out of his backpack.
Not THAT kind of quickie – a quick two-night visit.
Scored the ticket for $116.20, CHEAP, and a rental car for $28.40 (plus gas, which you can get right at the airport), hell my parking was $40.38 (with the Senior Discount at Wally Park for those 55+).
A great day to fly…fog causing some planes that don’t have advanced avionics – RNP—were diverting to Boeing Field. Two United flights and one Air Canada flights. One of the reasons that I like to fly Alaska Airlines. Currently only Alaska and Southwest (in the US) have adopted RNP system-wide.
My plane awaits…
And you can see the pea-soup fog in the background….and my seat awaits:
Not my favorite (1C – aisle), but right next door (1A – window).That said, it was a great day to be by the window. Mount Rainier above the fog line:
Let’s not forget my “snack” on the way down (and on the way back as well) of the Curry Chicken Salad – wish they had warmed the pita bread like they did on one trip!
Almost before finishing my “snack” we were on the way down – it’s was a 1 hour 15 minute flight – definitely running early. In Sacramento they were unloading (and loading) from both the front and rear:
Picked up the car and set off on an errand before meeting up with Jameson at his new apartment. The errand was BevMo for a little (lot of) bourbon for the visit and to take home with me.
It’s going to be dinner at the apartment tonight, with Jameson’s girlfriend (who I met on my November trip when it was her birthday). I’d brought lots of frozen (when it was packed) protein with me. Chicken Thigh Stir Fry with rice is tonight’s meal, tomorrow will either be Garlic Rosemary Rack of Lamb (girlfriend doesn’t eat lamb) or Jerked Boneless Pork Chops – depending on party of two or party of three.
Stayed up too late (for Jameson who had to get up early for a work trip to the Bay Area) so didn’t get out of the apartment until noon.
Headed into Folsom for a lunch that wasn’t good for me, but tasty. Fish and Chips at the Fat Bunny Tavern where the “Business Lunch” with a choice of half a dozen items that come with either a glass of house wine (the Cabernet wasn’t bad) or a beer (Scottish add $2.00).
No girlfriend for dinner tonight so it was the rack of lamb, and we used some of the Jerk Sauce destined for the port as a “dipping sauce”. Damn tasty.
And we finally got to try out the hot tub – tried last night but we were WELL after 10pm when they lock the gate. Nice was to finish the evening.
Up and out by 8:30 to get the rental car back and check in all the luggage (yes, TWO checked bags, thankfully FREE). It gave me enough time before my 11:30am flight to actually have a little breakfast:
Flight was reasonably on-time, back in Seat 1A, and another Curry Chicken Salad (again with cold Pita Bread wedges). Before you knew it I was home and taking a nap.
Ah, the joys of being able to sleep in and have coffee delivered bedside.
Spent the morning reading scholarship applications. It never fails to amaze me the number of people who don’t read the list of requirements. Usually it is the portfolio that is strangely missing.
Mark Stephen Souder Scholarship for Information Dissemination
Offered to a new or currently enrolled student attending full time who demonstrates an interest in information dissemination, e.g., writer, Web designer, teacher, musician, activist — anyone helping to influence the way people think about their world, to change the concepts of “nons”—”non-residents, non-Caucasians, non-heterosexuals — to create a more equal, intelligent and compassionate society. Preference will be given to non-resident gay or lesbian students, demonstrating quality and creativity of prior work in the area of information dissemination. Financial need will also be considered.
Requirements
Letter of application addressing your passion for and level of expertise in the dissemination of information. Tell us where you have been with this concept, what you are doing now, and where you want to go in exploring how information is shared.
A portfolio of work that expresses your beliefs about information dissemination and demonstrates how you have put those beliefs into action.
Two letters of recommendation from individuals, other than relatives, who have personally experienced the power of your work in information dissemination.
FAFSA or Renewal Application. _______________________________________________________________________________________________
By 1:30 or so both Curt and I had finished reading all 15 of the applications (stack size 2″), which is down from the 21 applications last year. I would have thought more would be applying, but apparently the economy is so bad that students and prospective students can’t even afford to think about college.
I ran out to Summit Lake to see how the progress was coming, and see Julian who had driven up from Portland to help his brother out. They were down to the last, and hardest, panel on the car port when I got there.
Lunch for me was at the Ranch House BBQ just a couple of minutes from the rental. Pulled pork sandwich with coleslaw and potato salad, washed down with a glass of Petite Syrah that had been open a little too long.
Work was done by 3 and we headed back to the Westside to drop off his truck. My surprise for Jameson was taking him to the musical instrument store from yesterday, and convincing him that he REALLY needed to buy a ukulele. The ones I had priced were from $54.95 to well over $300. Jameson settled on the $99 Portuguese one that came with a bag, pitch pipe, and cord descriptions. To push him over the edge I picked up part of the tab.
We got back to the house a little after 5 just in time for the nightly news and the nightly cocktails.
Dinner was flank steak pinwheels, brussell sprouts, salad and a little red wine.
After dinner it was time for Jameson to start on the scholarships. And the winner is….
Up at 8, grudgingly, breakfast at 9, on the road by 9:30am.
Destination Olympia. Work of repairing the carport of his rental for Jameson, work on two chickens for dinner for me. Doesn’t look fun for him with the rain.
On the way back from dropping him off on the Westside to borrow a friends truck, stopped downtown and did a little antiquing, but found myself parked in front of a musical instrument store, with almost a dozen ukuleles hanging in the window, and as it turned out, another half dozen hanging on a rack. Apparently the ukulele craze is bigger now than it was in the 20s and 30s. Went in to price them for Jameson since he likes mine so much, and says it would be easier to travel with than a guitar.
The two chickens were stuffed with a half an orange each (to keep them moist) and sprinkled with a Tuscan seasoning mix, and baked on top of a bed of new potatoes, onions, carrots and celery. Serve with a salad and some steamed asparagus and the boys (Curt, Rich, Brandon) were happy campers.
After dinner tried and failed to get all the scholarship applications read, only managed one.
Got to the shop around 10:30am just in case there was a problem after the power went out last night. Arrive to find:
We have power
The credit card machine “auto-settled” so there was a nice tape waiting for me
The cash register spit up its tape as well.
Got all the bookwork done and the doors open at 11am. Surprisingly Jim showed up in the early afternoon (even with a slight cold) to crank through a bunch of wine cards. For some reason I neglected to get a shot of how the racks are looking with the new vertical cards.
It was a good thing Jim did come is as mid-afternoon we had a “whale” come in talking about a case and a half of Christmas wine, and picking up several bottles of $25-50 a bottle wines to try.
Closed the doors as little after 5 and sprinted home to get ready for dinner with Jameson where we had our own little wine tasting:
The three open bottles were the dregs from the Saturday tasting, plus we opened a Chilean to go with the Italians.
Unfortunately Jameson’s visit is short — tomorrow it back to Olympia and the problem of his pump house for the rental property.
At least we had a good meal of lamb chops and spinach sautèed in bacon and vinegar.
Left Berkeley in the late afternoon for the Oakland Airport with enough time for some steak fajitas and a couple of Manhattans:
Poor Jameson had his flight cancelled so instead of arriving in Seattle from Reno an hour before me, he arrived an hour later than I did. Blessed be the cell phone for coordinating at the airport.
After my uneventful flight I waited on the departure level at the wine bar that is on the ticketing side of the airport. Really nice tomato/mozzarella salad:
Why, yes, that is another Manhattan.
It was great to see Jameson – even if it is a short visit as he needs to be back at the airport at 10am for his flight to Vietnam for a three week visit:
Somehow I’m expecting to regret staying up until 4 in the morning.
A fairly lazy start to the day — thank goodness for Ambien to keep the thumping of the disco out of my dreams.
Eggs Benedict at the hotel in the morning, then off to tour the castle grounds and art gallery filled with conceptual pieces, beyond contemporary art and sort of an odd match for the castle — guess that would be the personal tastes of the Duke of Devonshire who still lives in the castle.
At least the windows are double glazed — though I still bet it’s a bitch to heat in the winter.
Next up on the tour is the Midleton Distillery, home to Jameson whiskey (and a couple of others). Jeff took this great picture of me in front of the waiting area bar (Irish Coffee for 6.50 Euro).
After the tour of the history grounds (the current working distillery is modern and located just behind the old distillery) we went to the tasting room where both Jeff and I got certified as official tasters — and I cleaned up all the leftovers from the other 7 tasters… something like 15 of those tiny little cups. Should I have wanted to purchase shots, there was one shot on the menu that was going for 250 Euro. Ouch!
Lunch afterwards was down the road a bit from the car park — an interesting place called Mojito, which couldn’t quite make up it’s mind what sort of a menu they had — Jeff had the Nachos Grande and I had the Mojito Salad(which was salmon, goat cheese, greens, olives and a yummy dressing). It’s right on Distillery Walk by the distillery.
Three hours back to Dublin, Jeff driving while I slipped in a little nap.
Just a lazy day around the house that evening — a lite meal of sandwiches made from the pork from the other night. Got to keep food moving through the fridge when it’s a half-size model.
Tomorrow is the big 53rd birthday. I don’t feel a day over 52.
Yes, I know, Sacramento – lots of snippy comments on “The Pit Called Sacramento.” “Why?” they asked. $96 round-trip and I got upgraded to first class in each direction. The cheap fare was the result of a two-hour “flash sale” announced by Alaska on its Twitter Feed. A week or so later it was $128 round-trip to Denver (snagged to see Dan and Lisa), this week it was Omaha and Salt Lake City – I passed on those two.
And then there is Jameson – my “faux nephew”. He has moved from the public sector end of the environmental business to the private side, moving from Lake Tahoe to Folsom (it’s more than just a prison). As for the “faux” part, he’s me dead brother’s widow’s new husband’s nephew – but with his parents often celebrating Christmas Eve at my parents’ house when they lived out in El Dorado, it’s really more like a three family circus.
I booked a nice midday flight, but still means setting the alarm, just not for 5AM. That’s means I’m not as cranky in the Board Room:
Though I was a little confused by the need for this sign on the jet way…
One I boarded, the most amazing thing happened. Instead of water, they asked if I’d like anything to drink – so of course, Jack and Diet. On the ground! A first on Alaska. Maybe is was because the back half of the plane was only half full (First, of course, was packed). The view from seat 1D:
And there was even a light lunch on the hour and a half flight – a curry chicken salad that was quite tasty:
Picked up my bag and headed to the rental car place where they tried twice to sell me an upgrade. Tip: if they are trying that hard, they don’t have the compact car you rented. I ended up in a mid-size Mazda 3 that they were trying to get an extra $20 a day for…almost new, less than 2,000 miles on it.
Got to the hotel and checked in – Hawthorne Suites by Wyndham – I get 20% off lowest rack rate as a result of my WorldMark ownership (they are managed by Wyndham). Nice room:
Had a little nap, did a liquor and mixer run before Jameson got off work. We hung out for an hour of so catching up before it was off for a sushi dinner at Mukuni in Citrus Heights.
And the “shooter” that I thought about, but didn’t get:
And the “cheesecake” dessert which was really quite good – and I’m not a dessert person:
A few more drinks at the hotel and Jameson was off to the house where he rents a room – a situation that he is trying to change. He has an eye on his own apartment, the first living by himself in his life – at 31. Wow.
As for me, it was TV and bed for tomorrow it’s off to Amador County, home of one of California’s premier Zinfandel growing regions.
A hot breakfast comes with the room – lots of starch (make-it-yourself waffles, cereals, toast, rolls, etc.) and a steam table with a protein, potatoes, some egg dish (changes daily). First stop is Renwood. We carry three of their wines…
Very quiet it being a Wednesday, but it is crush season, so there are a few people. Basically I had the tasting room to myself – with Stephen as a guide:
The benefit of owning a wine shop (and bringing your business cards with you) is complimentary tastings and the 20-30% off trade discount. I try not to abuse the privilege and generally buy a bottle – in this case for Jameson’s new girlfriend whose birthday is tonight. She got a bottle of the 2011 Barbera. I didn’t realize how much Barbera they were growing in Amador County. One slight emergency during my visit – Alaska announced a Flash Sale and I had no cell service in the country. Luckily Renwood has public Wi-Fi so I quickly logged in on my phone – only to find that this week’s specials were Omaha and Salt Lake City. I’ll pass.
I’m afraid the hot buffet breakfast didn’t last, so it was off to Villa Toscana who has a nice little restaurant at their winery.
That was my view while eating my pastrami and swiss grilled sandwich:
I’ve had their wines before and I think they are one of the “direct to customer” wineries that make all their money on selling their wine at retail and renting out the grounds for weddings. Which also means no trade discount since they don’t wholesale.
Sated, it was off to Villa Noceto – another of the wineries that I used to visit for the years that the Labor Day Manscouts Gathering was held just outside Plymouth on Bell Road at Rancho Cicada. We used to carry their Sangiovesse, which I bought a split of for my mother (headed there next week).
Didn’t get a picture there, or Terre Rouge/Easton where I sampled some more free wines, and bought a split of their Zin port (only a 20% discount), then it was onto Sobon Winery, which I’d been to before, and we carried their Zinfandel a while back. By this time I’m sort of done with wine tasting – didn’t even sample their ReServe line…until I noticed that they had a Tannat. Tannat is a fairly obscure grape (unless you are in Uruguay). Their Tannat is an 93% Tannat, 7% Zinfandel. Here is their tasting room:
No time for a nap when I got back to the hotel – time enough to have a drink and check email before Jameson showed up have cocktails before the new girlfriend’s dinner party at Hamptons in downtown Folsom. We even had enough time for a little walk around. Cute, old city center.
So apparently there used to be a rail yard in the middle of town.
Now there is a Museum in a rail car, and the old roundhouse, minus house:
And then it was off to dinner at Hamptons – dinner for 8, plus one who showed up, late.
With a flaming table:
Arrived during daylight, but at the end, we were in the dark, lighted by the flaming table:
Once everyone was gone I got a little better picture of the flaming table:
Not bad for being the oldest person there and I passed on going “caving” drunk after dinner – back to the hotel room for me as I’ve got a flight tomorrow.
Couple of more drinks after Jameson dropped me off in his “adult” car – Mink (Audi’s name for dark gray) A-6. Considering I last saw him driving a beat up Nissan pickup truck (which he still owns), definitely a step up.
Up and out in the morning to the airport (apparently my second home, any airport). If I can only get there…. I’ve never seen 40 people in line for a rental car shuttle back to the airport:
No lounge but a great airport, good food options, and charging stations everywhere, light, airy…
But soon enough I’m back in seat 1C…but no cocktail until we are at 10,000 feet:
Boeing Sky Interior, but new in the transition phase, no outlets. No worries, I’m offline.
Last month I tried to visit SLO, and Amtrak failed me by cancelling two days’ worth of trains. My goal was to see Jameson before he and Carolynn get married next month since I know the wedding will be crazy and I’m betting I barely get to see his brother as well.
Alaska does a direct flight from Seattle via Horizon’s E175 aircraft. I love these planes – and even more when I’m up front!
And even in my favorite seat, which is 1A, because it’s both an aisle AND a window.
It was ridiculously bumpy on the way down, enough that the flight attendants were strapped in for 2/3rds of the flight – meaning I got my sandwich, but no cocktails for the entire 2.5 hour flight.
Great airport though…
Jameson had given me directions to the house, and how to find the key, and before long, I finally had that cocktail:
It was a pretty lazy afternoon for me, just hanging out with the assorted pets…
Petting neither since I’m allergic. Outside was better than inside.
Made a run to the store after checking out the fridge—got some steaks and found an amazing post-St. Patrick’s Day price on Jameson’s IPA and Stout edition:
Normally $40.00 a bottle, marked down toe $20, and if you bought three or more, $15. Wow, that’s like pushing $50 after tax in Seattle. And speaking of booze, I brought some down with me for the wedding:
The “small” bottle is a regular 750ml size, the other two are five liters each.
Nice place they live in…
And Jameson made me up a nice bed in the office…
I did steaks the first night (sorry, no food porn), then lamb burgers the next night:
Carolynn (Jameson’s fiancée) is working in the field all this week, which is disappointing because I’d wanted to spend more time with her, but on the upside, she doesn’t like soy, beef, or lamb, so guess what we are having this week.
The final night of my visit, Jameson suggested we get a cocktail after he got off work at the Madonna Inn. WOW. The place was huge, and weird, and…..heavy on the pink:
Even the men’s room is “unique” – look at the size of the urinal!
And a clam shell his and his sink…
All I can say is, WOW, WOW, WOW. Apparently, each of the 110 rooms is decorated differently, from Safari to Caveman to yikes!
Back at the house, the final meal of the visit is a crispy skin chicken (with some leftover asparagus from the steaks):
It was a great couple of nights – I’ll cover all the wineries that I visited in the next post.
Back on the plane the morning, back in First Class, but 4A (still window and aisle), and this time there were drinks!
And pretty views:
Was home early enough that I could have had folks to dinner, but sadly, couldn’t locate any.
Morning —- drop off car at Havlick’s to get it pretty again, and MoonSong running me to Home Depot for concrete and boards on the way home.
Must clean the office — company tonight with Jameson coming back from Costa Rica.
Unexpected visit by Mr. Weber of Sugar Run Clayworks to chat and ask my computer schedule — suddenly I have more of a schedule. This on top of a run to Wonderfuls (mail drop off and unexpected check), Graf (Popular Mechanics drop off), Swanda (dropping off food for tomorrows dinner), liquor store (12-year old Jameson for Jameson), and home.
Dinner date before the airport run — chicken breasts in Mole Verde, fresh baked bread (basic challah with garlic, fresh rosemary, and some graham flour), salad with arugula from Johnny’s garden, and strawberries marinated in balsamic and dusted with black pepper.
And then the call from Jameson — pulled off the plane at SFO — and not because he looked like a terrorist — because Natalie’s father (girlfriend’s father) was murdered coming out of a casino and she is in the Bay Area to deal with stuff. WOW. Sounds (at the moment) like he’s coming back Wednesday afternoon.
Guess my Wednesday is now changed. Good thing I’m not pouring concrete at the church.
A lovely scramble this morning before heading to the airport a little after noon. Taking Solus to the airport and picking up Jameson, nice to be able to combine the two trips, and let’s Solus meet Jameson.
Lunch was a variety of leftovers from the fridge. A little chicken noodle soup, half a sandwich apiece, a little pineapple upside down cake.
And now for the odd. This “vehicle” was parked around the corner from my house.
Let’s see, I’m counting one beetle (with sun roof), and 5-7 van bodies… Truly odd.
Spent the afternoon running around checking out Bamboo Hardwoods, an antique mall on Lander, Dick’s Restaurant Supply, and finally Crosscut Hardwoods. Didn’t end up buying a thing, but it was a great way to kill time until cocktail hour.
In honor of Jameson’s visit I grilled two massive steaks to go with the roast potatoes and Brussel sprouts and Caesar salad.
What a wonderful yummy dinner, and the hot tub afterwards wasn’t bad either.
Jameson off to bed a ten since he was up at 3:30am this morning to make his flights.
Up at 4:30, even before my alarm. Considering how late I went to be, not pleasant.
By 6am I had the car parked at MasterPark, bags checked, through security and into the Board Room for my usual pre-trip nosh.
Got to the gate around 7 to find an offer I couldn’t refuse: take a later flight and get a $300 voucher. By the time it was all said and done, that also included 2000 extra frequent flier miles, and $16 in food vouchers.
Back to the Board Room went I, to take a two hour nap on the couch. I probably could have used another hour, but there were oysters on the half shell calling me (and a bowl of clam chowder) at Anthonys — how nice to be able to have fresh oysters while waiting for your plane. And the view from the restaurant is stunning.
Lots of time to kill, so I’ve been trying to finish (after USA Today, the Seattle Times, and the Wall Street Journal) Graham Greene’s The Quiet American. You could call it historical fiction (set in the early 50’s in Vietnam while the French were fighting and the Americans just starting to meddle) or a story of romance and betrayal. It’s twice (1958 and 2003) been made into movies should you want the easy version. My version is a British reprint from 1957 which interesting enough contains a broadsheet in the back for the upcoming book club offers for October 1957.
I think Jameson will enjoy it since there isn’t a lot of nightlife in Tahoe unless you count the casinos.
Amazingly, I managed to snag another bulkhead aisle seat similar to the one I gave up on the morning flight. Add a couple of glasses of complimentary white wine (Horizon offers complimentary beer and wine on their flights) and even the severe choppiness of the approach to Reno didn’t spoil the fun.
Bag number three off the carousel, used the time to do the paperwork for the rental car (a Chevy Aveo with 245 miles on it, and no plates, just a sticker in the front window).
One stop at WinCo for food and wine, a call to Jameson to grab whiskey, and by 7pm I was checking into the WorldMark Lake Tahoe, Jameson having arrived a few minutes before me.
Dinner was those little lamb t-bones, grilled asparagus, salad, roasted garlic bread, and a 2008 Bogle Petite Syrah.
After dinner entertainment, the hot tub.
Good thing I brought two suits! And a good thing there was a glass surround as the winds are peaking at 35mph which made the drive up the mountain in a tiny econo box (with crank windows) interesting.
Late into the night talking, I miss being in the same city as Jameson but I’m not ready to move to Tahoe where snow flurries are expected tomorrow (June 1st).
Nothing like a $160.10 round-trip flight to get me motivated to travel – add complimentary upgrades to First in both directions and I’m in.
Staying with Jameson (faux-nephew) and his girlfriend Carolynn at their place a couple of blocks from old town Folsom. Got my own cat-free room – yes, the cat is the downside to the trip.
I had planned on hitting some wineries after meeting up with Paul the German CouchSurfer who is attempting to hitchhike from Vancouver, BC to New York City using NO CASH. I hosted him in Seattle last week, and it turned out we were in Sacramento at the same time so hooked up for lunch and dropped him at a freeway entrance as he was headed to Reno. And it turns out all the Placerville Wineries are closed on Tuesdays (some Wednesday to Sunday, most only weekends).
Lunch? Max’s Bar and Grill in Auburn – at the start of the Sierra foothills. For picking it at random (search restaurants, Auburn, CA – look for ones close to the highway) it turned out to be the best Rueben that I’ve had in years. Pair it with a Manhattan, and it was heaven. Paul and the Manhattan:
Said best Rueben in years:
Turns out the freeway entrance I wanted to put Paul on didn’t have any place to pull over so we backtracked an exit to one with a gas station – turns out it was also Downtown Old Auburn with not much traffic. He waited five hours and ended up hitchhiking in the dark. At least he made it to Reno – by 9:30pm.
I got to Jameson’s place before he did – but check out the “economy” rental car from Advantage Rent-A-Car – apparently the economy is very good in California if you get a Kia Sedona LX mommyvan as an economy car:
Cute house. Great food – the first night what started out as a pork loin turned into a Carolina-style pulled pork with a side of creamed yams and a salad – plus a couple of bottles of wine I brought.
Wednesday was the designated “winery” day. Slept in late to make up for the prior days up early, fortified myself with another Rueben at Deb’s Frosty in Diamond Springs, California. Not nearly as good but $7.50 rather than Max’s $15 (plus Manhattan).
And the sign has seen better days. Would be interesting to try other items on the menu, which seems to be half burger stand and half Tex-Mex food.
And now for the winery report:
One of the lesser known, but fascinating California winery regions is Eldorado County, an hour east of Sacramento. Unlike the bustling regions of Napa or Sonoma, these smaller regions offer inexpensive tastings fees (if any at all), and offer up some great wines and stunning scenery.
As you can see from the map, there are no shortage of wineries in Eldorado County, many of which are only open weekends. Most everyplace you stop in will have maps of the area, including special maps for the sub-AVAs of Fairplay and Placerville. It being a Wednesday afternoon, my choices were a little more limited so I hit two that were recommended (and next door to each other) and one (Miraflores) that I just stumbled upon.
While none of the wines from the three wineries I stopped at are available at the shop, this is more informational about off-the-beaten track wine regions.
First up was Windwalker Winery in the Fairplay area of El Dorado County California. They produce 9-10,000 cases of wine a year with 10% being estate fruit. Of that production, 1/3 are white wine varietals, including dry-style Albariño (unusual for California) and a Viognier (both tasty, but I bought the Albariño). If you are a Chardonnay fan, their Chardonnay won the prestigious Golden Bear award at the California State Fair (front and center in front of their other medal placing wines).
As you can see from the chalkboard, they have an extensive and varied production. I even had a chance to chat with Ben, their winemaker:
Next up in the day’s adventure was Perry Creek Winery, which is just one long driveway away from Windwalker. Unlike Windwalker, most of their grapes are estate grown.
As with Windwalker, the major portion of their wines are red varietals (Chardonnay and Viognier being the two whites). I worked my way through them, finding the Zinfandels to my favorites – and oddly, the ZinMan Zin (which I bought) tastier than their Reserve Zinfandel. I ended up trying both the whites and half a dozen of the reds.
Last on the list for the day was Miraflores Winery, visually the most stunning of the bunch – no wander they have a full schedule of wine/food pairings, weddings, wine maker dinners.
So, when you are travelling around the country, explore the less explored wine regions – when doing the research for this article I found a map for the wineries of Indiana – who knew.
Got back to the house before Jameson and Carolynn – but not enough time for a nap, just enough time to clear up email.
Another damn fine meal, this time with Eldorado County California wines (the Albariño and the ZinMan – taking the Syrah home with me). And while we are talking about the accommodations – said overly-friendly cat:
As usual, Carolynn heads to bed before Jameson and I, and no sleeping in for me in the morning – an 11:30 flight. But again, at least I’m in First.
And the flight comes with lunch – a yellow beat salad with focaccia (and cocktail):
This week’s pleasure travel is to lovely Sacramento – though technically Folsom where Jameson lives. It feels like, “another day, another flight.”
Suddenly, most of my lunches are now looking like this:
With a view like this….
Until I end up on the plane, luckily with an upgrade…
When the view changes to this:
That would be Mt. Rainer. This would be a double:
And someone in the back is making balloon animals for the crew – I just brought them chocolate.
And we get a little snack on the way down …
That would be build it yourself bruschetta.
Landed, got my bag and then rental car hell began. 45 minutes to get a car, ten people in line, one agent. Word to the wise when booking EZ/Advantage Rent A Car. The delay was long enough that Jameson actually got to the house before me.
At least when Jameson and I get together, we drink well:
And eat well:
Those it pains me to pay retail for wine – at least it was on the 50% off rack.
For some reason I didn’t get a picture of us together so you’ll just have to suffer with Jameson doing his back exercises:
Up in the morning early, off to the airport, returned the car which was painless, got home early afternoon for a quite evening.
Left the condo at 9:15 — which is really 8:15am West Coast time.
Stop 10 to Stop 11 today. Got the stats off the car when I arrived and moved stuff around inthe garage so I could park…. 52.5 mile per hour is my average for the 6 days on the road. 34.3 mile per gallon. Not bad — it was today through the mountains where the speed limit was 60 that pushed me into the 34+ range.
Great quick highway in BC — the toll road BC 5. Cuts about two hours off of the TransCanada 1 route – $10 (they take Visa) — and it’s 75mph (that’s 110 Canadian) and 2-2 lanes wide with 3 cars per mile — NOBODY is on this thing — it’s like having a freeway to yourself.
The border was quick — even with a stop at Duty Free for a liter of Jameson Irish Whiskey… got to the guys in the booth and had my choice of two — guess I should do the Abbotsford/Sumas crossing more often!
Arrived at 8:15pm — Jameson was hanging out in the kitchen. I feel bad that I haven’t seen his house — and he’s had it for two years (almost). Oh well, I have the summer to make it up to him.
Lots of email to catch up on after catching up with Jameson. He’s off to be around 11 since he’s up at 5am to get to his internship at the Mountains
I don’t know what is was about today. I did a lot of thinking about work issues, and little time implementing those thoughts. The nice thing is that when I sit down tomorrow, it will all quickly flow — that would be the advantage of thinking before implementing.
Today’s events:
Neighborhood Nite Out sponsored by the City of Seattle
Faux Nephew Jameson and girlfriend Natalie coming for dinner and staying the night
Neighbors First — stopped by Deb McNeils for a Seattle Nite Out Against Crime (SNOAG?). Lots of dogs on the grill, Korean BBQ, lots of sides — I felt guilty just showing up for 45 minutes to check-in with Deb, Lynne, Missy, and a passel of other neighbors I’m slowing meeting. Maybe they will even let keep the bus without complaints. Somehow this is easier than the Lopez situation (though one of the players is the same).
Faux Nephew Next — Jameson and Natalie are showing up around 8 for dinner and to say the night before an early flight for Nat to Peru in the morning. Jameson gets to drive back to work in Olympia. Ick. Dinner is a beautiful rack of ribs and a huge salad. I thought about the broccoli, but figured I’d save that in case one of them has gone vegan.
Another wild day… marketing meetings in the morning, packing in the early afternoon, and then headed to Jameson’s place for his graduation tomorrow.
He and Natalie live outside Olympia and they are both walking the aisle (graduation) tomorrow:
Jameson with a double BA/BS
Natalie with a Masters in Environmental Study
Way to go you two!
I arrive at their little slice of heaven about 3pm with Natalie’s mom and step-father about 3:30pm. By then I’d gotten SOB situated on the road side, ran power to it, and got the laptop cell signal booster that I installed yesterday up and running. 5 Bars! That’s an excellent signal. Too bad it’s 2G and not 3G — but it will be enough for email.
The plan is to hang out. More family arrives including Julian, Jameson’s little brother who has also done work for me. Cocktails start flowing and we settle in for an evening of conversation and BBQ chicken (I cleaned the freezer out a bit).
A little cooking this afternoon after picking up shredded beef brisket from Jims yesterday – now to brown it (this is pre-browned):
Browned the brisket, separated it into three bowls to dress at the shop with the three kinds of BBQ sauce that we stock. Sliced up three rustica baguettes to apply a spoonful of the bar-b-qued pulled beef brisket on. Yum, yum, yum – I even had some of the bread – a few carbs won’t kill me, they just won’t make me any skinnier.
Lots of people through the shop as you can see – even Jameson who came up from Olympia after working on his rental property for the last two days:
That would be the back of Jameson’s head.
We (Jameson and I) left about 7:30pm and headed home to have a little steak, salad and wine dinner.
As usual, stayed up to late gabbing and I get to work tomorrow for my Monthly Friday.
The first day back from vacation wasn’t what I was expecting… which was working on the garage and around the house and yard.
Instead — it was Vanessa (VavaPussy) on the phone wondering if I could run her up to Snohomish to look at a car if she took the bus from Portland to Seattle. Oh, and could she borrow $500 for a week.
Ran as many of my errands as I could (Home Depot, UVA, Car Wash, Bank) before swapping the Bimmer for the Van (don’t show up to a used car lot in a shiny Bimmer and expect to talk them down on price). Met Vanessa at the bus station and off we go north to see this Toyota van. I understand her love of these vans, I used to have one before Surfer Bryan burnt it to a crisp. Good gas mileage, room for a 4×8 sheet of plywood in the back, great turning radius.
Well — the van turned out to be a dog. Motor was good but there was some serious exhaust noise which we found out at end when we decided to pass on the van was the result of a missing catalytic converter (stolen) that they had welded a muffler in it’s place (illegal to sell, and sure as hell wouldn’t pass DEQ) — and they hadn’t even bothered to find the right size pipe, so my guess is that you’d get dangerous fumes in the drivers compartment. Bad, Bad, Bad Used Car Dealer — Simple Affordable Auto Sales. The more I think about it — the more I’m tempted to file a complaint with with Craigslist and the Better Business Bureau.
Back in the city in the midst of rush hour traffic and off to Safeway for dinner supplies. Trying to convince Vanessa to spend the night even though she’d have to find a baby sitter for the dogs. Had a quick stop at EB Games to see if they had another controller for the Wii — yes, but not with the WiiPlay combo which is the better deal — and I’m loath to go to Burien where they do have them.
Got back to the house to check on train and bus schedules. Last train gone, last bus at 7:40 — back downtown in rush — Vanessa got the LAST ticket. Bye Bye Vava.
Dinner tonight in honor of Jameson is vegetarian (with the exception of the chicken stock in the rice. Grilled Walla Walla Sweet Onion bulbs, eggplant, squash and zucchini. Add a salad and wine and you have a grand meal with left overs for Jameson’s lunch on the trail. He spent yesterday (10 hour workday) pulling blackberry and other invasive weeds on the Mountains to Sound Trail — his summer internship.
Puttered around the house doing this and that — like stocking the pantry shelves. They really look good — guess I should get a picture of them.
Went our noonish on a grocery run with the top down. Found Copper River Salmon at Safeway on Capital Hill for $7.99 a pound — now THAT’S a deal!
Did a little yard work in the afternoon, then started framing in more of the garage wall on the side where the workbench is going. MoonSong will be in for a little surprise when he shows up tomorrow for work.
Dinner tonight is with Mark Graf (who is coming to fix the laptop), Jonathan and Adam, Helene, and Jameson — a full table. Baked a loaf of garlic rosemary bread to go with the salmon, which came out great — and the wolfed every bit of food down, no leftovers for breakfast.
After dinner Jameson crashed, Mark left and the rest of us created WiiMiis and the boys did a little bowling.
Leave a passing comment »