Friday, August 07, 2009
Around the Bay and back again
Last we left our intrepid heroes, they were off to wine country. Since it's been a week, you may be thinking that they are still there, living out their days from one row of grapes to another, maxing out their credit cards eating at fantastic restaurants every night and wondering why they hadn't thought about doing this years ago.
Well, actually, that doesn't sound too bad at all, come to think of it...
Last week Monday morning, we found our friend Kristin and jetset northward for some good wine and food. We directly proceeded to the V. Sattui vineyards, where they have a fantastic deli alongside of their tasting rooms. One crusty baguette, one pack of goat cheese and some elaborate salami later - we were full and happy to be in the rolling hills of Napa. We made it to one other tasting that afternoon (Summers Vineyard), before heading back to Napa and a pizza in town. Of course, the evening was not complete until we had walked over the bridge to Kara's Cupcakes and picked three tasty looking morsels.
Tuesday morning was much more serious. We arose early, and with one mind descended (or ascended, as it turned out) upon the Cade Vineyard for a snooty-tooty-LEED Certified tasting. While the wine was fantastic and pricey, the views were even better and the facilities were fascinating. Solar Panels running all the buildings, a place to charge your Tesla and captured roof rainwater for irrigation purposes are only a few of the bullet points given as to why they are such an environmentally friendly place.
The next stop was to the Freemark Abbey Vineyard, just north of town. The brilliant thing about tasting wine in this valley on a weekday is that you get the run of places more often than not. As the only three folks in their tasting room, we chatted up the little old ladies in charge of dispensing the sample-sized libations and discovered they had family in Fort Collins and a summer trip to Michigan. We left with a number of bottles to drink later, and walked over to the Silverado Brewing Company for lunch... and, well, beer.
With the sampler platter and chicken wings vanquished, we headed south to our last tasting of the day - but not without stopping for chocolate's in St Helena. (YES) Our last vineyard was the folks at Cakebread, in which a tasting includes 6 different wines with a tour of the grounds. This was the perfect place to wrap the day, as the guides were fun & informative, and the wine was fantastic. The whole vibe and feel of the place reminded me very much of the tone at New Belgium Brewery, where they make a great product with love in their heart.
And in case we hadn't digested enough calories yet, we got to have dinner that night at Mustard's Grill. The girls were tres excited to enjoy it's fare, and I'm fairly certain that even if I had been struck by a car in the parking lot before entering - they would have trusted the ambulance to get me to safety, and would have caught up with me once they had the quail and the pork chops. (After dining there, though, I can find no fault in such a choice of action. Holy Cow.)
Drinking and eating for 12 hours straight can take a lot out of someone, and we went to bed that evening with smiles and robust bellies. It was the most 'vacation-ey' day of the trip, and i heartily recommend overeating and drinking here before you die. Yum.
Looking back at the last 6 paragraphs all about a single day, I realize that I have no sense of brevity tonight. So, to make this move along a little more quickly, I will use a few more pictures and less words.
The next day we took Kristin back to the airport for the next leg of her journey, and headed back over the Golden Gate to explore a section of Muir Woods. The national monument is only 20 minutes out of the city, so the amount of tourists (we are not tourists. we are ex-residents) (not really, but, you have to tell yourself something amidst a sea of fanny packs and camera straps) was a tad bit suffocating. Reaching the far end of the longest park loop, we decided to continue up the side of the narrow valley - and only saw four more people the rest of the walk. It was a fantastic afternoon in quiet groves of ancient trees and mist that seemed to move in and out like an ancient spirit. We ended the day with a meal and a night in the city of Tiburon, with a fantastic hotel room view of the city across the bay.
Thursday was our one day completely dedicated to the city on the hills, and after we parked the car in Oakland and took the BART in, the day included all of the following in this run on sentence: Market to North Beach via China Town, lunch at Mario's Bohemian Cigar shop, a run up to Coit tower, a walk back to Market to bus over to Golden Gate Park, bike rentals for touring the green rectangle, a while sitting on the beach, biking back and busing up to Fisherman's Wharf for some seafood, a walk down the Embarcadaro to attend the Giants-Phillies game with some long lost friends, a walk back to the BART and a night at Noelle's in Oakland. (Phew.) We certainly ran off some of the calories that we had picked up in Napa.
The weekend was officially kicked off next with a drive up to Truckee - just North of Lake Tahoe - for Scotty G and Annie G's wedding festivities. I knew Scotty from my time working at Mount Hermon in college, and seeing the scores and scores of long lost friends from those summers was absolutely great. Each one of them are the caliber of people that you would be more than happy to have just one of them in your life, and seeing all of them at one was almost overwhelming. (in a good way) It was a weekend full of catching up, hugs, laughter, and mostly innapropriate man touching. Some things never change.
The wedding itself was at the Northstar Ski Resort, at mid mountain. Everyone attending (just under 300) had to take a gondola ride up to the ceremony. As the music began, the groom and his entourage filed in and stood in wait... for the bridesmaids who were on their way down the mountain on the adjoining chair lift. I won't lie, it was quite an entrance. Eventually Annie in her white dress could be seen and everyone cheered loudly as she appeared from the pines above. Very fun.
All in all, it was a great, if not slightly manic trip that covered nearly every part of Northern California that we love (though we missed Yosemite. not quite enough time..). Being back home for a full work week now, I've just recently gotten all of the pictures up on Flickr, which do a much better job than I do at describing the fun we had. Now, if you'll excuse us, we have a lot of vegetables to eat.
Well, actually, that doesn't sound too bad at all, come to think of it...
Last week Monday morning, we found our friend Kristin and jetset northward for some good wine and food. We directly proceeded to the V. Sattui vineyards, where they have a fantastic deli alongside of their tasting rooms. One crusty baguette, one pack of goat cheese and some elaborate salami later - we were full and happy to be in the rolling hills of Napa. We made it to one other tasting that afternoon (Summers Vineyard), before heading back to Napa and a pizza in town. Of course, the evening was not complete until we had walked over the bridge to Kara's Cupcakes and picked three tasty looking morsels.
Tuesday morning was much more serious. We arose early, and with one mind descended (or ascended, as it turned out) upon the Cade Vineyard for a snooty-tooty-LEED Certified tasting. While the wine was fantastic and pricey, the views were even better and the facilities were fascinating. Solar Panels running all the buildings, a place to charge your Tesla and captured roof rainwater for irrigation purposes are only a few of the bullet points given as to why they are such an environmentally friendly place.
The next stop was to the Freemark Abbey Vineyard, just north of town. The brilliant thing about tasting wine in this valley on a weekday is that you get the run of places more often than not. As the only three folks in their tasting room, we chatted up the little old ladies in charge of dispensing the sample-sized libations and discovered they had family in Fort Collins and a summer trip to Michigan. We left with a number of bottles to drink later, and walked over to the Silverado Brewing Company for lunch... and, well, beer.
With the sampler platter and chicken wings vanquished, we headed south to our last tasting of the day - but not without stopping for chocolate's in St Helena. (YES) Our last vineyard was the folks at Cakebread, in which a tasting includes 6 different wines with a tour of the grounds. This was the perfect place to wrap the day, as the guides were fun & informative, and the wine was fantastic. The whole vibe and feel of the place reminded me very much of the tone at New Belgium Brewery, where they make a great product with love in their heart.
And in case we hadn't digested enough calories yet, we got to have dinner that night at Mustard's Grill. The girls were tres excited to enjoy it's fare, and I'm fairly certain that even if I had been struck by a car in the parking lot before entering - they would have trusted the ambulance to get me to safety, and would have caught up with me once they had the quail and the pork chops. (After dining there, though, I can find no fault in such a choice of action. Holy Cow.)
Drinking and eating for 12 hours straight can take a lot out of someone, and we went to bed that evening with smiles and robust bellies. It was the most 'vacation-ey' day of the trip, and i heartily recommend overeating and drinking here before you die. Yum.
Looking back at the last 6 paragraphs all about a single day, I realize that I have no sense of brevity tonight. So, to make this move along a little more quickly, I will use a few more pictures and less words.
The next day we took Kristin back to the airport for the next leg of her journey, and headed back over the Golden Gate to explore a section of Muir Woods. The national monument is only 20 minutes out of the city, so the amount of tourists (we are not tourists. we are ex-residents) (not really, but, you have to tell yourself something amidst a sea of fanny packs and camera straps) was a tad bit suffocating. Reaching the far end of the longest park loop, we decided to continue up the side of the narrow valley - and only saw four more people the rest of the walk. It was a fantastic afternoon in quiet groves of ancient trees and mist that seemed to move in and out like an ancient spirit. We ended the day with a meal and a night in the city of Tiburon, with a fantastic hotel room view of the city across the bay.
Thursday was our one day completely dedicated to the city on the hills, and after we parked the car in Oakland and took the BART in, the day included all of the following in this run on sentence: Market to North Beach via China Town, lunch at Mario's Bohemian Cigar shop, a run up to Coit tower, a walk back to Market to bus over to Golden Gate Park, bike rentals for touring the green rectangle, a while sitting on the beach, biking back and busing up to Fisherman's Wharf for some seafood, a walk down the Embarcadaro to attend the Giants-Phillies game with some long lost friends, a walk back to the BART and a night at Noelle's in Oakland. (Phew.) We certainly ran off some of the calories that we had picked up in Napa.
The weekend was officially kicked off next with a drive up to Truckee - just North of Lake Tahoe - for Scotty G and Annie G's wedding festivities. I knew Scotty from my time working at Mount Hermon in college, and seeing the scores and scores of long lost friends from those summers was absolutely great. Each one of them are the caliber of people that you would be more than happy to have just one of them in your life, and seeing all of them at one was almost overwhelming. (in a good way) It was a weekend full of catching up, hugs, laughter, and mostly innapropriate man touching. Some things never change.
The wedding itself was at the Northstar Ski Resort, at mid mountain. Everyone attending (just under 300) had to take a gondola ride up to the ceremony. As the music began, the groom and his entourage filed in and stood in wait... for the bridesmaids who were on their way down the mountain on the adjoining chair lift. I won't lie, it was quite an entrance. Eventually Annie in her white dress could be seen and everyone cheered loudly as she appeared from the pines above. Very fun.
All in all, it was a great, if not slightly manic trip that covered nearly every part of Northern California that we love (though we missed Yosemite. not quite enough time..). Being back home for a full work week now, I've just recently gotten all of the pictures up on Flickr, which do a much better job than I do at describing the fun we had. Now, if you'll excuse us, we have a lot of vegetables to eat.
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