Up early and the packing started as we get ready to start down to San Diego. We have accumulated 8 bottles of red, 3 champagne and 2 bottles of rum. We are hoping we can bring most of this back with us, otherwise we'll have to stay until we drink it. :)
Grab a blueberry muffin and head down the highway. We pick up hwy 1 at Monterrey and the up and down and hairpins start. Our first stop is a restaurant called Nepanthe, which means "no sorrow". It is absolutely beautiful, jutting out into the ocean and a couple of hundred feet up. The sun was beaming and about 90 degrees. Lots of hawks and eagles circling overhead and woodpeckers in the trees.
Back on the road we head to Avilia Beach, a little gem of a place right on the pacific with 2 large piers and a wonderful boardwalk.
Our room is at Avila La Fonda, a block away from the beach with a full kitchen and a coffee machine that grinds your coffee beans before it perks your coffee. Jim is very excited. And they provide the coffee.
We are both a little tired so decided to walk down and grab a pizza to have ith our sangiovese. A perfect night now we just need the tigers to win a game
Good luck tomorrow aurora with the frankenstorm coming your way.
Good night moon
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Day 3. Another busy day
Up and about by 9. Over to Yountville for breakfast at the Pacific Blues cafe. French toast with bananas and walnuts on the deck. Absolutely civilized, the people beside us brought their own champagne in a cooler to put in their OJ.
We decided to find our way over to Lake Berryessa, back over the mountain but the other side of the valley this time. Again lots of hairpin curves but this time we had to share the road with a bunch of cyclists competing in a race. I can't imagine how they made it up the hills from a stamina point of view never mind that they didn't get run over by the cars being driven with budding Mario andretti's. It was crazy. With all ths going on we ended up missing our turn and ended up on the southern part of the lake with hardly any gas. Quick look st the map and we headed over to the town of Winter. (why would you name a town Winter in California). Filled up on gas and headed back to Napa.
First stop Mumm's winery and our first buy of the day. A beautiful old fashioned winery with beautiful gardens and great atmosphere. I asked if they were hiring anyone as I had my resume with me but no luck. :)
Our next stop was Opus One. This winery was built by Baron de Roschild and Robert Mondavi and they basically only make one wine a Cabernet Sauvignon which sold for $225 a bottle. Luckily for us they also had a small release of a much cheaper wine for $75 a bottle. Yes we had to buy one bottle.
Next stop was a grocery store for a baguette, cheese and some olives. Yum
Castella d'ambrosia was our last stop. This is a full fledged medieval castle which took 12 years to build. It is owned by V Sattui, he basically made so much money from his first winery that he decided to build his castle up on a hill north of St Helena. It was the busiest winery we visited so Mr Sattui has another huge success. It amazes me that he can be that financially successful from just selling wine through his wineries. He does no exporting or distributing. If you want his wine you go there or join his wine club. If you live in the states and join his wine club he was hosting a pagan night for 250 members last night at the castle. Looked amazing.
Back to the resort (Silverado) and get ready for dinner which as at Ristorante Allegria in downtown Napa. To go with their great wines, Napa might have some of the best food in the world.
Ps to Mary Jo and your martooni nights, discovered a lemon dro martini and a French martini which has champagne in it.
We decided to find our way over to Lake Berryessa, back over the mountain but the other side of the valley this time. Again lots of hairpin curves but this time we had to share the road with a bunch of cyclists competing in a race. I can't imagine how they made it up the hills from a stamina point of view never mind that they didn't get run over by the cars being driven with budding Mario andretti's. It was crazy. With all ths going on we ended up missing our turn and ended up on the southern part of the lake with hardly any gas. Quick look st the map and we headed over to the town of Winter. (why would you name a town Winter in California). Filled up on gas and headed back to Napa.
First stop Mumm's winery and our first buy of the day. A beautiful old fashioned winery with beautiful gardens and great atmosphere. I asked if they were hiring anyone as I had my resume with me but no luck. :)
Our next stop was Opus One. This winery was built by Baron de Roschild and Robert Mondavi and they basically only make one wine a Cabernet Sauvignon which sold for $225 a bottle. Luckily for us they also had a small release of a much cheaper wine for $75 a bottle. Yes we had to buy one bottle.
Next stop was a grocery store for a baguette, cheese and some olives. Yum
Castella d'ambrosia was our last stop. This is a full fledged medieval castle which took 12 years to build. It is owned by V Sattui, he basically made so much money from his first winery that he decided to build his castle up on a hill north of St Helena. It was the busiest winery we visited so Mr Sattui has another huge success. It amazes me that he can be that financially successful from just selling wine through his wineries. He does no exporting or distributing. If you want his wine you go there or join his wine club. If you live in the states and join his wine club he was hosting a pagan night for 250 members last night at the castle. Looked amazing.
Back to the resort (Silverado) and get ready for dinner which as at Ristorante Allegria in downtown Napa. To go with their great wines, Napa might have some of the best food in the world.
Ps to Mary Jo and your martooni nights, discovered a lemon dro martini and a French martini which has champagne in it.
Saturday, October 27, 2012
Day 2 Napa Sonoma Alexander Valley
For some strange reason we decided to cover three of the regions today.
We started off the day with a walk around downtown napa looking for a breakfast spot. Alexis Bakery Cafe caught our eye as it was the only place we saw that had a traffic jam. Busy busy but worth the wait, they made all their own breads and cookies yum
Next we headed up to sugarloaf ridge state park doing a beautiful 5 mile hike skirting the bottom of the hills. It was 50 degrees when we started out. It quickly became a case of sweater on sweater off. Cold in the shade and amongst the trees and boiling in the meadow. Jim saw a stag go bounding up the hill. I missed it, trying to take a picture of Jim. Jim saw a snake. I did see that after his scream of panic.
That took us to one o'clock, next stop some wineries. Two of the wineries we visited today are owned by a Canadian couple named Ken and Diane Wilson, they actually own six wineries in Sonoma and napa. We visited St Anne's Crossing and Soda Rock. They refurbished the original post office and General store in Alexander Valley. http://justthingsandthoughts.blogspot.com/. Absolutely beautiful.
Medlock Ames is a small winery totally green. They make enough power with solar panels to run their winery and also sell power to the grid. Being green here sees to be very important and definitely doable with all their sun.
Our final stop was at Alexander Valley Vineyards famous for their wonderful Zinfandels. Their two most popular are the Sin Zin and the Redemption Zin. We were more in need of redemption so that one found its way into the car.
Finally back to the room after a very busy day. Seeing as it was 80 degrees it seemed a good idea to jump in the pool.
We met up with friends, Ed and Sharon, for dinner at a restaurant called Tuscany where I had the best halibut with pesto potatoes ever. Yes, I know halibut is a fish :)
Downtown napa is just beautiful at night people walking all over, lots of restaurants on the river and just an exciting bubbly place. Even with all that excitement we were in bed and asleep by 10:30
Thursday, October 25, 2012
On our way to San Fran
Up at five and in the car by 5:45. Not bad for me. A great flight on Air Canada arriving at 11 am California time. Picked up our rental car and arrived at our resort at 2. Air Canada food was not much better than most flights so our first stop was lunch at The Grill, the clubhouse at the Silverado. Delish and even better was the rodney strong 2011 Pinot Noir and to top off that you can buy the bottle and take it back to the room. Truly civilized. Unfortunately the sun was beating down on the patio overlooking the golf course and it just seemed a fitting place to have the last glass.
Popped back up to our room and unpacked and I just couldn't resist a swim. So here Jim and I sit with an Olympic pool to ourselves. A little mamma and papas playing on my iPad, a small rum and coke, and it feels like paradise. Jim keeps saying it would be paradise if i stopped singing along with mama cass, especially when I am swimming.
Off to an Italian restaurant tonight and then onto wine tours tomorrow. I think I may have to put shorts on. Woohoo. Miss you Canada. Love from Mama Carlson
Friday, August 10, 2012
Macy's day, oh yeah cubs night too
Jim has been looking forward to this day all week and it has finally arrived. Pop in to Walgreens for our morning banana and apple . Can't eat something that is going to bloat me when I am trying on dresses. Find the directory, Jim stops breathing, there are five floors of ladies wear. Off to the third floor we go. The floor is huge. Luckily I am a pretty good window shopper. We walk around the aisles and I find four dresses to try on. Voila three I like, two I really like, settle on one. Thirty minutes have gone by. Jim heads for the fourth floor, I head for the street, time for something to eat. A wave of relief passes over Jim's face. Lol
Back to the hotel, do a little packing and hen off for a walk to millennium park. On the river they have these electric boats you can rent and we were waylaid watching two boats full of east Indians going in circles. There was a forty foot cabin cruiser trying to back into a parking spot and one of these little boats got stuck behind it going in circles. There were all sorts of water taxis and tour boats as well. Absolute craziness. I don't think Jim and I have laughed so hard.
Continuing on our walk we notice a crowd of people looking down at the river. There are fire, police, parks and tour boats all watching about 10,000 little plastic ducks race down the river, propelled by the current and with a little help from the fire boat. They were raising money for the special Olympics.
Interesting fact about the Chicago river, a hundred or so years ago it used to flow into lake Michigan. The river and the lake were so polluted that a large number of their residents were dying from disease. So what did they do, they dredged the river so that all ther garbage would flow to St Louis. The big problem they didn't think of was that they were basically draining the great lakes. So to correct that they put locks in to control the flow of water to an acceptable level.
As we continue on our way we realize we can't gt across the river to millennium park and somehow taking a long circuitous route we end up back at navy pier. A quick bathroom break and we start heading back. Our little boat riders are still struggling in the middle of the river.
A definite stop to visit in Chicago is the 16th floor of the trump tower and has a beautiful terrace looking down the river to the lake with great views of the wrigley and tribune buildings to name just a couple. They also serve a greatlittle drink called prosecco. Did I mention that this is my new favorite drink.
Back to the room, a little more packing and we are heading to Wrigleyille to watch the cubs game. Our first trip on the subway. Felt just like Toronto, little old and lots of people.
100 steps from the subway is Wrigley Field, the 2nd oldest ballpark in the states. This is the field where Kevin Costner and James Earl Jones met.
The rain is starting, so we head over to the Goose Island Brewery Pub. A Chicago microbrewery where all the beer is their own. I tried a flight of beer which was four different kinds. Favs were the 312 - nice and light and the blueberry, delish. Definitely recommend the Stilton peppercorn burger, tasted homemade.
Back to the field, where the game is under rain delay and so are our seats. Jan and bob are taking care of our seats. Everytime we moved under cover when we came back they would dry our seats for us. Every worker from he hosts/hostesses to beer sellers to peanut sellers looked like they had worked there since the stadium opened.
Tarp on, tarp off, tarp on, tarp off. Finally the game starts 8:30. The amount of movement t the game was amazing, probably didn't help that the fans had now been drinking for an hour and a half before the game started.
In the sixth end it was tied 3 to 3,when the rain started again. We head to the bathroom and stay long enough to watch the fans sing "take me out to the ball game". A tradition started by Harry Caray, the cu s legendary announcer.
A great night, Jim was ecstatic, I can feel a baseball road trip coming up.
Back to the hotel, do a little packing and hen off for a walk to millennium park. On the river they have these electric boats you can rent and we were waylaid watching two boats full of east Indians going in circles. There was a forty foot cabin cruiser trying to back into a parking spot and one of these little boats got stuck behind it going in circles. There were all sorts of water taxis and tour boats as well. Absolute craziness. I don't think Jim and I have laughed so hard.
Continuing on our walk we notice a crowd of people looking down at the river. There are fire, police, parks and tour boats all watching about 10,000 little plastic ducks race down the river, propelled by the current and with a little help from the fire boat. They were raising money for the special Olympics.
Interesting fact about the Chicago river, a hundred or so years ago it used to flow into lake Michigan. The river and the lake were so polluted that a large number of their residents were dying from disease. So what did they do, they dredged the river so that all ther garbage would flow to St Louis. The big problem they didn't think of was that they were basically draining the great lakes. So to correct that they put locks in to control the flow of water to an acceptable level.
As we continue on our way we realize we can't gt across the river to millennium park and somehow taking a long circuitous route we end up back at navy pier. A quick bathroom break and we start heading back. Our little boat riders are still struggling in the middle of the river.
A definite stop to visit in Chicago is the 16th floor of the trump tower and has a beautiful terrace looking down the river to the lake with great views of the wrigley and tribune buildings to name just a couple. They also serve a greatlittle drink called prosecco. Did I mention that this is my new favorite drink.
Back to the room, a little more packing and we are heading to Wrigleyille to watch the cubs game. Our first trip on the subway. Felt just like Toronto, little old and lots of people.
100 steps from the subway is Wrigley Field, the 2nd oldest ballpark in the states. This is the field where Kevin Costner and James Earl Jones met.
The rain is starting, so we head over to the Goose Island Brewery Pub. A Chicago microbrewery where all the beer is their own. I tried a flight of beer which was four different kinds. Favs were the 312 - nice and light and the blueberry, delish. Definitely recommend the Stilton peppercorn burger, tasted homemade.
Back to the field, where the game is under rain delay and so are our seats. Jan and bob are taking care of our seats. Everytime we moved under cover when we came back they would dry our seats for us. Every worker from he hosts/hostesses to beer sellers to peanut sellers looked like they had worked there since the stadium opened.
Tarp on, tarp off, tarp on, tarp off. Finally the game starts 8:30. The amount of movement t the game was amazing, probably didn't help that the fans had now been drinking for an hour and a half before the game started.
In the sixth end it was tied 3 to 3,when the rain started again. We head to the bathroom and stay long enough to watch the fans sing "take me out to the ball game". A tradition started by Harry Caray, the cu s legendary announcer.
A great night, Jim was ecstatic, I can feel a baseball road trip coming up.
Thursday, August 9, 2012
Chicago
I can't get over how much of Chicago we have seen by boat. Using our 2nd day of our water taxi pass we were off to the Sears tower which has now been renamed the Willis tower, a large insurance company. Must be pretty big if they can buy the whole building. A quick tour then water taxi back to Michigan avenue where I broke down and bought a pair of runners from nordstrams. Feet feel much better. And we're off and ready to go again.
Another water taxi takes us to the navy pier where we catch a boat taking us on a tour of the shoreline. It is very beautiful with no industry on it at all, parks, museums, and lots of green space. Oh yeah lots of tall buildings all at least a large city block back from the waters edge.
Yes you are right another water taxi takes us over to the east end of the city where there is a spur of land jutting out into the lake with an aquarium, an observatory, a museum and soldier field (home of the Chicago bears). All surrounded by park land, again the city did a wonderful job of making an oasis in the city.
A late lunch is needed so we decide to walk back to the city, shoes are awesome. This included a walk by millenium park. You just can't say enough about the layout of the city. The park has the art gallery, water parks for the kids with some amazing pieces of art, steel walkways, etc -beautiful.
On Madison and wabash we find an old Italian eatery serving, yep you got it, deep dish pizza and their local beer goose island.
From there back to the hotel for a rest, back to rosebuds for dinner and a nightcap at yes the house of blues.
Another water taxi takes us to the navy pier where we catch a boat taking us on a tour of the shoreline. It is very beautiful with no industry on it at all, parks, museums, and lots of green space. Oh yeah lots of tall buildings all at least a large city block back from the waters edge.
Yes you are right another water taxi takes us over to the east end of the city where there is a spur of land jutting out into the lake with an aquarium, an observatory, a museum and soldier field (home of the Chicago bears). All surrounded by park land, again the city did a wonderful job of making an oasis in the city.
A late lunch is needed so we decide to walk back to the city, shoes are awesome. This included a walk by millenium park. You just can't say enough about the layout of the city. The park has the art gallery, water parks for the kids with some amazing pieces of art, steel walkways, etc -beautiful.
On Madison and wabash we find an old Italian eatery serving, yep you got it, deep dish pizza and their local beer goose island.
From there back to the hotel for a rest, back to rosebuds for dinner and a nightcap at yes the house of blues.
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
Day two Chicago
Chicago day 2 , lots of walking. Blisters now from two pairs of shoes. The things I will do to buy a new pair of shoes. We walked from our hotel to lake Michigan, spent the day at the navy pier. Thought it would be a good idea to get on this gigantic ferris wheel. By the time we got to the top, Jim was holding on for dear life and I was sitting as stiff as a rock. Everytime I get on a ferris wheel I always get stopped at the top. WOW. It was crazy how scary it felt. Going down wasn't so bad and we were able to have a good look around.
From there we headed over to take the Architectural River Boat Cruise. We discovered the shoreline shuffle which gave us the river cruise for one hour, a half hour shoreline cruise and as many water taxis for two days all for only $7 more than the river cruise. $39 each what a bargain
The first cruise was the river cruise. It went down the river and along the two branches pointing out all the different buildings and historical aspects of the city. Such as the fact that it was not mrs o'leary's cow that started the great fire. And the fact that from Michigan ave down to the water is all landfill which started from throwing all the buildings that had burned into the lake.
I am not sure what Chicago has more of - Steak houses on every corner, cafes overlooking the river, beautiful bridges or boats. The river was like our don valley with boats. The tour guide said the bridges are all lift bridges and are busiest in the spring and fall to let all the sailboats through.
Next stop was onto a water taxi which dropped us about a block from our hotel. Perfect.
A nice bath to rest my feet and then we were off to Rosebuds for dinner where I had the best Ceasar salad and a wonderful spaghetti marinara with a delicious Caparzo Sangiovese Toscana. Perfect. http://rosebudrestaurants.com/rest10.php
Finished the night off with a baileys night cap at House of Blues.
From there we headed over to take the Architectural River Boat Cruise. We discovered the shoreline shuffle which gave us the river cruise for one hour, a half hour shoreline cruise and as many water taxis for two days all for only $7 more than the river cruise. $39 each what a bargain
The first cruise was the river cruise. It went down the river and along the two branches pointing out all the different buildings and historical aspects of the city. Such as the fact that it was not mrs o'leary's cow that started the great fire. And the fact that from Michigan ave down to the water is all landfill which started from throwing all the buildings that had burned into the lake.
I am not sure what Chicago has more of - Steak houses on every corner, cafes overlooking the river, beautiful bridges or boats. The river was like our don valley with boats. The tour guide said the bridges are all lift bridges and are busiest in the spring and fall to let all the sailboats through.
Next stop was onto a water taxi which dropped us about a block from our hotel. Perfect.
A nice bath to rest my feet and then we were off to Rosebuds for dinner where I had the best Ceasar salad and a wonderful spaghetti marinara with a delicious Caparzo Sangiovese Toscana. Perfect. http://rosebudrestaurants.com/rest10.php
Finished the night off with a baileys night cap at House of Blues.
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