Thither and Yon

On Thursday, went back into the city because Laura really wanted to see the Yves St Laurent exhibit. She really enjoyed it and Pat also was happy to see it again. Dan and Jim took a walk around Golden Gate Park. We all ate hot dogs from the vendor and returned to the condo for a spaghetti dinner, which we all enjoyed.

Friday, we drove out to Armstrong Woods. These are beautiful woods---filled with huge Redwoods, stately and beautiful, yet fragile. It is a feast for the senses to visit these giants---the smell is distinctively woodsy, the earth feels damp on the path, it sounds still and quiet, and you look up to see the sun shining between the high branches. A real moment of presence.

On the way back, we made plans to visit an intriguing vineyard, the Old Hill Ranch. It is in Glen Ellen, and doesn't even have a "tasting room". We had gotten the name from a restaurant list serving wines with their meal, an expensive restaurant in the suburbs of Chicago, near Jim and Laura. I got intrigued by it, and made arrangements for a tasting with the owner, Will Bucklin.


We knew we'd have to buy a bottle or two, so we were hoping we liked it. This turned out to be not only an adventure, but a gem. He and his family own the oldest vineyard in Sonoma County. It's quite small by Sonoma standards. Will is a total iconoclast--he doesn't want his wines "rated" because he just wants to enjoy the growing and making of it, doesn't want to be corporate or competitive. He is his own person, and we really admired that. He sells some of his grapes to Ravenswood, for their most expensive reserve Zinfandel, other than that, he produces his own. His grapes are a mixture of Zin and other grapes, it is called a "field blend", though he calls the wine a Zin because it is 75% Zin grapes.

We then did the tasting, and it did not disappoint! It was really good. We bought a few bottles which were fairly well priced, by Sonoma standards---$34 a bottle. He will ship to Michigan and Illinois, so we can get his wines later, since bringing a case back home cross country seems like a bad idea, and Laura couldn't bring a bottle back either on the plane. So this was really fun to do, more so because we liked the guy and we loved his wine.

We came back home and Jim and Laura took us, and Jay and Lindsey out to dinner. We returned to The Lark Creek Inn, where we had gone previously with Kathleen. We were disappointed this time, however. Service was incredibly slow, items advertised on the on-line menu weren't being served, and the food wasn't nearly as good. The waitress spent most of her time changing our silverware, and passing out rolls!

Saturday we took Jim and Laura to the airport, came home, and vegged out. We had a great time with them. We asked them what their favorite activities were--Laura liked Armstrong Woods and the YSL exhibit, and Jim liked the stairway walks. (well, we ARE related!) They both also loved the ferry ride. It was a fun filled action packed week.

In the evening, we went to Yoshi's in San Francisco, meeting Jay and Lindsey there to see "Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks." This is one of Dan' favorites for years. It was very enjoyable. He had David Grisman with him, described as one of the "best" mandolin players in the world. He was very good, I actually enjoyed him the most. It turns out we share a birthday! (remember that, Jim!) o.k., now we're caught up with our blog! Today, we watch the NCAA, hope Michigan State gets to the Final Four!