Jodi had wanted to go for a hike, so we headed out to Mt St Helena, one of the tallest 'mountains' in the area. We decided to hike to 'Table Top Rock', but much of the hike was done in a swirling cloud.
About a mile and a half into the hike we stumbled upon some mysterious rock formations. First we saw cairns, but then elaborate patterns emerged. Definitely human made, we were unsure if this was an ancient archeological site or perhaps a wild and previously unknown mountain tribe of California first nation peoples had created this wonder. Or, perhaps, it was some California Hippies with too much time on their hands.
We investigated and found the answer.
After the hike we went to one more winery, then home for Jodi's night to cook.
Everyone found that cooking a nice meal in an unfamiliar kitchen was difficult. Jodi's lemon chicken was absolutely perfect, but in the process she set off the fire alarm and the preparation was not without some momentary panic.
Below is a 4 minute video of the day. It's rather funny as we caught the moment the fire alarm went off and Ken provided some excellent narration.
Wednesday was largely unscheduled. Ken and Judy were slotted to take Kelli to the Jelly Belly factory leaving Jodi, Ken Jr, and myself to our own pursuits.
Wine tasting in Napa has changed over the years. My recollection was that 15 years ago few reservations were required, wine tastings were mostly free, and when there was a charge, it was around $5 and included the glass.
Now tastings are a minimum of $10 and typically in the $20 to $30 range. In general, they are waived with a purchase, but some have minimums before waiving the fee. You do get the sense that the fees are generally waived, but not always.
In any case, Ken wanted to visit Orin Swift wines, a small winery with good, 'inexpensive' cabs. They were excellent, and by Napa standards, inexpensive. Jared walked us through the tasting and then we asked for recommendations. One of which was Freemark Abbey, but we set out for a cluster of wineries he highly recommended. Unfortunately his top picks all required reservations and we found this out just as we approached Freemark Abbey, so we swung into that winery.
It was nice and had an interesting history. It was the first winery to be owned and operated by a women in the late 1800's. They had wines still available from the 70's (at $600 to $1200 per bottle).
We asked for recommendations for other wineries and she mentioned Tudal Cellars. We had never heard of it, so we went.
What a cool place. Perhaps it was the weather, the attitude, the day, or some other factor, but we all loved the winery. Family run, slow paced, small, intimate, with very good wine. Turns out the wine maker knew a college buddy of mine and after chatting with the owner we found out he had sent his daughter to camp Four Winds and Westward Ho! -- the same camp my father had worked when he first arrived in the northwest.
There are far fancier places, but the down home attitude of the place with its informal outdoor settings really struck a chord with us.
Wednesday night was Judy's night to cook. Sauerbraten and Spaetzle with red cabbage and and it was excellent.
Here's a quick video of the day. Doesn't come through in email, you'll need a PC.
Tuesday was Safari Day. Safari West is a 400 acre preserve with exotic animals. Primarily from Africa, they have several species of Antelope along with Giraffes, Rhino's, Zebras, Monkeys, Cheetahs, and exotic birds.
The first part of the tour is a walking tour and many of the more mobile species are in pens.
Most of the tour is on a converted army vehicle with 4 riding up on top and the rest riding on one of 3 benches.
The tour was interesting and fun. The truck would stop at various locations and our tour guide would chat about the animals with various factoids and there was plenty of time for informal questions.
In the bird cage a Crane did her mating dance for Ken, which was rather funny.
It had been raining and some of the Giraffes were in their barn. We were able to visit the barn and got up and close to these magnificent animals.
We then boarded the truck along with Parker and his parents. Parker was a man of few words. Both Parker and Kelli road up top for the duration of the tour.
One of the larger Giraffes was outside and it came up to the truck and found a small branch on the canopy and proceeded to munch on it. It then lowered its head over Kelli's and gave Parker a nudge.
Then it was off to see the rest of the animals. All of it was interesting, but aside from the Giraffe, the zebra's offered some entertainment with 2 juveniles engaging in, well, horseplay.
A great day. Attached is a short 4 minute video of our tour.
Monday was the first wine tasting day. We visited 4 wineries, starting out at Whitehall Lane. We then proceeded to Grgich, Robert Sinskey, and finally Chimney Rock with lunch thrown in.
Whitehall lane had some excellent wines, but in the scheme of things was a 'standard' wine tasting experience. Grgich was more interesting as it had a real history. Escaping communism, Miljenko "Mike" Grgich came to the Napa valley in the mid fifties and proceeded to be one of the early 'pioneers' of Napa Valley and California wines.
In 1976, there was a 'Paris Tasting' and a panel of eminent French Judges in the white wine category sipped samples of fabled white Burgundies of France along with the relatively unknown and upstart Chardonnays from the Napa Valley. The tasting was blind, so the judges did not know which was which.
The judges expected to sip then gag at the American's attempt, but when the results were tallied, it was a complete surprise. Mike Grgrich's Chardonnay won hands down. The 3rd and 4th place finishes also went to Napa wines. To add insult to injury, the Stag's Leap Cabernet won in the Red category. Napa was on the map in the wine world.
Robert Sinskey Vineyards had an impressive view and their tasting was accompanied by some light food. Jodi could describe it better than I, but the olives marinated with fennel and olive oil were excellent.
The highlight for Kelli (ok, for me too) was the koi pond. Huge koi you could feed by hand.
The final stop was Chimney Rock. Excellent wines. Wonderful, special occasion wines. We tasted 'vertical', sampling the same wine from different years.
Arriving home it was pool time, followed by a 'grill your own' food night.
Below is a 3 minute movie of the day. You may need a PC to see, it doesn't come across in email.
On Friday we left Seattle in heavy traffic and got down to Medford just shy of midnight. Long day, but not unanticipated. The plan was to leverage Friday for an easier Saturday.
Saturday's drive was shorter and far more pleasant. The visual highlight of the trip was seeing Mt Shasta
Jodi's parents, brother and niece were headed for Napa as well and collectively we had rented a house in Napa to use as a home base.
Driving 3 different cars, the group arrived at the house shortly after 3, just in time for happy hour.
The house Ken selected is perfect. It's an older home, and has probably been remodeled multiple times. 3 bedrooms and enough space for all. What makes it special is the outside areas. There's the 'coffee' porch which is a glassed in porch attached to the house. Perfect for morning coffee. Then there's a remote 'cabana' with a table and bar overlooking the pool. There's a hot tub as well.
Kelli likes the hot tub
Pool with the Cabana in the back ground
The fire pit
In the corner of the lot is an interesting fenced in fire pit area. It's cool, but in practice falls a little short. The fence that makes it interesting and private also retains the smoke. So you are slowly smoked while you make your s'mores.
The house also had a sauna and was decorated with an eclectic touch. All in all in a small city lot it packaged plenty of space to spread out.
On Sunday we drove to St Mary's college to visit my niece, Kylie. She and her friend Catherine, give us a nice tour of the college and the town of Lafayette. We had a great lunch and did some light shopping. The campus was wonderful and seemed to suit Kylie perfectly.
We also took a short walk to the hill above the campus with a nice view of the surrounding area.
Below is a short video of the events. You'll likely need a PC to view the video, it doesn't come through on email.
The weekend had many objectives. Open up the house, make sure everything was working, see 'musselfest', work on the boat, and do some other chores.
So Friday morning I hoisted on a pack, caught the 17 Express out of Ballard then took the 550 over to Mercer Island. Public Transportation. What a wonderful thing.
Met Mom at Tulley's on the island and soon were zipping north. We were aiming at the 10:30, but caught the 8:55 with little time to spare. Perfect. Unless you are Kuper who had no time to pee.
On the island a quick trip to Kings to get some provisions and we were off to open the house.
Initially everything worked then I raked the parking area to the road, showered and it was off to the yacht club for dinner. We had the good fortune of sitting with some very interesting folks. One was a retired veterinarian, who, when Mom related a study that suggested that dogs poop oriented to the earth's magnetic field, said "I do too!!".
We did find a public TV pledge drive showcasing songs from the 50's. While rather fun, it was jarring to see a teen heart throb perform their song some 60 years after the original hit. They may have been twenty something and dashing back then, but now they're 80 something. There were 3 gals who had impeccable harmonies, but extraordinarily heavy make up failed to reverse the impact of time (just wait till high def arrives at the house!!)
Sunday was a blur. I built a contraption I'm calling 'Mast Cam', a platform to hoist the GoPro way up the mast, then Mom suggested running the generator. It started. It ran. It died. It would not restart. My hunch? Bad gas and the carburetor.
Then it was time to catch the ferry for one of the rougher rides across Rosario Strait. The morning calm gave way to 30 to 35 knots of wind come out of the South. The ferry rolled a little, but shuddered whenever a wave would slam against the side. I caught some of it on the video at the end of the blog.
Jodi met me at Anacortes and headed for Coupeville's 'Musselfest'. A festival showcasing what else? The mussel.
Coupeville is a cute little town. But add wind, rain, and lots of people. Then add a crowded bar and servers who just couldn't keep up. By the time we got their the tickets for tasting were sold out "happens every year" we were told (hello!). We wound up tasting some mediocre chowder anyway.
It was interesting, but probably something we'll skip next year. We wouldn't mind going back to Coupville on a nicer day without the crowds or the focus on Mollusks.
That night we wound up at Ruebens and sat next to 'Hugo', a 9 month old baby. Hugo and I got along just fine. Then over to Stoup for a terrific Vietnamese sandwich.
Sunday was a chore day. Cleaned the boat and as Jodi volunteered to take the hydraulic steering ram to Stewarts, I tackled getting it out of the boat. This allowed me to practice my contortionist skills (I don't have any), my mechanical skills (which I'm still developing) and my swearing skills (I excelled at that part).
Success was finally achieved and now Stewarts can rebuild the ram so it won't leak.
Sunday night Jodi prepared a great sausage pasta which we ate under candle light in the cockpit. Perfect way to end the weekend.
Most of this is captured in the two and a half minute video below. It won't come through in the email -- you'll need a computer to view.
