Calistoga Day Two...

Here we are already at the end of day two on my 2^nd trek into the Napa Valley Wine Country!

Today we awoke after a pretty decent night sleep – I tossed and turned a bit due to the unfamiliar environment and it’s hot and stuffy in our room but otherwise all good.

We sort of laid out a tentative outline of a plan for the next few days and today would include some wineries based on the coupons the lobby had for us and Lisa re-visiting some of her old college stomping grounds in St. Helena.

As we awoke and enjoyed our cup of coffee we decided to start the morning off with a walk around the area.  It’s so beautiful around here!  So many tree lined streets, so quiet, not much sidewalk and just lovely.   

I have hot friends

Yup, that's a bike on a stick

Could be fun?

Seriously these streets!!!

Come on!

 We walked along the silent morning, came across a community park where some elderly folk were doing a swim aerobics class.  We joked that was our future and moseyed on down the way taking in the serene neighborhood.

Back at the motel we showered and gussied up and headed out.  We defiantly wanted to hit a winery so our 1^st stop was V. Sattui.  Very pretty grounds.   

This is a wine press from way back in the day!

Our pour guy was awesome.   Super friendly and extremely knowledgeable about the wines and how they are made.  Lisa drilled him with questions all throughout our tasting.  I loved listening to the questions she asked and I learned a lot more just from our guy Lucas!  I’m finding this round super fun doing the Napa Valley Wine tasting with a newbie.  Halfway through the tasting I think I already have her sold.  "I love Napa!" she shrieked.  She’s a fan.  Lucas poured our 6 (yes 6) tastes with a few extras and I ended up buying the Sauvignon Blanc and a delectable Zin.  We headed out onto the grounds and wandered around a bit taking some shots and off we were again.

What is this ancient contraption?

My 1st purchases!

Yup

I'm excited

Adorbs

Self timer!

We headed into downtown St. Helena and wandered the shops and restaurant. 

They have so much cooler buildings up here!

  

This was a place Lisa remembered well from her college days and we had to wander in.  Her eyes lit up with nostalgia and I found myself wondering what it would have been like being a college student up in these parts.

We settled on Market.   

The staff was super friendly and awesome and we each ordered a glass of red.  Lisa got a lovely veggie salad and I some yummy fish tacos.  We also split an appetizer of some amazing sauteed spinach.  Yummy yummy lunch!!!

Afterward we wandered the area some more, roaming in and out of shops joking about the over priced goodies and finally decided to hit the road.  Again we ran into some brutal traffic and decided to just spin around and head over to the other side which was Silverardo Trail. Libby and I had hit a bunch of the wineries over here last year.   We had a voucher for Rutherford Ranch so we headed off that way.

As we pulled in I realized I had been here!  This was one of the stops Libby and I hit on our Old Faithful Fail day!  We decided to sit outside and do a tasting with “Bistro Bites” which was a platter of some meats, cheese and nuts.  Our fella was super cool we drank, chatted, etc over 4 more flights.  I ended up heading out with a Cabernet. 

We figured we had time for 1 more winery before they started closing up and opted for Tedeschi Family Winery since it had the same name as one of my favorite blues singers.  That’s right…that’s how we based it.  As we drove along I was worried we weren’t going to make before closing time at 5pm.  I was hauling ass down Silverado Trail and as we pulled off the beaten path we started to wonder if this was a good idea.  We pulled into the winery and it looked like we were pulling into someone’s backyard.  After some hesitation we found the door (That had those plastic flaps hanging down and for moment I thought we were walking into a freezer) and Lisa waltzed in and was immediately smitten by Trigger the old Labrador that was chilling on the floor.  

Trigger

Lexi greeted us and led us over to the little tiny bar and started in. 

I was thrilled and surprised how cool she was and how tiny this winery is. About now I started to think that this may be the coolest tasting yet.  Um it was.  So we tasted a Viognier and a Rose’ then she said “So you want to take a walk and I’ll show you the grapes?”  Um Yes!!!   She put the other 3 wines we were going to taste into a little carry on then led us out into the vineyards.  She proceeded to tell us all about the family and how Mario and his brother had a hand in everything and how the grapes were grown and raised and basically the whole process!  It was so rad!  She then had me pluck a grape off the vine and showed me how they measure the sugar with this fancy little contraption.  Rad!

My heaven - wandering through a vineyard with wine and a dog

Wine lessons

We headed back over and tasted some more wine then she gave us the tour around the little winery showing us all the tools and how the wine is made and on and on.  It was fucking awesome.  

The perfect day!

More wine lessons

 Mario then pulled up and said hello and we hear a horrid screech.  “Oh that’s Eddie” she said.  Eddie is their peacock apparently that took up residence at the winery.  She brought us over to meet him and he promptly showed us his feathers and was so happy to listen and spin and model.  So rad.

Eddie

He would then vibrate his feathers as if to say "LOOK AT MAH FEATHERS!!!!"

Back into the bar we went and tasted a few more of our faves and hers.  Lisa ended up buying a bottle and I bought two.  Marios Blend and the Rose.  Lexi gave us some recommendations of places to hit up in Calistoga and told us to come visit her tomorrow night for happy hour at the place we had dinner last night!  We just may do that!  This turned out to be a fucking awesome experience!!!  It was so personal and rad and fun and laid back, I mean there was a dog and a peacock and Lexi was so chill!  Loooooovvvveeeeee!!!!!

We headed back to our motel to freshen a bit then back out to downtown again for dinner.  We just walked over (Which I love by the way!) and we opted for a cheaper option tonight and hit up Puerto Vallarta Mexican Restaurant.  It was awesome!   

I'm not as drunk as I look...

 We got some yummy guacamole then I had some awesome carnitas.  I got a glass of the house red that was decent and we stuffed our faces.  So good!!!

Lisa wanted to check out Susie's Bar so we wandered in to find a perfectly wonderful dive bar.  We plopped down at the bar (all wood!) and Lisa ordered a beer and I a champagne. 

Dive Bar Conversations

Perfect.  We chatted over our drinks and decided to head out in time to hit the Jacuzzi.

When we headed out we noticed some cool paintings that were painted straight onto the side of some buildings.  Well we of course then took pictures!

Hi puppy

America's Next Top Model

I have no idea what I'm trying to say here...

We hit up the local market for a few necessities (from the grocer that hates bags) then headed back in time for some Jacuzzi time. Um Lisa did a dramatic reading of this blog the next night and inserted the italicized sentence that I have left here.  I would like to note that Lisa is much more health conscious on vacay then her fattie friend Jami.   (Jami bought a bunch of potato chips and cookie that we don’t need because we are drinking our high glyciemics. Ha! Lisa ) Just perfect.  We hung out in there for a while chatting and laughing and I felt so relaxed after I could have passed out on the sidewalk.

Now I’m here typing this blog and totally jealous that Lisa has passed the fuck out…ha! (Because she ate too much fucking food...her words...)

Having a blast so far!  Exhausted but happy!  I love vacay!

Calistoga Day One...

Well here I am again!  Almost a year later to the day back in Napa Valley where I had an incredibly epic week long vacation with my bestie last year.

Although there was someone not happy I was leaving...

How dare you

 This time I’m with my dear friend Lisa.  Lisa and I met while working at Pacific Symphony Orchestra years ago and developed a great friendship.  She’s super into road tripping and we planned this trip over a slightly tipsy night at a bar in Santa Ana when I was lamenting to her about how hard it was to find anyone to actually road trip with me.  She went to college up here and we decided to take a little 5 day vacay and see how we travel together!  So – here we are!!

We headed out a little after 5:30am hoping to avoid some of the LA rush hour traffic, but sadly we landed right in it.  It does seem that construction is happening every fucking where in California so our drive was a bit slower than preferred.  

We opted to stop in Santa Barbara for breakfast and ended up at Joe's Cafe.   

Lisa got a delicious looking omelet and I opted for some smoked salmon, tomatoes, hash browns, poached eggs and toast.  Delish!  The service was a bit slow and our brekkie turned into a bit longer of an event than planned, but all good and cool and off we went.

Along the way we passed the Madonna Inn.  Lisa mentioned this is a fun roadside attraction and we pulled off the next exit to check it out.  Um – hello Kitch Heaven!!!!!!   

It's like a pink Christmas!

The bathrooms are also super pink!!!  (Oh and apparently the boys bathroom has waterfalls in the urinals...too crowded for us to sneak a peek though.)

I have never seen a place so pink in all my life.  It seriously looked like the wedding from Steel Magnolias just happened.  There was a restaurant and bar that had all copper bartops and tables.  The chairs at the bar were the glorious pink floof.  The water goblets are exactly what I think I used to see in the shelves of my great grandmas house!!!  The place was friggin awesome.   I have decided to add this to my bucket list to come spend a weekend here.

Lots of conversation, music, discussions and laughing as we cruised up the 101 highway.  Traffic.  More fucking traffic.  Ugh!!!  We stopped in Gilroy for a pee break and noticed next weekend there is a garlic festival!  OMG!  Did you know Gilroy was the garlic capital???  Um….I think we need to revisit this town.

Off we went again.  We hit more fucking traffic and more fucking construction and the 680 was a damn nightmare with traffic.  The other issue is my damn knees.  Um WTF.  Apparently I’m all of a sudden an old lady and my knees hate driving.  Argh!    Anywhoo…after a missed exit or two we’re well on our way.  We start rolling into familiar territory and I get excited.  We hit the 29 and start heading up towards Calistoga where we’re staying this time around.

Around this time is when the relaxation and real excitement for vacay hit.  We had Old Crow Medicine Show blasting on the radio, windows down, laughing and chatting, vineyards surrounding us and bam – I exhaled all the stress and annoyance with traffic and work and life and fell into vacation mode.  We were here.

Northern California is so much more lush and green than back home.  So many large stretches of land with just vineyards for miles.  I'll never get over the beauty!

We stop on the 29.  More f-ing traffic and construction.  Seriously?  We came to find out later they're doing some kind of re piping and have been at it over a year.  Libby and I never made it over this way so it was probably just as bad.  My goodness!

We arrive at our destination – Carlin Cottages.   

I was a bit wary at 1^st, not quite sure what to expect.  We checked In with a very sweet woman, were handed our key (Yes actual key) with a shamrock as a keychain mind you, and given our room.  It’s fucking awesome!  We have a bed and a couch that folds into a bed (not a futon!).  We have a kitchen and more closet space than I have at home! So rad!!!!   

The closer bed is the couch folded out.

Little creepy faded gnomes everywhere!

The place reminded me of something out of the 60's/70's.  Very kitchy and homey.  I would totally revisit this place!

We get settled, unpack and clean up and immediately head out for some dinner.  It’s around 6pm at this point. 

We are walking distance from downtown Calistoga and we walked over to the area to find some grub.  The downtown area is really so pretty!

Pretty stream that ran under the downtown area

We passed the Saradona Café that Libby and I went to last year!  So rad.  But for dinner we landed at Brannans Grill.  A cute little restaurant.  We promptly ordered our booze  - Lisa beer myself a delectable WH Simms Pinot Noir and were so damn happy.  I got the mussels and clams appetizer which was fantastic and ordered the halibut for dinner.   

That would be my delicious pile of clams and mussels!

Lisa ordered a chicken salad.   So funny side note – when my dinner was brought it was the chicken dish, not the halibut.  This was my 2^nd option so I took a bite and it was awesome.  When I alerted the waiter to the error but told him I was totally cool with the chicken – he was mortified and said he’d buy me dessert.  Sweet (pun intended).  Our dinners were fantastic.  We devoured them over another round of drinks.  Dessert comes.  I order the berry sorbet.  He comes back later – again mortified – they’re out.  He ordered us ice cream and crème brulee hoping that would be ok.  I’m fine with it although worried about the dairy. I still eat it all.  Delish!  Lisa helped me out so hopefully I wont die later.  He comes back again – says he’s bringing us another round of drinks because he feels so bad.  Um done!  Bill comes we leave him a good tip –the experience was awesome!

We stumble back to our room happy, tipsy, stuffed and exhausted.  I’m so fucking happy.  Vacation has officially begun!

Outdoor Theatres...

There's something glorious about watching some art or some theatre or some music in an outdoor venue on a lovely summer night.

Last night I went and saw the annual Pageant of the Masters down in Laguna Beach.  I was given tickets to the invited preview (Thanks Becks!) and took my friend Ber.

The Pageant is very cool.  But honestly I don't think anything will top the year I saw when giant dragons appeared during the "In the Hall of the Mountain King" and I was shrieking from my seat in excitement.  But last night was just lovely.

But in this post I wanted to touch on outdoor venues.  Last night was a perfect example of the beauty of an outdoor amphitheater on a warm summer evening.  The Irvine Bowl is surrounded by the Laguna Canyon nature.  It's gorgeous.  At night (a lovely balmy evening like last night) it's stunning.  The stars dance overhead and when the lights go out in between the living paintings and the gentle applause stops the silence lands on the large crowd like a brick.  A gentle ocean breeze would swoop through and tickle you face.  Every time this happened I found myself taking a deep breath and smiling.  It was just so nice you know?  Here we are - 1000's of us - sharing this moment together.

The Hollywood Bowl is the same way in a much larger capacity.  Outdoor Festivals are also lovely but they can get a bit unruly.  The amphitheaters seem more mellow since everyone is in a seat and there's not much moving around.

This blog is nothing more than that.  Just pointing out how lovely these sorts of little experiences are.  It doesn't take much to to make your heart smile.  Enjoy these moments my friends.  Time is sailing past us at lightning speed!

His Holiness The Dalai Lama...

So I saw this thing about a Global Compassion Summit celebrating the Dalai Lama's 80th birthday.  It kicks off with a big thing at Honda Center on Sunday July 5th.  Then throughout this week there are some talks at UCI.  I thought - Um Hello!  I can see the Dalai Lama!!!!  So, I shot one of my usual emails out to some folks I thought may be interested and 3 of my girlfriends and I bought tickets for Sundays event having know idea what we were in for except we get to see the Dalai Lama himself.  Rad.

Tickets were a bit pricy so we ended up in obstructed seats which was kind of a bummer.  We did get to see a lot but whenever he was sitting we couldn't see him.  I have a mishmash of my pictures and pictures off the internet below.  I brought my little digital (we weren't allowed fancy cameras dammit) but my phone seemed to take better pictures.  Neither are very good though which is why I've pulled from the internet as well.

Anywhoo - on with the blog!

None of us had any idea of what to expect.  We got notice that the thing started at noon but the pre-show festivities began at 10am.  Jennifer and Jill arrived at my place at 10 and we headed over, parked down the street and headed in.

There was a huge wall out front that you could paint on to wish him Happy Birthday!

So cool right!?  I'm so glad we opted for early because the line to get in was already pretty long and security was pretty tight so we still were able to paint on our well wishes with plenty of time to spare!

Jennifer and Jill

My little message

Jenn's message!

We got in line and Terri arrived before we got in.  We got through security and found our seats.  Now, I was thinking maybe pre-show was like some kind of festival or something but it was actually little shows on the stage.  First up was this lovely dance group.

You can also sort of see where our seats were.  These performers were just lovely!

Following them was a couple duo singing and playing guitar.  Meh.  That's when we went to grab some coffee and water.

After that was these acrobatic type folk and stilt walkers.  Now I must mention here - they were not very good!  They kept goofing and not able to complete some of the acts.  It looked like they never rehearsed.  At one point they were trying to do this thing with the stilt walkers by raising someone up but they couldn't do it and the whole time Jennifer and I were clutching each other thinking they were going to fall!  Yikes!  There was a gal that did a cool hoop thing but that was about it. 

Following them was a very colorful group of dancers that seemed to be a mix of Asian style dancing and Spanish.  It was really beautiful.

I apologize for the crappy pictures.  I really wish I could have brought my fancy camera with the awesome zoom!

Then was another musical group that was meh.  It seemed like church.

Following this was some adorable kids that sang with an especially charismatic little one. 

It's now a bit after noon and we do have the fun seats that you can see all the happenings backstage, so that was kind of cool!  Anywhoo we see him coming!  We get giddy with excitement and Ann Curry (who MC'd the whole thing) introduced His Holiness.  Yay!!!

Yay!!!!

Now you'll start seeing some actual good pics off the web.

Ann Curry was a great MC

 Throughout the next hourish, different people came up to say a few words of well wishes to him.  Then after they would speak they would go over to him, he'd get up (the man got up so many times!) and they hugged, or chatted a moment, or he put his head to their head.  It was so touching and he was so humble and sweet!

It started out with the mayor of Anaheim.  He called Anaheim "The City of Kindness".  The girls and I all chuffed.  We knew that was just a political move because the Dalai Lama was here, but he called him out later!  (This is why I love His Holiness too!).  He said when mentioned how Anaheim is now called the city of kindness - you can't just call it that, you need to live it.  He basically said prove it now!  I sure hope they do!  I really would love to see the campaign for the city shift and focus on kindness and compassion!

Mayor Tom Tait

 After the mayor was Lama Tenzin Dhonden.  This is the monk responsible for bringing the Dalai Lama here.  He broke down multiple times during his talk and it was so beautiful.  Watching someone that overwhelmed with emotion makes my heart swell.

 After this numerous amount of folks spoke including Robert Thurman (a professor of Buddhist Studies who was super colorful), Josh Radnor (actor), George Lopez (comedian), MC Hammer, Randy Jackson, Julia Ormond (actor and activist), Shirin Ebadi (Who is an Iranian Human Rights Activist - she spoke in Farsi with a translator and there was a point where she was so passionate it hit me like a brick.  Tears welled up in my eyes and my heart soared and I didn't even know what she said! It was amazing.) Jodi Williams (another Nobel Peace Prize winner fighting to rid the world of landmines.  She was super cool), Wilmer Valderrama (actor), these 2 scientists that I missed their names but were so awesome and talking about how we need compassion to make science work, and many others I just recall at this time.

After they would talk they would have the lovely moment with him as I mentioned above then sit if they were part of the panel.

A group children whom were Tibetian refugees living up in San Fran came out and did a rather long little song. 

 Then one of my favorites - Michael Franti - performed!

I love him so much!  He got everyone up and moving (which was much needed) and dancing!  It was friggin awesome!

After this a huge cake was brought on!

Then the Dalai Lama spoke to us (while munching on his cake mind you! Ha!)

This was my favorite part!  He is such a beautiful human being that has dedicated his entire life to trying to promote non violence, compassion, love, etc.  We can solve problems without violence!  We need to take care of our fellow humankind.  It was so wonderful to hear.  My heart swelled and my eyes welled up (but I didn't cry as much as I thought I would!).  It was such an honor to hear him speak.  He also has the most adorable giggle!

The panel then followed and Ann attempted to get the questions and talks focused on compassion in the arts.  It was a bit long and unorganized and some of the actors would ramble on a bit off topic (Um Randy Jackson talking about The Illuminati and Jay Z? WTF?)  but Ann was quite good at trying to keep it on track.

After the panel everyone was told to exit the stage and Ann brought His Holiness to the side and said something cool was going to happen.  But this point I must admit - I was so tired and starving.  Then this huge lotus flower lowers, a gal enters it and the  Lucent Dossier Experience  performs!  Now - I love these guys, I really do, but it was so random! Me and the girls were giggling and wondering WTF at this point.  They did a beautiful number and afterwards some awkward thanks yous then the Dalai Lama was like "bye!"  It was kind of a funny way to close things, but still rad.

All in all the event was super cool but there were some oddities.  It was a bit long, surprisingly unorganized it seemed.  It was as if a lot of the folks involved weren't sure what was going on.  I could tell there a few times Ann was totally thrown but she handled it like a pro.  I do wish we had better seats and it was freezing!  A majority of the people did leave earlier (during the panel) because I don't think anyone was expecting the length.

But the whole experience was just that - an experience.  It was so awesome to listen to the Dalai Lama speak and just to be in his presence.  The room was full of love and joy.  A beautiful celebration for a wonderful man!  I'm so happy I can put this in the books and will continue to move forward in my compassionate lifestyle!

Live and love in kindness my friends!   Help those in need! Help your fellow humans!  Let's continue to love each other and treat the world with compassion.

"An open heart is an open mind."
-Dalai Lama