We are finally home from the Great Wine Buying Expedition of 2005. We left almost two weeks ago, and just got home last night. We drove down the Oregon coast, then down the California Coast just past Mendocino. We turned east and drove through the Anderson valley, tasting along the way, then into Napa. After nearly a week in the Napa valley, we headed home through the Mt. Shasta area, and stopped in Ashland, Oregon to take in a Shakespeare performance. After a night in Portland with friends, we headed home. All in all we put more than 2000 miles on the Dogmobile (John’s car), though I suspect a lot of those miles were driving up and down the Napa valley, dipping in and out of wineries.
The trip was very relaxing, and with only a couple of minor glitches along the way. John had a run-in with the law the first day and has a speeding ticket to prove it (his first ever, so not bad I guess). We took a ton of pictures all along the coast. On day five of the trip, I managed to delete every last picture on the camera. Don’t ask. There were a lot of swear words involved. And I wasn’t even drinking wine at that point. At least we have the pictures from the last half of the trip.
We stayed in a number of swell little hotels and inns along the way, and then spent six days in Napa, staying in a timeshare that was billed as “individual cottages”. We’ve found that there is a wide variation in accommodations when you exchange timeshares; this one was no exception. The “cottages” basically were a trailer court. When we drove into the resort, we saw hundreds of little trailers all backed into lots right next to each other. They were all painted different colors at least, and were nicely landscaped. They were quite comfortable and adequate inside, though the outside was a hoot. Here is a picture:
That’s my new sock in progress. In Harlot fashion, I have dozens of pictures of that sock all over the Left Coast. Well, I HAD pictures, anyway. Here are a few from the trip to Shasta:
I managed to get to two yarn shops on the trip. The first was in Lakeside, Oregon, a shop called Angelika’s Yarn Store. It’s in this tiny town, way out of town in the bottom level of the owner’s home. I used to have good pictures of that one. She has the most amazing collection of Lorna’s Laces, with just about every yarn and color in stock. I bought one little skein of Helen’s Lace for a shawl.
The other yarn shop was The Web-sters, in Ashland. Here’s what I got there:
It’s Mountain Colors Bearfoot, for socks.
All in all, a lovely trip. I’m glad to be home, and I have to get to go back to work tomorrow; first day after my three months off. I hope I remember where the bathrooms are.
I’ll try to post some pictures later this week of more knitting progress. Between wine tastings, I did manage to make some progress on that sock, as well as on Birch. This week may be pretty much shot to hell, though what with going back to work, and this:
This morning the floor people came and tore up all the carpets in our main level, in preparation for the wood floor installation. It’s just a mess around here. I’ve spent most of my day packing up as much crap as possible in boxes so I don’t have to clean wood dust out of everything I own after the sanding. It’s too bad they couldn’t have done this while we were gone.
It’s good to be back!
Welcome home! I’m SO sorry about the pictures – I would be devestated to say the least. Hopefully what you do have more than makes up for it. Good luck tomorrow at work – hope you remember where the bathrooms are – that would really suck. 😉
Welcome home!
I hate to be the one to break it to you but you’ll still have sawdust everywhere. We’ve restored several houses (and their wood floors) no matter how well I prepare the dust gets everywhere. As soon as you think its all cleaned up…you’ll find more. The other day I opened a box of old photographs, albums etc and I couldn’t figure out why it was so dusty inside. My husband took one look and said “floor sawdust”. He was right. Its been 3 years and we still find it in little nooks, etc.
Welcome Home! It sounds like a perfect trip. One of my lifetime dreams is drive up the west coast (or down it.)
And thank you thank you for knitting a few rows for me. Families?! Blech.
Welcome home! I’m glad you had a great trip 🙂
Glad to see you’re back. Those two yarn places are great mailorder places. I’ve done business with Angelika, and love her customer service. Web-ster also does a good job.
Good luck manana. I’ll be following you soon.
That Helen’s Lace made me drool. I’m so jealous; there is no Lorna’s Laces to be had here in St. Louis, and I haven’t seen any in person since just before Christmas.
I’ll do you one better – I deleted some of the first pictures of my granddaughter. At least there was someone else there with a camera! Love the sock pictures, especially the needles stuck in the snow (that is snow, isn’t it?). Did you check the gauge on your sock after all that wine?
Welcome home. I hope your first day back to work goes well.
welcome Home, glad you had fun and got some great yarn to boot. Good luck with the new floors
Oh I’m sad that I missed that you were coming up to Portland. I would have loved to have had you and your friends at the restaurant for dinner.
Didn’t you love Web-sters? Well, all of Ashland for that matter. I have been on that same vacation a couple times. Fun and very relaxing:)
Glad you had a great trip! Great yarn you lucky duck!
Are you going to tell us about the wine purchases? Drooling in advance,
Li
Wow – didn’t know you guys were going to Napa! J and I just got back from Paso Robles, SLO, etc. We were up there at the same time as you – a little further south, but had I known, we could have met up for some much needed “safety glass wine drinking.” We brought home WAAAAAAAAAAAY too much wine. Don’t know when I’ll have the time to drink it all!
welcome back. and i hope your first day back at work is uneventful!
I’m really glad you’re back in blogland. Isn’t it just so hard to get back to work after time off? I find that work is interfering with my life too much right now! I hope your hand holds up as you get back to using it for the usual work stuff. And I am always glad to know that another sock had a wonderful vacation.
I was in Wine Country last weekend as well. Did you have any favorite wineries that you visited??
I have to say Helen’s Lace is fabulous! I am considering carrying them in Singapore if hubby would let me have my way. 🙂
Welcome home 🙂 You are going to loooove your hardwood floors. They are so beautiful and much easier than trying to keep carpet clean.
Oh, what fun! I have always wanted to do that trip as well. Love the sock pics 🙂
Welcome home! The pictures are fabulous. I especially like the ones from Shasta.
Oh, that that Lorna’s Lace is making me swoon. I’d give my pinky finger to be able to have some LL available locally. But, alas, I am denied.