Each morning is overcast with fog that came during the night and burns off by 10am. It's 60 degrees when you wake and 90 by noon.
Some of the most beautiful parts of wine country are on this road. Napa is touristy with over-the-top vineyards, chi-chi restaurants and lots of traffic. Nancy says north of here including the Alexander Valley is how Napa Valley used to be.
We got over the hill into Sonoma
and made it to Sam and Pat (and Simon, Tara, and Clay) by 12:15 in Healdsburg at a restaurant owned by Sam's former patient and was recognized by Conde Nast as one of the world's top new restaurants, called Campo Fina. We had a celebratory cocktail.
Sam and Pat are like parents to me in that they're willing to drive 3 hrs to buy you a meal and make sure you're safe. Sam met my mom at a restaurant near Emory University while he was writing postcards and she was waitressing, working through college. He is a world traveler and met his Canadian wife Pat on the road. He's now a doctor and she's a nurse, and they continue to go on adventures and write postcards (now E-cards) to my mom.
Sam treated everyone to a delicious lunch (padron peppers included) then drove me and Jay to Grueneville, gave us a bottle of wine, and wished us well. They had to get back to Ukiah since Pat had to work at 5am the next day. Thanks boating parents!
We have had several memorable California trips with them and their sons Adam and Simon (about me and Cathy's age), the most important involving boats. They've always been our "boating cousins" though now I find out they don't own a boat anymore, it was a pain in the butt, and they only used it on the man-made lake by their house that is mostly dry. Oh well. We also had picnics in the Redwoods, crazy car rides, dinners on their deck, and slumber parties. I have clear memories of discussing with Simon and Adam differences between East and West coast rap, drugs, and parties as young teenagers.
I haven't seen Simon since then, and he now has a lovely girlfriend Tara and works in the food industry in the hottest food mecca in the US -- Berkeley. He even met Alice Waters as a kid, a result of his LA Lights sneakers, and ate at Chez Panisse last year for his birthday. As far as I can tell, he knows what all the words mean on chi-chi restaurant menus, and knows where everything comes from and how it's prepared. They were in Healdsburg for a wedding, so it was a perfect coincidence to meet-up.
Sam and Pat share a tradition of oral histories, and we heard the story of when Simon learned fiscal responsibility. He bought a pair of shorts at the beginning of summer and at the end of summer saw the same shorts on sale 60% marked down at a store in LA. Sam visited the store recently and took a picture of it as a recollection. Sam and Pat claim that's when he learned patience and frugality in shopping, but I can't help but wonder the opportunities those shorts brought Simon that summer, such as meeting life-long inspiration Alice Waters. Sam is wearing a T-shirt from the South African World Cup, where he has visited, but bought the shirt a couple years later in the US on discount. Below: me, Jay, Clay, Sam, Pat, Simon, Tara.
Grueneville is on the Russian River and we happen to be there the time of 1) the mermaid festival and 2) lazy bear week (google it). We figure Jay could dress as a mermaid and go to both. We're staying at the Rio Nido lodge recently bought and reopened by husband and wife Brett Julia. They are super friendly, have 2 beautiful daughters, and have clean new rooms!
We eat at Boon per Amy's recommendation and I decide to "come out" as a non-vegetarian. I ordered Halibut.
This is not because I want to eat meat, but because dietary restrictions are a pain in the butt for many and I'm sick of eating a lot of carbs on this trip. However, this ends in tears and an empty stomach.
We have a big day tomorrow, our longest, steepest ride. This combined with the early morning and fish leads to a bit of unrest. I wonder if a man can truly trust and follow a woman. I'll have 67 miles to think this over.
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