Gosh, where do I start?
This is actually a 9-day, two weekend reply as I was on vacation the whole time. Flew to San Francisco on Friday, May 28th, then hopped in a rental car and drove to Windsor in the Russian River Valley in Sonoma. Went to an old friend's 50th birthday party at an incredible home (150 attended). Parked in the circular driveway in front of the house was a Lamborgini, a Ferrari, an Aston Martin, a Ford GT, and a host of "lessor" cars like the usual Mercedes, BMW's, Jaguar's and the like. Definitely Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous stuff (our friend works for Wells Fargo managing investments for +$10 million net worth clients). Party was great, food was great, and the wine
excellent. These people had all earned their wealth and were all down to earth, pleasant and fun people.
Next day we attended the "survivors brunch" for 25 at Windsor Oaks Winery, atop a small mountain overlooking the Russian River Valley. The winery's owner/winemaker took four of us who got there early on a tour through the vinyards showing us where each varietal was planted and why each area was chosen for that particular grape. The owner, Doug coundn't have been a nicer guy, and his wife was equally pleasant.
The parties lasted 3-days and then we were off to visit wineries. Visited many, drank much, and dragged home two cases of wine that could only be bought there at the wineries. In between the wine tastings we went to Armstrong Woods Redwood Forest and hiked amongst the giant Redwoods, the oldest being 1300 years old in that park. Then we followed the Russian River to the coast where it flowed into the Pacific ocean. What an absolutely beautiful sight to see from high atop the cliffs along the shore. The beauty is hard to describe in words.
Finally, we drove into San Francisco on Thursday and stayed in the city until Saturday when we flew home. While in San Fran we happened upon a small club called "Biscuits and Blues" on Mason St. As luck would have it, Coco Montoya was playing there that very evening (Friday night). I immediately went to the box office and purchased two tickets. We were seated at stage level to the left by the door where Coco came out to the stage. I got to speak with him there briefly and after the concert was over I ran into him again as we were both headed up the stairs. I got to talk to him some more about music and his gear. Coco has been one of my favorite Blues guitarists for years, so it was pretty cool to meet him.
My wife even sat through the whole two hour show, which was pretty amazing. She really dislikes loud electric guitar music, but with the aid of some earplugs, she was able to tollerate it. She even enjoyed a lot of the music (I'm still shocked...
).
We arrived home at 10:00 pm Saturday night, with two cases of wine and a couple of suitcases full of laundry. Our newlywed niece and her husband had come into town for our niece's 10-year high school reunion and they'll be staying at our home until Tuesday, which made our arrival home very pleasant.
And as a suitable ending to 9-days of fun, my new Guitarforce Vintage 57 humbucker pickups had arrived earlier in the day and were waiting for me when I walked in. :AOK
