03/11/2004: "Spring in the air (*boing*) [1]"

I know its not quite spring yet, but the weather turned fantastic last weekend, and as luck would have it, we had picked that weekend for our first adventure-trip of the year. Susannah is working for “The Theatre of All Possibilities”, doing children’s theatre in schools, and she had a booking last Friday at a school in Calistoga, so we decided to drive up Thursday night and make a weekend of it.

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I had had a few mechanical problems with Betty [2] the previous week, but managed to get them all sorted on the weekend, put the camper back on, and was all set to go. We planned to leave Thursday night, but first we settled in for pizza and The Apprentice before leaving. Omarosa, you’re fired! [3]. I had a few setup problems with my laptop which delayed our start. As you may remember, I planned to use the laptop and GPS coupled together for navigation, but the 300W inverter I had wouldn’t run the laptop, although the laptop only draws a maximum of about 75 Watts.

So, without the aid of gadgets, we hit the road, and made good time to Calistoga. I was a little nervous because of the mechanical problems of the previous week (I blame Roger!), but Betty flew along flawlessly. I am always amazed at how well she handles with a fully loaded camper on the back. We got into Calistoga, where we had been given permission to park in the school's parking lot. Settled in, and hit the hay.

Susannah was up pretty early on Friday morning, for the show at the school (Herstory, a show about women in US history), and I just stayed snuggled up in bed. It started to rain, and there is definitely no better sound than the pitter-patter of raindrops on the roof of a caravan, especially when all you have to do is stay in bed. By the time Susannah’s show finished, the rain had stopped, and it had brightened into a beautiful, warm and sunny day.

First stop on the adventure-tour was a run to a geocache nearby, where I finally set off Tobi the Travel Bug. Then a quick trip to the Petrified Forest (which was most interesting for the huge un-petrified tree that had recently fallen, narrowly missing the buildings), and then off to the Clos Pegase winery. It is an amazing place, packed full of some incredible artwork and sculpture, and they also have a cellar-theatre, which is my dream (well, one of them, anyway!). Unfortunately the wine was not so hot, but I think that they were all 2000s we were tasting, and I had the same problem with the Sattui 2000’s, so I think it was just a bad year (too acidic for my tastes).

Then it was relaxation time, off to Lavender Hills Spa, for two hours of pampering. The first hour was a long soak in a tub filled with secret recipe mud and ash, and then a foot-massage cool down, followed by an hour of full-body massage. This was my first experience of full-body massage, and I gotta tell you – it is fantastic! I haven’t felt so relaxed in years… The only difficult part was figuring out how much to tip afterwards (I hate this whole tipping thing!), but it really was a heavenly experience. We lazed in the Camper for a couple of hours afterwards, basking in the afterglow, and then headed to the Calistoga Inn for dinner. It is a brewery as well, but after trying both their Wheat and Red beers, I wasn’t particularly impressed. The meal was OK, and the bar sounded lively, but the promise of live-music wasn’t fulfilled. We headed back to the camper (still parked by the school), and had an early night.

Saturday was again bright and sunny, and we headed off to Old-faithful geyser (which is kind of sad and run-down, but did grace us with a super eruption), and then to Robert Louis Stevenson State Park for a hike. It is amusing how they claim him, although he spent a relatively short time (six weeks) in the area. A nice long hike to Table Top (opposite Mount St. Helena[4]), with a stop on the way at a cache to set Salty Pete off on his adventures. Bear had a blast, but was pretty tired by the time we finished.

We relaxed again with a sunset beer, and then showered and prepared ourselves for the next adventure – dinner at the Culinary Institute of America, in Saint Helena. This place is just the best, and I was immediately impressed when they had Bundaberg Ginger Beer on the menu – they obviously know quality! We started with their temptations, which is a collection of appetisers, and were all delicious. I had a Pork Chop for my main course, and although it may not sound high-classed, it was definitely the best pork chop I had had for some time. There was even bacon in the sauce – Mmmmmm pig-overloaaaaaad! :-> Desert was a nice Crème Brule’, and this was all washed down with a delicious Zinfandel.

Finally we headed for my “Special Spot” in Saint Helena, a nice little secluded parking lot behind a pub where I had parked a few times before. After driving up and down the main street five times, I determined that the pub had become a bank, of all things, and that the secluded parking lot was now cleared and brightly lit with flood lights. So we parked up behind a winery just out of town, and had a peaceful night there.

Sunday morning we wandered into town to The Model Bakery, which really is the best bakery I have seen in the US – if you peek out the back, you can see the bakery floor, a good-old artisinal affair. Bear was on his best behaviour, and as a treat we took him into Fideaux to sniff the toys and treats. He loved the smells, but he also knew that these toys weren’t for him.

We then headed to Sattui Winery, where I had been a “cellar club” member several years before, and managed to talk our way into a “reserve tasting”. Of course, I had to promise to buy a case of wine, but as Sattui’s is my favourite wine from Napa, that wasn’t too much of a problem. As I mentioned before, I am not at all impressed with the 2000 wines, but picked up a couple of 99’s and 2001’s. We headed back out to the picnic area and had a picnic lunch on the grass, with beautiful sunshine, and a lovely bottle of Merlot. Bear was visited by several other dogs, but mostly just lazed on the grass, still tired from his exertions of the previous day. We sat in the sun for a long time, and then I sat up on the roof of the camper and smoked a “Romeo and Julietta” cigar, much to the amusement of the other clientelle.

Finally, it was time to head home. Still no gadgets, and so I felt obliged to get us lost! Not sure exactly where we took a wrong turn (or in fact, didn’t take a turn we should have), but we wound up in Benecia. We stopped at a level crossing, and I got quite annoyed when a bunch of cars just zoomed around the barricades the other way. But after sitting there for five minutes, it became obvious that the crossing was broken. A cop drove up, and then drove down along the track a little way and got out of his car. He fiddled around for a minute, then looked back at the waiting cars, gave us a big shrug, hopped in his car and took off! Thanks for the help mate! So, throwing caution to the wind, I also drove around the barriers, which gave me a guilty little tingle. Got home in a reasonable time, worn out from all the relaxing, and amazed at just how warm it was still.


Foot-massage notes:

[1] This is a quote from some British sitcom about a guy and his Genie, but I don’t remember what it was called.

[2] Betty is my 1990 Ford F250, 4x4 diesel.

[3] The Apprentice is Donald Trumps reality TV show, and Omarosa was an extremely obnoxious woman who we were hoping would get the boot. Onya Donald!

[4] While both volcanic, don’t make the mistake I did and mix up Mount Saint Helena, and Mount Saint Helens.