20151010:
Today we have reservations on the Napa Valley Wine Train for lunch, and a tour of Grgich Winery. Then we'll tour by auto the site of the old Mare Island Naval Shipyard and Vallejo, returning to SF for the evening.
…. and actually, that's what we did. But it needs more words. Susan & Bryant picked us up and drove an hour N-NE to Napa and the headquarters of the wine train.
We checked in and wandered around the large facility, enjoying free coffee while we looked at clothing for sale. We got an idea of what we were to do, but then a person gave a briefing that gave more detail. We boarded according to the letter on our ticket. Our group had taken the option of the Grgich Winery tour during the period where the train reached the end-of-track and reversed - and it picked us up on the way back to Napa. There were other groups who rode to the end and then took a bus tour back via a winery, and other variations.
Dolores, Bryant & Susan:
We were seated in a 1915-era dining car. We selected a bottle of wine but first were served a sample glass. We selected our salad/soup and entree, then relaxed as the train started moving. It loafed along at 15-18 mph, but that was enough. We talked and sipped, then we ate. The food was excellent and the bottle of wine we'd selected was superb.
Many pictures were taken of the scenery and of the interior of the car. About an hour after starting, the train stopped at Grgich Hills Estate. We were greeted by the tour host who gave a fine dissertation on the founders, the estate (of six vineyards plus the wine-making facility), and how the wines are made. He gave us sample tastes of six of the wines as we walked through the winery.
Demo of what happens during barrel rotation, which is done by hand weekly:
We came to the wine shop at the end of the tour. S & B bought some for their house and we bought some that they'll ship to our condo. Good wines, but we usually don't see them on the East Coast.
The estate is owned by Grgich and a descendant of the Hills coffee family, so the name Grgich Hills Estate has no reference to the hills on either side of the valley. The two owners met at a cocktail party and were introduced by Robert Mondavi. They talked and formed the partnership that night. Grgich was the winemaker at the winery that sent wines to the exhibition in Paris in 1973. There, he won medals in both white and red categories and put California wines on the map. He is now 92 and still works several days each week.
The train approached, honked its horn and stopped. We boarded into a different carriage - the one that had been the trailing car on the first leg. It is an old parlor car with swivel seats and has the platform you can walk onto. We took more pictures. In this car we were served dessert and coffee (and wine - we ordered a port). The service throughout the day was excellent. At the designated time the train arrived at the Napa station and we left it. We looked around the shop but didn't find anything we wanted to buy.
Susan had not drunk much wine, so she drove south to Vallejo, where Mare Island Naval Shipyard was located until it was closed in the 1990's. In 1963, I was stationed here as my submarine was being built. I spent about eight months here while the ship was completed, then we sailed for the East Coast. We toured the shipyard and I explained some of the features that still stand (much of it is crumbling, but some of it is in use by maritime firms).
My submarine Woodrow Wilson was built here in 1962-63:
Then Susan drove us down the bay and over the Bay Bridge into San Francisco. She took a route the length of Golden Gate Park where we saw hundreds of people enjoying the day in various ways. Then she delivered us to our hotel, since we had done about as much as our old bodies can do.
It was a fine day.
20151011:
Plan: Dolores to church, then ???.
Actually, we rose early and got coffee & muffins from the dining room. We sat and did little things over coffee. Then I took D to church at 40th & Balboa. Then we went to S&B's house.
They drove their VW Jetta to Point Reyes via California 1, the highway along the coastline north of the Golden Gate Bridge. Even before noon, people were scrambling for good parking places to watch the Air Show part of the Fleet Week celebration. We saw a lot of scenery but every time we got near the ocean, the fog obscured the view of it.
Still, we went on to Point Reyes which includes Drake's Bay. The famous explorer Drake is supposed to have stopped here during his exploration, having missed San Francisco Bay. The fact is still in doubt. We didn't see any live animals on the way, but we smelled a skunk.
We stopped at an overlook where we could see a beach in the distance. We walked toward it on a path. We could hear the sounds seals make. When we got to the end of the path, we used the zoom on the camera (10x) to see individual seals. There were about 50 seals drawn up on the beach. They rest on the beach to avoid whales and sharks.
Still at the end of the path, a kind couple took our picture. I'm helping Susan by holding her hair, which the wind wanted to blow across her face.
Owen, Susan, and Dolores:
We walked back to the car and drove to the little town of Inverness. On the way we saw many deer in small groups. We stopped and got sandwiches and soft drinks in a market and ate. The sandwiches were very good, or perhaps we were just very hungry.
Then we started back to SF. When we got on the Golden Gate Bridge, we saw the Blue Angels airplane team performing over SF Bay. There were many, many boats in the bay participating in the Fleet Week celebration. Very impressive. We returned to our hotel, where I grabbed my laptop. At S&B's house, we had coffee. I transferred some genealogy information to Bryant for his future use. An ancestor of his came to America in 1620 on the ship "Mayflower". He'll merge my information with what he has.
We fought the Southwest Airlines check-in on-line and then with an agent by phone. The check-in part of their web site was mostly down. Finally our agent got us checked in for tomorrow morning's flight. Southwest will have some angry people tonight and tomorrow.
Then we decided to rest and returned to the hotel. We'll prepare for the flight tomorrow to Orange County / John Wayne airport and shuttle to Disneyland. We've had temperatures here at or below 70*F. The forecast there is for a high temperature of 98*F. Wow.
