Fall Adventure 2015

Fall Adventure 2014

Image from here.

Fall Adventure 2013

White Burgundy

Wine enjoyed at Bouchon, Las Vegas.

Country: France

Region: Burgundy

Appellation(s): Bourgogne, Bourgogne Vézelay

Producer: Jean Montanet

Founded: 1987

Annual Production: 8,500 cases

Farming: Organic

Website: http://www.domainedelacadette.com

Domaine de la Cadette

In the village of Saint-Père, along a little creek to the southeast of Vézelay in Burgundy, a quiet, peaceful revolution is taking place. This part of Burgundy has been producing wines for centuries, although as much as half of the entire appellation’s production is being sold off to the local cave cooperative. In 1987, Jean and Catherine Montanet, with the help of friends and family, created Domaine de la Cadette.Cadette, or the youngest child, is a nod to Catherine, whose family’s vineyards contribute to the domaine’s production. It took them ten years to clear land and replant vineyards. By 1997, the I.N.A.O. (Institut National des Appellations d’Origines) had awarded Vézelay its own A.O.C; a timely decision that lends more credibility to the noble work of the Montanets. Jean and Catherine farm thirteen hectares of vineyards today, and have been farming organically since 1999, receiving their certification in 2002. This is a particularly bold decision in an area where most wine is sold in bulk.

The vineyard land sits deep in the Morvan, the great mountain range that runs west by northwest of the famous Côte d’Or. The land here is quite exceptional. The creation of the granite massif of the Morvan has uplifted a marl and limestone strata, revealing fossilized marine deposits. Though Vézelay is a geographic appendage of Chablis, the soils are not exactly the same. The climate here is cooler, too. Instead of the Kimmerdigian soils, the clays here range from blue and gray to red, sometimes with no clay at all but just shallow limestone. In this cooler climate, their vines enjoy great sun exposure, lending a balance between generous fruit and deep mineral structure. That the wines from Vézelay have gone largely unnoticed until recently may certainly be attributed to an underwhelming production of forgettable wines, however Domaine de la Cadette stands proudly as a beacon of change, representing the most sincere expression of their terroirs with grace and integrity.  Though they are best known for their Bourgogne Vézelay, a Chardonnay, their Bourgogne Rouge and their Melon de Bourgogne are also equally remarkable.

Source: Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant

Fall Adventure 2012

A "Controlled" Burn at Yosemite

Photos and videos by Angel in Love

Pine Mountain Lake

Watermelon skin carving from Vid Nikolic on Vimeo.

Fall Adventure 2011 Winner

Put on your hiking boots, Yosemite VRBO is the winner!

Fall Adventure 2011

Fall Adventure Choice #1

Pine Mountain Lake

http://www.vrbo.com/240522#features 

5 bedrooms, sleeps 12, probably around $400/night for 8 of us. The house is still available for the weekend we want. 

Google map with  Pine Mountain Lake, Palo Alto, and a few Yosemite sites tagged:

http://goo.gl/maps/bIIP

It's a 3-hour drive to Pine Mountain Lake from Palo Alto and 1 hour 15 minutes to get from Pine Mountain Lake to Ahwahnee. 

Note: Peggers has other Pine Mountain Lake houses she can recommend

***

Fall Adventure Choice #2

VRBO in Yosemite National Park

I don't know the area, so I have no idea of distances to and from the park.  Here's one that claims to be in the park:

http://www.vrbo.com/111490

***

Fall Adventure Choice #3

Redwoods in Yosemite

This is only one of the choices. See other choices here and here.

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Fall Adventure Choice #4

Las Vegas

Fall Adventure 2011

Inspiration for Saturday night cooking

Remember the kitchen scene in "The Big Chill"?

Here's the original version by the one and only Temptations.
Time to practice our moves:

Wayside Inn - Carmel

800-433-4732 toll-free
831-624-5336 phone
831-626-6974 fax
waysideinn@innsbythesea.com

Get your Santa Fe Gear together!

Don't forget to pack your Santa Fe style when we head out on our trip.  My daughters and I did not quite measure up in our fashion for the plaza last year.

My Vote

Let's stay put in Santa Fe. Sounds like balloons require too much driving back and forth.

I would rather stay in Santa Fe.  It is a lot of driving back and forth for my taste.  I mentioned to Jane that the Acoma Pueblo is right outside Albuquerque and I would be more interested in seeing that on our way to or from Santa Fe. And,  I actually think we may be able to see the balloons when we are in Santa Fe, but we will have to ask about that.

Santa Fe and Big Balloons

To recap our discussion at Lalitha's - We have dates (Thursday October 1st through Sunday October 4th).  We have the destination (Santa Fe), flying into Albuquerque, which is a bit over an hour away from Santa Fe.  We need to settle on accommodations quickly, especially since the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta will be on while we are there (it runs from Saturday October 3rd through Sunday October 11th).  

Notes on the Balloon Fiesta:  http://www.balloonfiesta.com/

The balloon events are either early morning  or early evening events.  By early morning I mean recommended arrival time at the event is 5:30AM!  I think this is out of the question, particularly since Santa Fe is more than an hour drive to Alb.  The better option might be the evening events, which sound lovely anyway (lighted glowing balloons followed by fireworks). Recommended arrival at the park for evening events is 4:00PM.  I checked flights on Sunday and confirmed that there are no late night return flights that would allow us to see the Sunday evening balloons and still fly out that night.  That limits us to the Saturday evening show (opening day).  That's a lot of to-and-fro (Alb to Santa Fe on Thursday arrival, Santa Fe/Alb roundtrip on Saturday for the balloons, Santa Fe to Alb for return flights on Sunday), so I wanted to gauge people's interest in the balloons.  If not everyone is interested in seeing them, I would consider spending Thursday to Sunday in Santa Fe, going to the Sunday evening balloon event & spending Sunday night at an airport hotel in Alb,  flying home Monday morning ( or later in the day if there is stuff to see in Alb).  

Let me know which of the following describes you best:

A)  I really don't care about seeing big balloons and would rather spend Thursday to Sunday chillin' in Santa Fe.

B)  I have a deep desire to see big balloons and don't think it is too strenuous to drive back and forth to Albuquerque on Saturday.

C)  I have a deep desire to see big balloons and would consider adding Sunday night in Albuquerque to make that dream a reality.

D) Both B and C.

E)  I have another suggestion which is (fill in the blank).

Can you tell that I just took my mid-term exam in my Estate Tax Planning course?

Trip Planning

I'm going to try to handle the trip planning through the blog. That way we can all see everyone's posts in one place without going back through email history or scrolling through forwarded emails. It sounds like we would all be happy to go to either NYC or Santa Fe. From a cost perspective, flights would be about the same. If Sarah is able to swing the timeshare arrangement, hotels would actually be cheaper in NYC (such a deal!)

SO, let's see if we can get the NYC hotel. If not, Santa Fe is Plan B.

Here is what Sarah needs in order to see if we can line up rooms at her friend's timeshare:

1. We need to pick one or two specific weekends in October that would work for our group.

2. Decide how many nights (most likely Thursday, Friday & Saturday - more if possible!)

3. Decide on the configuration of rooms and roommates. If you go to the Phillips Club website (phillipsclub.com) you can see the apartment configurations (click on Extended Stay Hotel, then The Residences to bring up floorplans. There are two-bedroom/two bath apts that will accommodate 4 people (2 twin beds in each room), one-bedroom apartments that will accommodate 2 people (twin beds) and studio apartments for one person.

Sarah says" These places are great. Each has a kitchen and a living area and a laundry on each floor. There's a wonderful specialty grocery downstairs where we can stock up on breakfast food and snacks. I am guessing that Joan (our contact) will charge us $100 or so per night per person. We would be responsible as well for the daily maid service charge and maybe tax."

Here are my answers to my questions::

1. I can go any weekend in October.

2. I would be interested in staying four nights (arriving Thursday, returning Monday)

3. I am happy to share or take a single room if that's how the numbers work out (I know Sarah prefers a single).

Please respond through the blog. That will save me having to try to track through multiple emails. If you have forgotten how to access it, go to the blog site (http://bookfoodtherapytravel.blogspot.com/). If you haven't signed up on your own (or have forgotten your login), you can enter the site by using this email address: bookclubangel@gmail.com and password: armpits! (including the exclamation point). If you click "Remember Me" you should be able to access it without reentering the info each time.

If we get back to Sarah quickly we'll figure out whether the NYC idea is going to fly. If the Phillips Club isn't an option, I'll switch my focus to Santa Fe.

Some levity provided to you by dutchbaby:

Fog City News

Fog City News is a place I've been meaning to check out. This place is a news stand plus. It's not just a news stand with tons of magazines, unique greeting cards, and soda pops but they offer group chocolate sit-down tastings in this lovely setting:

We can visit on our way to hoofing from the hotel to the Ferry Building.

http://www.fogcitynews.com/chocolate.html

Road Trip

I didn't have my Treo at our last meeting, so of course I can't remember what October dates we selected for our extravaganza in SF. Which weekend are we aiming for?

From what I recall, we discussed the following options for things to do:

Beach Blanket Babylon
The drag queen show at a bar, the name of which I can't remember.
The de Young Museum (and I'd like to add Strybing Arboretum if we are in GG Park)
The Farmer's Market at the Ferry Building
A day spa (Bliss Spa at the W Hotel was mentioned)
Ferry to Sausalito or Angel Island
Segway tour
Shopping (of course)
A chocolate and knitting place or tour that Sarah found (not clear what this was)
Grace Cathedral on Sunday
Biscuits & Blues for music
The newly remodeled Cliff House
Walk across the Golden Gate bridge

What did I forget?

This is going to be fun!

Sonoma Mission Inn

Hi....a friend of mine is going to Sonoma Mission Inn this week, it sounds lovely, has anyone been there? Or anywhere up there that would be a good place for us? Funky would be fun, too........


Posted by dutchbaby on behalf of Angel in Love while she's working out some technical details on getting authorship on this blog.