Post 19. A big weekend

As I said in in Post 19. It rained at the end of last week so I had some free time. So, I went to Vallejo and finally sorted out my social security number (on the fifth try), so I am now legally allowed to work in the U.S. The rest of the day was a bit of a write off and didn't do much else for the rest of the day.

Friday Pete, James and I went out to Lake Tahoe. Its a 3 and a bit hour drive north west of Napa and it is a perched lake in the mountains. The scenery is spectacular, as it is in the Sierra Nevada mountain range and sits at 6500 feet. We all wore shorts, shirts, I threw in thongs incase it was warm (and a jumper thank god!). It was freezing, 4 degrees at the Lake and 8 degrees in the mountains around it. It was lightly raining and there was snow on the peaks. It was funny to us dashing out of the car to take photos when every one else was rugged up, totally unprepared. The photos below don't do the scenery justice. It is 30 kms long by 18 kms wide and holds enough water to cover the surface area of California completely to a depth of 360 mms, so its big.

Foreshore of Tahoe city

Looking back to Tahoe city

Pete and James taking selfies

A more traditional shot

Tahoe scenery

The California/Nevada border runs right through the centre of the Lake

Snow capped peaks

 When we spotted the snow we went looking for it. We found a spot called mount rose where there was snow everywhere. I wasn't thick and fluffy, more like thin and icy, but it was enough to make a snowball and look very wintery (remember, summer has just ended).

Snow at Mount Rose

My Snowball

My snowball on Pete's back

  Mount Rose is at an altitude of 9000 feet, which meant it was a bit difficult to breath for us low landers. We climbed a slope that was about 150 metres to the peak and we were all gasping for breath as if we'd run a couple of km's. For the rest of the day I felt like I was a bit breathless, like I couldn't get enough air in my lungs, the other guys felt the same. Even the car was revving weird as it wasn't getting as much air as when it drives around Napa. The snow was a bonus adventure as when we left home that morning we expected warm weather (stupidly, I know). We continued to drive around the Lake, we drove about three quarters of its circumference and came to a place called Emerald bay. If the scenery was good before, it took a step up at Emerald Bay. I know what everyone is saying "He's into his scenery isn't he" or "enough of the scenic shots!!!" but, really, its pretty awesome, and I cant help myself.

  

mountain backdrop to Emerald Bay

Emerald Bay out over the lake

Emerald Bay again

Paddle Steamer

Odd rock formation above the tiny town of Kyburz (read the sign)

 On Saturday Pete and I went to San Francisco for the day. We drove to Vallejo and caught the ferry across the Bay to Fishermans wharf. There were good views of Alcatraz as we were going past. We didn't get out to Alcatraz as you have to book weeks ahead to get out there and it was all booked up.

Alcatraz

 

Alcatraz and the Golden Gate bridge in the background

 We got to fisherman's wharf, had a look around and then hopped on an open topped doublr decker bus that tours the city. It was the best way we could have chosen to see as much as possible in as short a time as possible. It was a 2.5 hour bus trip with a tour guide that crossed the city and went across the Golden Gate bridge and back to Fishermans wharf. I'll throw a heap of photo's in below of the tour.

Lots of murals on houses and buildings in SF

Coit Tower. Designed to look like a fireman's hose nozzle

Transamerica Pyramid

Downtown

Wonkey panorama of Union square

Town Hall

Cool house in Haight-Ashbury district (hippie enclave)

Shop in Haight-Ashbury again

 Driving across the Golden Gate bridge was a great experience in an open top bus. It was incredibly windy, I was Skype messaging going across on my ipad and it was nearly blowing out of my hand. Once we were across we stopped at a viewing area for 10 minutes and came back across.

This one was taken from the ferry going across the bay

 We got off the bus back at Fisherman's Wharf, had lunch at Codmother's (voted in top 100 restaurants in the country by Yelp, fish and chips). It was two small windows in a shack as big as a kitchen with a small courtyard in front. Good food that you had to line up for.

After lunch we went for a walk up to Coit Tower then down through the city to Chinatown then looped back to the wharf for the ferry home. A busy day on the go the whole time.

I am Huuuuuge

China Town

So after the last couple of busy days it was late out of bed Sunday morning, shoe shopping for Merran and the boy's in the morning, wine tasting this afternoon and a restaurant for tea tonight. It's tough over here everyone, I hope I'm getting that message across.

 



Bye

Scott

 

 

 

 

Post 18. Prelude to a Big weekend

Hi All,

It rained this week in Napa so that meant no picking Thursday onwards. The winemakers were cool with having a pause in the picking as all the stuff that was ready to go we have got off and the rest apart from the odd block would benefit from an extra few days on the vine.

But before I get to my awesome weekend I wanted to show you a couple of cool things I came across and thought you might like. The first is for the hard working vineyard boys and girls who get called out at all hours of the night and very early morning on frost duty. Below are some pictures of the frost pumps at Gamble ranch here in Yountville (just north of Napa city). This is a 500 acre ranch (200 ha) and it is completely protected by frost sprinklers. The old inefficient impact sprinklers, not very water wise.

10 diesel motors

 

10 pumps

All feed 3 * 30 inch main lines

 The pumps draw from a dam and the manager told me when they are pumping you can watch the level of the dam drop. Its handy having all the pumps in one spot rather than spread out far and wide.

The other night I almost ran over a raccoon that ran out in front of me. He ran into a nearby tree and considerately posed for a photo.

Racoon at Gamble Ranch

I've also seen a couple of skunks wandering around as well as a long nosed snake, which they call a gopher snake. I didn't have my phone though so I didn't get a photo. I went back to get one but couldn't find it.

I had a drink with the two Napa managers on Wednesday afternoon in St Helena, and as I left I spotted a big airplane engine, and a VW beetle with a plane prop on the back. There was a guy working on the airplane engine and I started chatting to him. He was adjusting the exhaust on the engine as when he started it up (which he did for $100 bucks, read the sign) it was burning the building behind it. This motor was the most powerful airplane engine ever built and he took it around and made money off starting it up (no, I didn't pay him to start it, as much as I wanted to). There is a photo below that explains why it was built and what it was used for. very cool and I had to include it in the blog.

That is the definition of awesome

71.5 L, Radial 28 pistons!!!!!

Sign said "top speed yet to be determined"

I also went for a tasting at Mumm of Napa one afternoon, as I drive past it every day, and thought I'd call in. For those who don't know, Mumm is a well known champagne house in France. Tastings are $24 per person but I told them I was in the industry and gave them my card and I tasted for free. You sit down at a table and you are served like you are in a restaurant. You select which three wines you would like to taste and they pour them and tell you about each glass. The tastings are generous, about half a champagne flute, and all wines are made from fruit from Carneros (just south of Napa). I was tasting my three when a guy I spoke to initially came and starting chatting. I asked him a heap of questions and he did the same, interesting guy. He then ducked off and got me three more glasses of their top shelf sparkling. It was a great tasting and a memorable experience. Just about every tasting room in Napa and Sonoma charges for tastings. The cheapest I've seen is $12 and the most expensive I've heard of is $65. This cost comes off the bottle price if you purchase but it means a trip around the wineries in Napa can be very expensive, with no wine to show for it. But if you tell them you work in the industry, and show them a business card you can usually taste for free. In fact it usually gets you a taste of some top shelf wine they don't usually let people taste. Mumm was a great example of this, as well as another winery I went to, Hill Family wines. Instead of the usual 4 wines for tasting I tasted 8, the last four were ultra premium wines reserved for private appointments. Scored!!

three became.......

six :-)))))

I'll stop now but plenty more to tell.

Scott