The Big Green House

Tuesday, January 28, 2003

 

What we did on our winter vacation

Still decompressing from the mini-vacation, but here are the quick & dirty highlights for those of you still awake at this time�

Friday: We actually land in Sacramento 15 minutes ahead of schedule. Yay! Dinner w/ mom & dad, and Science Girl gets to see cattle up-close & personal for the very first time. I find that I can still buck a hay bale when called upon, but that I feel it the next morning. Thousands of tiny frogs sing us to sleep.

Saturday: SG awakened by her new bovine pals. Mom takes us to historic Murphys, CA. (Small gold-rush town turned tourist mecca.) We shop, taste some wine, and go down into Mercer Cavern. SG bumps her head on what turns out to be very solid rock. (My experience is clouded by sinus problems; thank the gods for Sudafed.) Lunch at winery cut short by encroaching tule fog. SG meets my sister & brother-in-law for the first time.

Sunday: We devote the day to tasting wine in the lovely Shenandoah Valley. I am the designated lush. Much Zin is consumed & bought, along with a couple of Sauvignon Blancs. Home in time to witness the utter collapse of the Raiders at the end of the entirely-misnamed Super Bowl. I�m so ashamed of them that I fall asleep in my chair.

Monday: Off to Lodi, to send the wine back to The Big Green House via UPS & also to shop. Yes, that�s right. I get a couple of western shirts; SG is tempted by, and ultimately resists, a black leather & silver buckle purse; Mom scores a 70%-off jacket. (Go Mom!) Lunch, then off to the teensy Sacramento International Airport. (I ask you � what good is an airport terminal that shuts down before the last flight has left and only has one tiny bar?) We have a relatively crash-free flight back to Seattle and go to bed.

And there it is. I will probably expand on portions of this later in the week. Right now, I�m trying to get back on my work schedule. Also, alas, no wine allowed at work.



bmarkey 1/28/2003 07:46:00 PM