Friday, October 19th

Today, we woke to overcast skies and drizzle. Despite the weather, Ann and Laurie decided to go for a 6- or 7-mile bike ride loop in Alexander Valley. Not to be outdone, Jim and I headed up a nearby canyon with a steady but reasonable climb into the fog-shrouded forest. As you might expect, the canyon was quite different from the valley floor, providing new sights and unique aromas once again. Four miles up the canyon or so, we decided to turn around and enjoy the fruits of our labor uphill. However, at that time the drizzle had turned to a light but not insignificant rain so our speed would need to be held in check to avoid a disastrous plummet off the hillside and into the abyss. This was probably a good thing as dry roads may have enticed us to proceed at unwise speeds in the search for that feeling we get when we are careening down ski slopes at speeds that give ski patrols furrowed brows.

In any event we survived the downhill but we were completely soaked by the time we reached the house. A hot tub soak was just the ticket!!

Unfortunately, this would be the only bike riding today but we made the best of it with a trip into town to explore the wonders of Healdsburg. After a little shopping around the plaza, we picked out Manzanita as our special lunch spot for today. The food here was also delicious! The butternut squash soup was the perfect call for the weather today and I had the best crabcake sandwich of my life!

With our bellies filled, we were ready to sample a few of the 20+ tasting rooms in town. We visited Thumbprint Cellars, La Crema, and Selby. Laurie and I had been to Thumbprint and Selby before and had enjoyed them so much that we had to go back again. We all chose our favorites and bought some to be mailed back home.

In the evening, we called Michel-Schlumberger Winery to see if we could get tickets to see a special blues band performance at this winery in Dry Creek Valley. Luckily, there was space available. As it turned out, our contingent of 6 made up about a third of the audience! The show was scheduled to be outdoors but, due to the weather, it was moved inside into a fairly small room no more than 20' by 30'!! It didn't seem to matter to this 3-piece band with a guitarist, bass player and drummer. They really seemed to be enjoying themselves and played some great blues numbers wowing the crowd of 15 people or so. These guys deserved a crowd of 150 at least! Thanks to Dad for finding this show online before the trip.