Third Installment of the Banana Slug Chronicles

Dear Reader, as you will recall we left our trio heading to Dry Creek Winery after visiting two great wineries. The road was open and the company was, well, starting to be very giggly. The trio did not intend to stay at Dry Creek for long, just a dash in and then on to the next stop on the list. Dear Reader, you must understand that the BS Club had 8 wineries on their list so ABBA was responsible for keeping the party rolling.

Dry Creek turned out to be one more in a list of great experiences. At this point, the drinkers, the Queen and Sam, began referring to the people serving the wine "barristas" because they couldn't come up with any other way to refer to them and "wine pourers" just didn't have the same zing. The "barrista" at Dry Creek provided not only great suggestions for wine, but great commentary on the wineries in Napa....they are over-crowded and pretentious. At this point, the trio all agreed because they had met outstanding people at the wineries thus far. The barrista, who shall be named Eric, whether that was his name or not, served the Queen and Sam a variety of reds and offered ABBA a cool beverage as well. Since ABBA was the designated driver, she did say thanks, but no thanks, and then did accept a taste of a WONDERFUL Fume Blanc, a smidge of a artichoke tart, and then lots of water.

As the trio left Dry Creek, they realized that the moon was already up in the sky, which seemed odd since it was still early in the day, but they decided to marvel at it and take a picture of it. They couldn't pass up the opportunity since they were visiting wineries in a region called "The Valley of the Moon". Luckily, a very nice lady offered to take a picture of the ladies and since she had experience in photography actually staged the photo so that it did not look as if our heroines were in a line up. She also asked where the group were headed off to next and recommended that they go to a place called the "Family Wineries". This winery is actually a group of smaller boutique, family wineries that came together to provide an outlet for the taste and sale of their wines. After some small discussions, the party decided to divert from the original plan and try out this new recommendation. Kudos to this decision because the Queen and Sam had the opportunity to taste a much wider range of wines than if the ladies had hit up the individual locales.

Sam and the Queen started making their selections with the assitance of the barrista, Sean, from Boston. ABBA opted to take a seat out on the front porch and enjoy the sun and scenery. After a period of time she hears "Andrea, get in here we need your ears!" Mind you, ABBA had mentioned earlier in the day that red wines have and affect on her ears. It turns out that Sam and the Queen could not really distinguish the differences between a couple of the wines and needed a "virgin" set of taste buds. Since ABBA was drinking water, she felt it was okay to take a sip and provide her opinion as to what the affect was on her ears (its all about how the tanins kick in).

The Queen and Sam were becoming quite friendly with Sean, the barrista, and ABBA just watched and was entertained. At one point, Sean and the Queen began a fabulous rendition of Bobby McFerrin's hit "Don't Worry, Be Happy" and we all recieved great smiley face pins. The Queen acquired a present for her dear husband and then the group headed out to find their next winery adventure.

It was at this point in the travels that ABBA was starting to have quite the challenge of herding the drunks, but this was just adding to the hillarity and enjoyment for all.

That wraps up this installment. Please tune in again and join the ladies as they head to their final two wineries, Blackstone and Imagery.

Second Installment of the Banana Slug Chronicles

We left our heroines on the road from Muir Woods to their first winery.....


The ladies were all quite excited to be on their way to Iron Horse Winery, even though the MapQuest directions actually stated "partially unpaved road". The Queen was riding shotgun and scrolling through Miz Treo to provide ABBA the directions. The drive was truly beautiful as the day remained sunny and the traffic was next to nothing.


The group turned into the drive to reach the winery and wound around some, hit the unpaved part of the the road, come across a "Slow" sign and then a "Slower" sign. Found a one lane bridge or two and played chicken with people leaving the winery. Finally they reached the pinacle of the mountain and find a spectacular view and even more wonderful, they found the winery. The winery had a tasting run of sparkling wines, which is what our heroines all opted for. (Yes, ABBA did have a drink here but only a sip from each and then let the Queen and/or Sam finish off her glass.) A toast was made to the first meeting of the BS Club and the ladies visited with the other patrons. The funny thing was that the other patrons were from Coppell, TX not 5 miles from where ABBA moved from!!!



Sam made her purchase of some bubbly to take back to her folks as a thank you for Kenya-sitting. And all three purchased one logo stemware to commemorate the visit.


The adventurers then hit the road and headed off to Hop Kiln Winery. Again, the drive was easy and beautiful. With the Queen acting as her personal Carmen, ABBA couldn't go wrong. The winery was located in record time and after coffee and wine already the ladies immediately headed to the "facilities". All agreed that the facilities at this winery were possibly the nicest outhouses ever expereinced by our trio!! Once inside, the ladies bellied up to the tasting bar and found some very enjoyable people to serve them. Sam and the Queen went right in to their tasting and ABBA sipped here and there, but nothing too grand. (Hop Kiln does have a wonderful white wine called Thousand Flowers and ABBA recommends it to anybody that would like a nice light wine for a picnic or warm day on the beach.) They also had these FABULOUS chocolate syrups infused with wines that the ladies sampled with the winery's late harvest zins....yummy.


The BS Club wrapped up their purchases, took some more pictures, and hit the road to get to the next winery..... Dry Creek where even more adventures occurred.


Tune in next time for our trios continued trek through the Sonoma Wineries.....

First Installment of the Banana Slug Chronicles

It was a dark and stormy night.....

Oh wait, that is another story. This is the story of the search for the elusive Banana Slug.


On Saturday, February 16, 2008, the Queen B, Sam, and I left the Tartine Bakery, which has THE BEST croissants in North America, and headed off on our day trip to Muir Woods and then to the Sonoma wine country of Northern California. The night before the Queen and I sat down with MapQuest and plotted out our turn by turn trip so that she could be my personal Carmen and tell me where I needed to go. It was a gorgeous day as we drove across the Golden Gate bridge and headed to the Muir Woods.
















We found the park in record time in part thanks to the Queen's navigation, Sam's coffee and croissants, and my Dale Earnhart driving abilities!! The group enters the park and marvels at the beautiful trees. Well, actually we spent half of the time looking at the ground in search of the elusive Banana Slug. It wasn't until about half way through the short trail, which we opted for so we could get to the wine drinking that much faster, that we decided to look up and at the trees. Of course, this looking up immediately made me dizzy, so I had to go back to scanning the ground for the elusive BS otherwise I would have fallen over and that would be the end of the trip to Muir Woods and wineries.


We finished our travels through the park with no sign of the elusive BS aside from the paintings of them as captured by the spectacular photography of the Queen.


After much consideration, and in honor of the elusive Banana Slug, the three of us decided that we would henceforth be known as the BS Club when we are out in woods together in search of wildlife.


Please check back soon for the next installment of the Banana Slug Chronicles where the BS Club ventures into the deepest, darkest regions of Sonoma in search of the Elixer of the Girls....