Eden's Wanderings and Wonderings

I am trying to post a blog with a picture.

I have been following Chris' Parisian trip and it sure keeps me dreaming of my next trip / return to Paris (soon, I hope). In addition to Chris' blog, I also check in the Destination Paris website on a regular basis. I must be some sort of a glutton for punishment!

The picture makes my heart ache for Paris. I stole this pic from Destination Paris.

Three of my colleagues called me up last minute and asked if I wanted to go wine tasting in the Livermore Valley. I have done these ages ago when the wineries were few and novel to the area. Some 15 years later, many wineries have cropped up and some produce wines tasting real good to my amateurish taste.

Here's our office staff, Sylvia and Georgia.

We started at Deer Ridge Vineyards. Tried and enjoyed some Viognier and various reds. The owner of the winery took us around his property which gave the tour a personal touch. He shared his plans with us on what he was going to do to make the place an event center. He even has a two-berdoom + place on the property that can be used by clients who want to stay close by during an event. This could make a nice little get-away too at $275 per night.

The group proceeded to Charles R Vineyards, a small family-owned and operated winery tucked away on some dirt road. Fun thing about these small places is that you get to meet the wine makers and enjoy their stories. The hometown atmosphere was so prevalent that we got to overhear soon-to-be exes discuss their divorce proceedings development. :)

Kathy (Teachick) had this idea of a GTG in SF while she was here for Yoga teachers' training. What a great idea! She even had this stronger vision of some decadent Ghiradelli ice cream sundaes along with this GTG... Yummm. Here is the mastermind of this great event wearing one of her beautiful SF designer indulgences ...

The evening became a "Progressive GTG" and I loved it. Marcia, David, and Kathy started out with some pre-GTG wine at the Wine Merchant at the Ferry building as I was getting off BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) to meet my daughter, Tracey. We walked over from the Embarcadero BART station to the Fog City Diner. I am surprised that we did not see each other (Marcia, et al) walking along the Embarcadero. Maybe because we did cut across some parks... The ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) in me wanted to watch some birds at one of the parks but my daughter reminded me that we needed to move along to get to the restaurant at the appointed time...

So we got to Fog City Diner right on time. I noticed Marcia, David, and Kathy right behind us. Sharon was not far behind. The second phase (for M, D, and K) of the GTG began.