Way Too Early

Ahhhh Saturday! Up at six am so I can be in Newcastle by 9. This is the life! No it isn’t. I felt like hell when I got up this morning and the coffee barely helped. I drank too much last night. That’s two drinks. I seldom drink anymore at all so two drinks is a lot.

We finally get to look at a property in Newcastle we have wanted to see for three weeks. Previous tenants completely trashed it. I have low expectations. But I have seen “before” pictures and the house is fabulous.

After this we go pick up Marika’s S2000. That will be fun. Drop the top and air it out. Woo hoo!!

We are running late to Newcastle. Late start because Marika is with us. Late is her middle name. And first name. It kills me. But I was the same at her age. I still blame her.

Ok. We got there. Take a look. . That is the best photo I could take. The house is full of garbage in every room. They had fifteen cats that smelled like twenty. They pissed everywhere. In spite of the litter boxes in every room. The prior tenants tore out all the appliances. Because nothing says high market value like old, used appliances. Morons. They were just mad because they got kicked out. The five acre lot was completely overgrown just for kicks I guess. We don’t want this place. We are down to two choices now. But look at this, a hawk. In the yard.

The day is becoming more exciting. We are headed to Sacramento now to pick up the car!!! Awesome!!! Well, I’m excited. Pictures soon. It will be a blast. Lots of work to do on it, mostly cosmetic like interior detail and deodorizing. But air of work till I am happy. Return it to new condition. I need a hobby. Making Marika’s car perfect.

Well the car rocks out loud, just so you know. Drove back home, top down of course. Getting used to the shift pattern and shift points and raw power, of course. The S2000 has 240hp and weighs only 2800 lbs. So it goes fast. And quick. I had forgotten, though, what women say. Always the same thing, “my hair is messed up!!”. Good thing I don’t care. With the top down the noise level makes it impossible to hear anything. But, just gonna say, the car is a lot of fun to drive.

We got home and the girls went to get ready for wine tasting at 2pm. I went through the car and found the owners manual. Did not have time to read it. Bob and Renee showed up. They are going with us to the winery. And dinner. So we chatted about the car and life and I gave Bob his present from Maine. It’s a bottle of absinthe which is brewed in Maine. Near where we live in Madison. Readers of the blog may recall back in July we visited the distillery and got a few bottles of hooch. We gainally got all loaded up and off to Yountville. Bob and I are in Marikas car with her. She is going home direct after dinner. Em and Renee are in the MBZ.

So we got to Yountville finally and went straight to work. At the winery. We managed to beat the girls here. They are slow. Goose Cross is a very small winery. Only 12 employees. Majority owner is some woman, last name Coors. You think she is related? Yes. The place is nice, no crowds. They schedule all tastings so there is no crowd. Very relaxed. We sat back for 2 or 3 hours and enjoyed the tasting. I have to say, of all I drank only the cab sauv was worth it. But Emily is a club member here so we go here. We also hooked into a wine dinner in December as well. Once they have ahold of you, they don’t let go.

After we left Goose Cross we drove to Napa, which is close but a long car ride. Traffic. Got into downtown Napa, and we found a parking space immediately. We live right. The girls, got one too, but not as awesome as ours. We walked to the Bounty Hunter and got on the list for dinner. No reservations accepted. An hour and a half wait at 545. Popular place I think. But that’s ok. We headed up the street to wait in a jazz bar close by. There it’s cheaper and they have open space at the bar and tables. Which after a truly hard day tasting wine is important. I managed to order an Old Fashion (drink not donut) and Marika ordered an olive plate. Both were just fine. We have an hour to kill and time is dying as we sit here. We are drinking in the Blue Note. This place obviously gets going much later because it’s slow now. We left the bar at 615 because the restaurant said a table would be ready. It wasn’t. Thirty or forty minutes later it was. They have the old type system where you have to check back every once in awhile to see where your table is at. Bad system.

The Bounty Hunter is the name of the restaurant. They have a huge collection of rare and hard to find wines and liquor. They serve BBQ. Is that not perfect? I love BBQ and it’s my birthday so it’s a good combination. Here are a couple of things:

The vertical chicken is their beer can chicken. They shove a can of beer into a whole chicken and set it on the grill. That was a fabulous taste treat. The other picture is the remains of a rack of ribs, brisket, and shredded pork all with cole slaw. We ate almost all of it prior to me taking a picture. Sides of Mac n cheese and corn bread. Added to all was a nice bottle of red wine. We under ordered a bit on the food which turned out to be just right. And, better cost wise too.

There is a tough task involved in eating a nice dinner out when the restaurant is an hour from home. You end up, full, tired, and maybe not drunk but very relaxed. All that’s great. The task is driving home after you are done. Glad Emily drove. We all complained a little about being kinda upset in the tummy. I think, and we discussed it, that the 2pm wine tasting with no food (not even snacks) was a mistake. None of us had lunch either. Then we had dinner with more wine and the rich food. I feel fine now (it’s Sunday morning though).

After dinner Marika went straight back to home in Santa Rosa. She starts her new winery job Sunday at 9am.

The rest of us piled in to the car and hit the road. And, as I said , I felt a little queasy all the way home.

I think everyone was tired cause Bob and Renee boogied when we hit the house and we went directly to bed. Rich food and alcohol makes you tired. Who knew?