Our expedition to Sacramento and the wineries beyond

Wednesday 12 August. An early departure sees Lady P and Flashman heading for Napa and beyond. She of course has planned the route, entered it into her phone and knows the mileage and timings to perfection so Flashy takes a turn behind the wheel and Lady P enjoys the views.  As a back up, he fires up 'The Bitch'. True to form, she keeps on saying 'no satellite coverage' for half the trip, despite being on the only road (freeway) north east. Napa is a beautiful little town and as we are reasonably early, we park easily and locate the ABC Bakery, picked from Trip Advisor by Lady P (of course). Reading the write ups, we think - pancakes and pastries, but oh no, there is the full monty of eggs, bacon, sandwiches, fruit - gosh so Californian. Everything made on the premises, including the wonderful breads and pastries. Lady P has an orange, yoghurt cake and cappuccino; Flashy a breakfast burger and Americano coffee. "double shot" she asks. "Let's live dangerously," he says. Without trying to out do that famous Melbourne hamburger blogger, I'd like to describe the fantastic breakfast burger, because it's not what you might think, being American and all. Firstly it was smallish, just what you need for breakfast. The bun a beautiful and tasty, lightly toasted brioche. Sitting on on the base was a hand ground, medium cooked, beef patty, topped by two small but perfectly cooked crispy bacon strips and topped by a runny poached egg. Nothing else. Just that. Heaven! Flashy's small coffee, while good, was the size of a swimming pool. Lady P's cake was moist and tasty. Er, let me rephrase that, her breakfast orange cake was fragrant, moist and tasty. You get the picture. Off we go again, not pursuing the Napa commercial wineries, oh no, we are heading for those east of Sacramento, where there is much less commercialisation. Surprisingly, on the side of the road outside of Sacramento, we found the Vacaville Outlet Mall. Disappointing for Lady P, as she looked all over and only found a Calvin Klein leather jacket for Flashy and a new pair of boat shoes for him as well, for a fraction of the normal price. He's happy. Have to run though, Lady P has booked a culinary walking tour of K Street in Sacramento. We need to find the parking lot, park, walk to the Hyatt and find a mysterious woman who is leading the tour. We make it with 5 minutes to spare and yes, 'The Bitch' actually found a satellite, eventually and helped (a bit). Our guide, Ciara, was a lovely young woman (20-30 yrs) who informed us that we were the only customers, so let's go. Both K Street and Sacramento
 downtown is very much like Melbourne. Lots of Plane trees lining wide boulevards and tram cars in the street. The tour was fantastic and so surprising. First stop was a Mexican restaurant legend called Mayahuel - a vault for the storage of unique and personal Tequila, lines one entire wall. Now you all know, Flashman always says "Good; and Mexican food; don't belong in the same sentence." Well, I take it back. This was the most amazing combination of little tastes that we never see on most Mexican restaurant menus anywhere. Freshly made corn chips and a spicy dip, was served to accompany their signature cocktail. This is a mix of watermelon and lime juice, agave nectar, ice and tequila

(in usual circumstances, but not including mid afternoon walks). The glass rim was dipped in a salty/limey chili mix and Flashy considers this would work just as well with vodka.Next a soup of smoky chili, corn and black beans - truly stunning; then another soup (these are tiny dishes) of roasted green chili and cream with a little toast round with smashed chili on the side. Medium hot, so all good with the internals. 
Off we head to a lunch bistro/come sandwich joint,called Ambrosia, serving the lunch crowd from the nearby Capitol. French inspired, we sample a tasty panini and side salad ( yes, that's bloody Italian, I know). Next was the best Vegetarian restaurant (called 'Mother') in California,  or maybe Sacramento or something, but it was a highly regarded vegetarian restaurant. We had panko crumbed, deep fried mushroom slices. They were terrific, so don't let anyone tell you that Flashy is biased to pork. Across the road, to the famous Bernado Restaurant. Here we had a small sample of the peanut butter flavoured noodles.Yep, I get all the questions about Italian restaurant, noodles etc, but it is a menu classic and just great. All made by hand from basic ingredients. So, here we pause to reflect on the Californian cuisine and food philosophy. Here it is about farm to fork; and they take it very seriously. Where else, in US or Australia, would you find restaurants actually making their own bread, dressings, sauces and mayonnaise? Go California, I say. Old Hippies man! It is a great experience and so different to hot dogs and donuts. We were well satiated, but Ciara took us further into the town, deviating to show us the local Cathedral and views from the 7th floor of an old hotel - all off the script. And there's more. A candy shop to taste chocolate and fudge. Yes, we did. Then at 5pm, we enter the last venue, a wine bar called  'Downtown and Vine, Urban Wine Country.' This was quite up market and delivered an amuse of salad and prosciutto and warm blue cheese with pear on a small crostini, along with three wines from the local area. All were 8/10. '14 Sonoma Sangiovese, '13 Clarksburg Pinot Grigio and a '12 Barbera from Amador. Shades of things to come for sure. Back to the parking lot, locate the hire car without too much aggro and fire up the 'Bitch' again to head out of town via some beautiful mansion studded streets that remind us of Hyde Park in Adelaide. Scenes of American soapies spring to mind with lush green lawns, beautiful manicured gardens and the swing hanging off the large tree on the pavement. The basket ball hoop was - well on the street against the kerb and the white Adirondack chairs with coloured cushions were all set up on the front lawn in a circle along with the table for refreshments. Must be a 'street party' we think but a sign reveals all - 'Therapy session'. "Only in America'! Now, we are winging it tonight. No booking at our intended stop of Auburn, the home of the 1848 gold rush, cowboys, sheriffs and bad guys and the 131 year old Power Mansion, where we a) hope to find it; and b) we hope to stay. After some travel tension (Russell and Jaqui, you'll understand) we manage to find the B&B/Hotel. It's wide open but there is no one about at all. Oh, well, let's go next door to the brewery of the same name - maybe there's a connection. We do. And guess what, the barman, Alfred Lee of obvious Chinese origin, is the owner of the Power Mansion and the Brewery (it has 101 different beers). We manage to check in, drop bags and have some beverages in the bar, including a flight of beers for Flashy and a very strong GnT for Lady P.
Do we need dinner? Probably not, but a walk about the local area makes us think of maybe a pizza and a glass of red. Nah, let's go back to the BnB. Well, what do you think happened next? Just near the back of our little boudoir, we notice the street full of cars and what tha? Why are they there? Well, 60's rock n roll live music is coming from one of the shop fronts. Blimey, it's a bar! We peer in and discover that the place is pumping and the entire crowd is in their 60's, that's years old. Grey hair, ageing hippies and the best Everley Brothers, Dire Straits, Eagles, CCWR just blowing out on to the street. We immediately enter, take a table and order cocktails. Ah, that's why the cars are there. Now Flashy records the event as 'The Cable Car Bar' and 'Two Shots Band'. Lady P, next morning, corrects him by stating that we were actually at the 'Club Car' and the band (two fantastic 60 yr olds) was called 'Double Shot'. Close I reckon, and indicative of the night as it unfolds 

here. Cocktails of 'Smokin Revolver' (bourbon based with a garnish of crispy bacon across the top and 'the Prosperity' for Lady P with Buffalo wings and Shrimp, followed by many Jack on the Rocks at the bar while the band just rocked, man. As all patrons were eligible for senior discounts, there was no glass throwing or fighting on the dance floor, although some without hip and knee replacements did a bit of groovin to the Stones 'Satisfaction'. Now here is where it gets really creepy. Of course we don't have an accent, so the kind folk we were drinking with, asked, 'Where y'all from?' Orstraliah, we say. Well sure as eggs, this gal comes up and says, 'I'm from New Zealand.' It turns out that not only is she from NZ, but she used to live in Titirangi (Lady P's childhood hangout), her mum is in the very same Retirement Village in Auckland as Lady P's mum; she went to school with Lady P's brother; and Lady P has actually met this gal's mum in Pinesong Retirement Village. Well, you could have blown us down with a feather (probably most of the patrons as well). Much cahootin followed and mobile phones were brought out to show the bar photos of the mums, lots of huggin and kissin and a celebratory Bailleys on ice for Lady P before Granny was phoned from the floor of the actual bar with the good news. What a night. What a bar and what a band. We eventually retire to our room where we have a large, hot, soak in the old claw foot bath and crash.