El Dorado County wineries

Thursday 13th August. It is a warm day today as we rise around 9am for the complimentary breakfast in the Brewery. Alfred is still there serving and hanging about out table. He seems fascinated by the fact that we came so far to see his mansion and brewery. After a walk around the old cowboy town and a cool barber haircut for Flashman (got the senior's discount too!) and then some confusion as we try and find an ATM, we eventually head for the wineries around Placerville. The 'Bitch' is behaving today and just as well, because there is poor signage to the wineries and turn off from the freeway. The car is very comfortable and just as well, as the temp is now in the 90's. However, we notice the service light on the dash stays on. Some initial panic and consulting of the manual eventually leads us to 'stuff it, it's a hire car, just keep driving.' We assume this is a 'rite of passage' for all ANZAC car hirers as the very same thing happened to the kiwis and Jo and her gang in their hire cars.  We have three recommendations for wineries from yesterday's walking tour. The waitress at 'Downtown and Vine,' has kindly given us the good oil. Lady P has agreed to be skipper, allowing Flashman to conduct the bulk of the research. So, generously, he agrees to limit such research to three wineries, with spitting optional. We enjoy a relaxed day of tasting at Boeger Winery, Placerville; Lava Cap Winery also in Placerville.

 

It is here that the couple standing next to us hear our Australian accent and say G'day. She's from Sydney, married to a Californian and has been living here eight years. Her Aussie accent is still fairly strong, so how do we sound? Anyway a good session. Last is Madrona Winery in Camino, where we do 10 of the 11 wines on offer but from the reds through to the whites. The winemaker explains that the high altitude produces fairly acidic wines and the reverse of the usual tasting order seems to work better for them. Worked for Flashman. We purchase two bottles at each winery. An exceptional Chardonnay and  Pinot Gris and from some of the very good reds tasted, a Sangiovese and a not so typical Californian, a blend of Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon - this style copied from the winemaker's time spent in Australia on a research trip a bit like ours. Mid afternoon sees us heading back to Sacramento to do the other side of the road at the shopping outlets. Many hours later (well, it felt like it), Lady P emerges without a single purchase. Back home in reasonably good traffic conditions, where we both manufacture a stunning smoked salmon salad and pasta from our supplies and crack the chardy. Bliss.

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.

POPOS in San Francisco

Privately owned public open spaces or POPOS are written up and applauded as spaces in the foyers, lane ways, entrances etc of private buildings, that are used by the public. Ah ha, sounds like a SF idea, but really, they are just little spaces like we have in Melbourne and Sydney at the front of many public buildings. Don't get me wrong here, I'm just a bit underwhelmed at all the hype over them. Anyway we headed off for more walking around SF, looking for all these POPOS, which is an excuse to explore more of the city, so all good. I'm sure Lady P will elaborate on the aesthetic and architectural nature of the POPOS. One of the good things we discovered on arrival at the Ferry Building, was the Farmers' Market and the pop up food stalls. We could not go past the pizza and homemade lemonade for a late breakfast. 
The POPOS, some 68 of them in total are all rated by the SF Planning and Urban Research Association so recognizing the short attention span of my travel companion, I selectively chose those that rated 'Excellent' no less. Off course the Financial district of SF where many of these are located for office workers, bankers and the like can seek refuge in their lunch hour is undergoing huge development, often across two blocks do unfortunately some of the POPOS that read brilliantly with scupltures, water features etc included were obviously 'in wraps' or demolished as bigger better outside garden areas were being constructed. Never the less we discovered many little hidden gems including one on the 15th floor of one of the local Banks where several employees were resting under the olive trees and enjoying the colourful planter boxes that adorned a large open roof top space with glimpses across to the bay. the gardens were in all cases refined and immaculately kept and I'm afraid I have yet to find similar within the towering office block melee of Melbourne or Sydney. Laneways, yes and I do recall the odd Brisbane laneway with greenery but these POPOS were just a little more and there had obviously been some serious planning behind their development over several years.

After descending the Bank building we were surprised to see a little Irish Bar, the 'Irish Times'. So of course, we had to have a Guinness and a shandy and some chili cheese fries (what a wonderful combination). Then home to Berkeley with some salad goodies from the local supermarket for our salmon patties dinner.

Monday at home in Berkeley

A relaxed day today, Monday 10th,  with a sleep in and admin such as blog updates and planning for the rest of the week. Well, Lady P does the planning (excellent job too) and Flashy makes the coffee.  Mid afternoon we decide to walk up the hill and do a right hand circuit of the main street, Solano Ave, which our street, Neilson St, sort of cuts in half, one part being the suburb of Berkeley and the other being Albany. So, today Albany gets the nod. Down one side and up the other is the plan and it is a lovely walk looking at the various Tibetan, Indian, Thai and such restaurants, little bars and a whole lot of hair and nail salons. A quick text to Joanne and Lady P has the correct pharmacological name for tummy upset medicine and an equivalent of paracetamol, which we purchase at the local chemist. At the end of the street we hit San Pablo St and guess what we find, which delays our return? Well, it's not a flower shop matey, it's a bar with 37 different brews on tap. Oh so much choice. Lady P suggests Flashy have a flight of beers so he chooses carefully, making sure to progress from a light IPA through to a serious stout. So, 'Heretic Evil Cousin Double IPA' is followed by 'Sonoma Springs Uncle Jack's Kolsch', 'Sierra Nevada Hoptimum Imperial IPA' and 'Port Brewing Santa's Little Helper Bourbon Barrel Stout'.
 

 All were exceptionally delicious, with Lady P stealing most of the Kolsch. The star of the flight was the stout. Without doubt the best stout Flashman has ever tasted and you know he has tasted a lot. A decision to have another (stand alone) stout was brought about by his suspicion that Santa's Little Helper was even better than Guinness. At 13.5% alcohol, he decides on a small glass rather than a pint. The verdict is in. Best ever stout. It tasted like a liquid Christmas pudding and certainly time in a bourbon barrel before bottling has imparted exquisite flavours. So, refreshed we head up the other side of the street and again discover more of our little neighbourhood, including Schmit's Pub. What another find that is. 


A real public house in the old English fashion including a nice fireplace in the 'lounge room', a garden out the back and a porch in the front and Guinness and English beers. In one corner is a display of smoking pipes and large glass jars of tobacco. While relaxing in a lounge chair with a glass of 'Speckled Hen', we notice a lady pay the barman and get a single cigarette paper. She proceeds to the tobacco jars, selects her blend and rolls a smoke. Soon after a gentleman does the same. They enjoy their rollie on the veranda. A quick stop at Safeway for some steak and veg for tonight's dinner and we complete our little neighbourhood walk.

Sunday - a day of rest for some, family catch up for others

Sunday 9th August. Tas arises at some unearthly hour to catch his cab for the airport. He is heading to NYC, that's New York and Boston for a week or more before reuniting with us in LA. Naturally we arise as well to farewell him in the manner to which he is accustomed (and to provide back up transport just in case the Indian taxi driver he booked does not turn up.) He does so we return to sleep for a couple more hours.
Flashman decides he needs a day at home, so while Lady P prepares for more SF adventures, he sleeps in, reads, blogs and wanders up to the local Safeway for delicious salad and chicken supplies for when Lady P returns. Great to still be in PJ's at 2pm and have two beers before even showering.

Meanwhile Lady P literally runs to the local 
BART station some 20 mins away in order to catch the 9.42am train to the city. Sunday trains are only 20mins apart and time is off the essence as there are things to see and places to go. She meets up with the A team (read adults, Aussi's or whatever) but essentially Jo, Steph and Adam and advises re travelling on the famous SF cable car. The queue is at least a block and a half long at the turntable on Powell St but by moving up towards Union Square we are able to secure a spot after only 1/2 hr and ride up the steep slopes and down the other side assisting the 'brakeman' on the way as we are hanging on the back verandah of the cable car. 
A stroll along the old Fisherman's wharf promenade leads us to our destination, the Ghiradelli chocolate factory. Mmmmm - another tick off Steph's list and the chocolate wasn't bad either. Just to ensure we walked off a few calories Lady P took on the tour guide role and led the  A team up a steep flight of stairs and through a delightful neighbourhood of San Francisco known as Pacific Heights. Not a tourist in sight and stunning typical SF houses cheek by jowl with delightful gardens and really interesting architecture. It was bliss and even in the hot

 midday sun seemed very easy to take (and luckily didn't involve any more steep hill climbs) more by good luck than good management as she was literally flying by the seat of her pants and intuitive sense of direction. The A team seemed impressed, even after 3kms of sidewalk pounding, especially so when at the corner of Steiner and Broadway we reached our next destination,'Mrs Doubtfire's' house.Looking a little tired after all these years it still rated highly up in the photo stakes and ticked another box in our day's journey. The final destination was the famous' Painted Ladies' on the edge of Alamo Square. Further exercise was out of the question especially several kms so we hailed a cab on California St and were dropped right out the front of the said attraction. Like some tourist attractions that are built up on all the brochures these were a bit of a let down, which even the friendly cab driver had warned us but we headed across to the other side of the 'brown is the new green' square (reflecting the severe drought currently being experienced in CA) and down the hill for some sustenance. Stumbling upon the very 'hip' Bean Bag Cafe Lady P in true tour guide fashion, secured a table for four in no time. Sipping on lavender lemonade and ginger lemonade we ate an assortment of 'hip' cuisines from crepes to burritos and took advantage of the 'free wifi'. When the aroma of the 60's (read weed) began to infiltrate the cafe we departed and to preserve the dollars and cents for some retail therapy sourced a cheap, $1.25 trolley bus ride back into Market St and a visit to the shopping centre. By 7.30pm after a BART ride home Lady P arrived and enjoyed a much needed G & T and a delicious chicken salad dinner prepared by the much rested Flashman.

El Presidio de San Francisco

Saturday 8 August sees Lady P, Flashman and the Major up and away to SF on the now familiar BART to explore the Presidio. But first, we line up for the cable car ride up the hill. Tick off the experience, but Flashman is a bit underwhelmed. Lady P has found a walking tour of the Presidio, so we need to get there by 1.00 PM. This necessitates a cab ride, as the delay on another cable car would cut it too fine. Luckily for us, the cab is nearby. A strange driver he turns out to be. Probably Russian or Eastern European extraction by the accent and we get a real dose of that when he takes a mobile call from, we assume, his long suffering wife. He heads off for the Presidio in a round about route, so Lady P leans over from the back and shows him the correct route on her maps app on the phone. Now this could have turned out one of two ways. Either, as Flashman fears, he could explode into a filthy Russian temperament and throw the phone out the window, or as actually happened, take the phone and use it as a map to deliver us inside the Presidio with a minute to spare. 
The Presidio (means armed fort in Spanish) is now a National Park. A 400 hectare, beautifully wooded corner of the city, with views over the Golden Gate. It was set up as an armed fort by the Spanish in 1776. Then after the Spanish/Mexican War of 1821 it reverted to Mexican control and was expanded. In 1846 the Americans took the Presidio as part of the Mexican/American war, so it went from Spanish to Mexican to American control and stayed that way until 1994, when the US Army reluctantly departed and handed it over to the NP Service. During the US Army occupation, the building housed troops fro the Civil

War 1861-65, the 1898 Spanish/American War where troops bound for the Philipines were staged, through to the Indian wars of 1898 and on to the departure of Brigadier General John J. 'Black Jack' Pershing as Commander of the American Expeditionary Force to WW1. From 1915 to their departure in 1994, the US military extensively developed and maintained the facilities, including beautiful timber Officers' cottages, three story brick soldiers' barracks and ancillary facilities like a military hospital, dispensary, ambulance station, fire station and parade grounds. Interestingly, from 1883 to 1903, the Army decided to convert the Presidio, which was situated on land that was not much more than sand dunes, into a forest to "crown the ridges and cover areas of sand and marsh." In typical military tradition, 400,000 seedlings were planted (all in nice tittle rows, standard placing, tight formation, just like soldiers on parade). Many seedlings were imported from around the world, including what are now massive eucalyptus trees from Australia and pohutukawa's from NZ. So having all this history, we met our volunteer tour guide, Jack. He was about 87 years old, whispered a lot and took off like a rabbit from one stop to another. Even faster than Lady P and that's saying something. However it was a wonderfully informative tour, through a very well kept and laid out, 200 year old military complex. When the National Parks took over, the various buildings were leased out and George Lucas also come in and invested $350 million in redeveloping his film making HQ at the Presidio. 

 Two hours later we adjourned to the Officers Club, now occupied by a nice little restaurant and had some Mexican dips, deep fried pork belly and a couple of sangrias, before cabbing it down hill to Embarcardio for the BART home. Inspired by all the Mexican and Spanish history, we walked around the corner of our Berkeley cottage to a Mexican restaurant for a huge plate of beans, rice, tortillas and other Mexican stuff for dinner. Tas was easily cajoled into a pitcher of Sangria and Roger into some tortilla's and dip for starters so we all rolled down the hill home with Lady P lighting the way with the torch on her mobile phone in order to prevent the older gentleman from tripping over the very uneven sidewalks in the local streets.

Alcatraz

Alcatraz has been booked for tonight (Friday), so we attend to the essentials of laundry. Three large bags, representing just about everything apart from what we are wearing (we being the male members of the contingent) and some smalls from Lady P, who manages her wardrobe far more efficiently, are deposited at the local Chinese laundry. Despite their assurances that they know what goes where, we are dubious. There are bags and racks of clothes everywhere and in no apparent order. Nonetheless, we collect our tickets and depart, agreeing to return the next day. To fill in some time before we head to town, Lady P takes us on a tour of the local neighbourhood, noticing that the architecture and obvious value in the homes increase with the elevation. 
Late afternoon sees us heading to town for lunch at Fisherman's Wharf Pier 1, where, in deference to Flashman's sudden onset upset stomach, the team have a bread, cheese, olives and pate lunch. Flashman picks at the bread and has a glass of red. At 5 PM we meet up with Joanne, Steph and Adam who have arrived from their road trip from Seattle and board the ferry for the short 1.4 mile ride to Alcatraz.

The facility is now run by the National Parks Service and hasn't been a Federal Penitentiary since 1963. The Spanish settled the area in 1776 and the Mexicans continued to operate the Fort until the Yankees took half of Mexico in the American / Mexican War in 1846 and thus acquired the island. The US Army then took over and started using it as a prison and fort and by 1861 it had 111 cannon, rows of open gun emplacements and a fortified sally port to protect the buildings. In 1907 the Army decommissioned the fort and the US Military Guard took over and began building a huge concrete cell house. In the 1930's it was transferred from the military to the Dept of Justice as a Federal Prison for high-profile, maximum security prisoners. Alcatraz was home to Al Capone, Machine Gun Kelly and one poor sod who did 25 years for robbing a store of $60. What he did not know, was that there was a post office agency attached to the store, which made his crime a Federal one and thus time in a Federal Pen. The birdman of Alcatraz, Robert Stroud, was also a guest. He never kept birds at Alcatraz at all, (he was transferred from Leavenworth where he conducted his famous bird studies). Bobby Kennedy as AG closed the prison in 1963 due to its high cost of operation. The audio tour was very well done and the return trip at 8.40 pm provided some excellent photos of the city skyline, sunset and the bridges.