After drinking so much wine it was time for a long beer dinking day.
Starting at Oakland United in the Jack London area of Oakland.
Then off to Federation Brewery, but alas no pix.
So this is where the trip takes a bit of a turn.
I woke up on day 9 and could not find my phone. All the pictures I had taken the day before, unless I posted them to Facebook, were gone.
And this is why all the wineries were closed once I got to Sonoma. I had to stop on the way and get a new phone. But at least I got to drink at my now favorite west coast brewery, Henhouse. They are bringing the hazy IPA.
The next day was filled with beautiful Sonoma scenery and wines. Wineries visited – Rochioli, Bacigalupi, Scribe and Grunlach Bundschu.
Holy motherforking shirtballs!
It was 97 degrees in Oakland when I showed up. These are not the temperatures I’ve come to northern California for.
The first night was fairly chill. Dinner at a local German restaurant where I had my second schnitzel of the trip, Afterwards, a quick beer or two at the much hear of Tigers.
It was the second night where all the stuff happened
The evening started as so many evenings do, with several Irish Coffees at the home of Irish Coffees, The Buena Vista. Some may wonder how it is that Ireland’s two iconic beverages, Guinness Stout and Irish Coffee, just happen to look alike. I guess it’s just some crazy coincidence.
Then it was back to Hog Island for oysters.
Do yourself a favor and find someone that looks at you like Sam looks at oysters.
A quick ferry ride back to Oakland.
Then it was off to The Greek Theater to see Flogging Mollys – except they were just finishing up as I arrived. Still, it was awesome to hang out at such an amazing old outdoor arena. And Social Distortion was pretty good too.
Then finally I ended my night in Berkley at The Graduate, named for one of my all-time favorite movies.
This was a great day.
It was my original plan to camp in East Yosemite on day 5 and somewhere west of Yosemite on day 6. But when I got to the day 5 campsite there was no cell service. So I couldn’t work. I decided just to blow though Yosemite and find an RV Park and hang out for a couple of days to relax and not drive. Thus I found this place in Angels Camp.
Cool story, huh?
This was a long day of driving. But I did get to check off a bucket list item, seeing the Hoover Dam. I wish I would have had more time there, but I needed to get to the next campsite before it got dark.
If your ever in Edgewood NM and need a place to park your RV overnight, I highly recommend the Walmart there. This has got to be one of the friendliest Walmarts I’ve ever been in. But that’s admittedly a very short list.
The whole point of staying in ABQ overnight was to go to my beloved Gruet Winery. But, according to Google, it didn’t open until noon, so I headed over to the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History. Cool place, check it out.
I finally got to Gruet and it had been opened for an hour. Thanks Mountain Time. Regardless, this was a great tasting. So great I may have purchased more than a case.
The day ended at Sunset Crater just north of Flagstaff. This was the first of two nights i went to sleep before 9pm just because that’s all there was to do.
Vanabouts, and Walkabouts before them, are all about relearning the lessons of the past.
Most of today I was working at the nice little RV park in Childress. This place is a delight. For a mere $15 you get water and power and a beautiful little park to stay in. So beautiful is this park, for “lunch” I took Zoe for a walk around the little lake in the little park. Many many pictures were taken.
“But Steve”, you’re wondering, “where are these pictures?”
Well, I found out the next day, I had failed to put a memory card in my camera. So some great pictures of this delightful little park and, more importantly, some nice arty pictures taken at Cadillac Ranch will never see the light of day since the light of those pictures were not saved. So this is the extent of my Cadillac Ranch pictures.
Seriously, moment for moment, one of the best trips I’ve ever taken. I got to eat at not one but two iconic NYC eateries; Katz’s Deli and Peter Luger’s. And I got to bask in the beauty of Vermont while drinking some of the best beer the world has to offer.
Still South Dakota. Found a cute campground that most of the year is a hopping family holiday retreat. But it’s cold and snowy and latish Oc...
