Napa Valley

We visited Napa Valley this weekend with Clay and Laura from Advanced Elements.  

They were nice enough to include us in their company Christmas Party last night.  It was held at Bottega.  The restaurant is owned by  Michael Chierallo, a famous chef from the area.  His restaurant was featured on the "Top Chef" program last week.  Clay and Laura are regulars, and he stopped by our table to say hello to Laura, who he loves.  They had been at the restaurant earlier this year as guests with Sammy Hagar.... so they're kinda a big deal.

Everything about the experience was amazing.  The Food, the service, the food, the atmosphere, the FOOD.  We had a private room, and I felt very pampered.  

The head waiter would describe the dishes, and make everything sound soooo delishious.  Of course I made a huge green stain on the table cloth.  I put a bread plate over to cover it up.  He moved the plate, saw the stain and then put the plate back.  :-)  The rest of the night he would keep the stain covered with various tableware.... giving me a hard time along the way.  

Today we visited several wineries in the valley.  Beaulieu Vineyard is one of the oldest, and the first to make a red in the valley.  

Then we went to Rutherford Hill where we tasted several wines and took a tour of their facility.

This is a grape crusher. 

They age their wine in a cave 150' below the surface.  

The wine ages for almost 2 years in oak barrels.  There are 200 yards worth of 2009 barrels.

The tour was really cool.  And the wine is tasty.  

It was a wonderful day.  It's now 8 pm and I'm ready for bed. 

Four State Day

800 miles. 

3 time zones... Central, Mountain, Pacific

Four States... Texas, New Mexico, Arizona & California

Who's idea was it to drive instead of fly? 
Oh yeah, it was Jack & Lucy.  :-)

Hammocks

My sweet husband got a hammock for me.  I love it.  I can lay there swaying in the breeze, watching the lake, knitting, throwing the ball for J & L, all at the same time.  It's multi-tasking at its finest.

I can even take interesting pictures of my darling doggies from my hammock.

And I must mention that I've napped in zillions of places, but nothing, nothing beats a hammock nap.  Like my Dad and Grandpa Ross before me... I'm thinking of going Pro.

Around Louisiana in 8 Days

We've been making the rounds in Louisiana this week.  Started in Lafayette, visiting a new dealer there. Steve did an employee clinic. Their shop is beautiful with lots of open wooden beams. They had a fishing clinic presented by our Regional Hobie Fishing Team Member.  It was standing room only.  I learned a lot about lures. Oh, the guy in the red shirt was signing the clinic. He was cool to watch too.


Next we headed to Baton Rouge where Steve gave a clinic to our dealer there.

Then it was on to New Orleans for the weekend.  We worked a show just a few blocks from the French Quarter.  The show was really interesting. It was scientists from all over the world who work on projects studying human-environmental interactions.  SETAC They liked our yaks, and understood the mechanics of the pedals at a glance...  wow!  Then they would ask me questions in scienceez... yikes! (Oh, I see the fin is cantilevered, but how does the propulsion compare to that of a rotary propeller?)

Yes, we did take a look around town.  While Monday afternoon on Bourbon Street is pretty tame, but we found some gumbo and jumbalaya.  Played a little black jack at Harrah's.  (I made $5 last an hour and a half. Had it up to $25... but then blew it all. Just couldn't walk away a winner.) haha

We took a stroll down the River Walk along the Mississippi.  The shipping freighters are fun to watch. I was surprised how fast they cruise.


 They have the palm trees all dressed up for the Holidays. 

Fishin' at the Lake

One of the cool things about being in kayak sales is that we need to keep up on our fishing skills . . . it's for work.

We took an afternoon to putt around and search the lake for some fish.  I caught a striped bass on practically the first cast.  Ew!  It was just a little one, and he got away before I had to touch it.  I love everything about fishing, except for catching the fish.    The guys would have liked to catch one though.

On the bright side, the sunset was gorgeous!

 

Culley and Steve... aren't they handsome.

Another Texas Surprise

BUTTERFLYS!  I guess it's butterfly season.  They are beautiful.  

The lawn (ok the clover) is just alive with them. I am continually amazed at the new things there are to discover here.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

The gecko's are really cool too. They line up along the outside lights at night to eat the bugs.  

As long as they stay outside, we get along just fine.  

Big ass spiders have moved in.  We've seen two so far.  Those, I'm not so happy about.  

Photos not available due to the freaking out and throwing of shoes.    

Red Fish in the Kitchen

Capt Fishman Fil gave us some Red Fish from the coast. So I thought I'd try my hand at blackening. Cooked outside on the camp grill, and used this seasoning from a Dom Deluise look-a-like. It came out really good. Just wished for Grandma's cast iron skillet. (next time)



Thanks Fishman!!!

Fall Demo Days in Houston

Demo Days with Fishing Tackle Unlimited in Houston. This store is the Nordstrom of fishing... if there can be such a thing. 33,000 square feet of nuthin but fishin. We were indoors Friday,
another 4 inches of rain in one day. But Saturday was a beautiful day. And, we sold some stuff. :-)

Demo Days Part 2

The next weekend we went to San Marcos, TX to the city park. It was really a pretty place for a demo. Sloping, grassy bank, gentle entry into the water.... it was great... until it started raining. They reported 4 inches of rain on that Saturday afternoon. Yuk.

The good news is, Sunday was a beautiful day. :-)

It's Fall Demo Season!

Demo Days are here. We've had a good run through East Texas. First was Austin with Austin Canoe & Kayak. These guys are always fun and they draw a great crowd. Usually somewhere around 300 folks over the weekend.

AND... it is the gathering of the Steve's. Steve Sell, our fabulous friend and competition from Confluence Kayaks.

Steve Messana and well, Steve O. Steve M is one of the owners of ACK.

Here is THE most decked out Outback we have seen yet. The guy that did it has had his boat for about 4 months, and it has 22 fishing rod holders. He said he's all most got it how he wants it.

Here is the Adventure Island with the new trampolines on the aka's. It makes it really fun to take two people.... and blue dog. Steve and I had a great day out on Lake Livingston on the AI in May. Then we tried bringing Jack & Lucy at Blue Lake Res. um.... we kinda sank, I had to abandon ship. haha

Climbing at Enchanted Rock, TX

The Hill Country in Texas, what a beautiful place to climb.

This is a State Park called Enchanted Rock. The scenery is wonderful. The rock is sticky and low angle, there was a cool breeze blowing, and the company was delightful.

What a perfect day.






We went with Steve and Lisa, our Texas alter selves,




















and Liam who Steve has climbed with several times.

It was Lisa's first time climbing outdoors, and she did GREAT!

The rappel is fabulous.... just too short.

Someone forgot to tell Steve not to run when he's on belay. At least he's not carrying scissors.

Hoping to go back soon.