We had an action-packed homecoming trip to Glen Ellen this past week. We try to get to California every July, and this time things worked out so that we could also meet up with a lot of other family members together in Glen Ellen.
The full list of attendees was Mark and Susan, Charlie, Maya, Susan and Dave Underwood, Joey and Alex, Drew, Griff and Gage, Neil, and of course Kuniko and me along with our hosts Bonnie and Ray.
We took a half day off in Japan and caught a flight on Asiana airlines, through Incheon airport to get to San Francisco in the afternoon. As usual we had to wait nearly an hour for Asiana to get our bags to the carousel. And then, unfortunately we found out that one potential attendee couldn’t make it – Kinsey had some things going and couldn’t be there.
But Mom and Dad picked us up and drove us back to Glen Ellen. The first night we were pretty tired out – thankfully Mark and Susan stepped up and cooked some carnitas and beans for a Mexican food night. We spent most of the time meeting everyone and catching up, and then fighting jet lag overnight trying to get to sleep.
The next day was a lot more meeting and greeting, talking with family we hadn’t seen in a long time, and just chilling out around the house. Some people were staying at George’s place, another couple in a rental room next to George’s – full capacity!
For dinner we all went down to the London Lodge and ate (mainly) prime rib out back on their patio. It had been years since I’d eaten prime rib – it was Kuniko’s first time – and my Dad was nice enough to pick up the tab (and the Underwoods picked up the tip). There was even some live music playing in the background.
Afterwards we went back home and attended an exclusive screening of Drew’s latest film, Bloody Mary. He stretched a sheet outside and set up a projector and we could watch it on the big screen. We really enjoyed the show – it was fun to see what he has been putting his energy into.
The next day, Sunday, we were kicking around the house, doing some chores to try to fix the Chan’s sprinkler system, we headed to Benziger winery for a wine tasting with some of the group. It was the first wine tasting for Gage and Griffin – maybe for Joey as well. MJ was getting over Covid but she was wearing a mask while she poured our wines.
That night we put together a mixed grill and some salad, inspired but a quick game plan Mark came up with in the garage that morning. It worked out really well, and we cleared out a lot of space in the refrigerator(s), especially the mushrooms.
One weird thing was the discovery of a 3 liter bottle of red wine under the bed in Mark’s old bedroom. My folks thought it was mine but it must have been someone else’s. So we drank the whole thing over the next five days. Yum!
We capped off the night with a monstrous Chicken game featuring most of the members in a gigantic circle. Maya provided the in-game scores and enjoyed all the attention. She also was seriously into playing gin rummy, which was good to see. Meanwhile Charlie was enjoying the free use of her new iPhone, so everyone was keeping entertained.
The next day we went into Sonoma – Mark and family went around to some stores on the plaza (Griffin, Gage, Kuniko and myself joined them at Tiddlywinks). Gage and Griffin were puffing on candy cigarettes, and eventually we split up into a Traintown group and just walking around group.
That evening some members of the group headed back, and just Mark and family and Bonnie and Ray and Kuniko and I went to Coddingtown to do some Bath and Bodyworks shopping.
Afterwards, we drove to a Mexican food truck area where we could try some good stuff. I got excited when I thought I saw huitlacoche (a Mexican corn fungus) on the menu, but it was actually huarache (a fried masa dough in a sandal shape with meat and beans on top). But the sandal was delicious anyway. Kuniko had a birria gordita, and everyone (except us) ordered lots of sweet crepes, and dessert was a big event.
The next day (Tuesday the 16th) Mark and family packed up and flew out from Santa Rosa airport. We heard later that they had trouble with checking their bags and ended up losing most of their Bath and Bodyworks products to the TSA inspectors. Bummer!
As for Kuniko and I, we drove Dad’s pickup to meet Brian Haven at the Sonoma Plaza. We met a little too early for wine tasting so we moved to the Gourmet Taco shop for bean burritos, and then back to the plaza to visit Kamen winery and taste some of their excellent (expensive) wines. I was really impressed with their Syrah and Cabernet Franc wines, and also Kuniko really enjoyed their Sauvignon Blanc, so we brought a bottle back to share with Banzai. It was great to chat and catch up with Haven, who looked like he was doing well and enjoying life in California.
Next we continued on into Napa in Dad’s pickup to shop at Trader Joe’s, and then Whole Foods (for dinner stuff). On the drive back to Glen Ellen near 8th street in Sonoma a car behind us pulled us over and warned us that gasoline was leaking from the truck. I checked and it was a whole lot of gas leaking out. There was a risk of fire/explosions/death so we rushed to the nearest gas station which in fact didn’t do repairs – but at least they had a burger food truck to keep us busy while we waited for my Dad to come bail us out.
Once he arrived he called AAA and after dealing with their frustrating automated system we waited a bit longer for the tow truck. Luckily there were some shady tables and we ate a grilled cheese sandwich with pickles and drank sparkling water to keep cool.
Finally the tow truck came, and we drove back to Glen Ellen to meet at the service station there and leave the truck for repair later on. Afterwards the repair guy said that the seal on the gas line had just disintegrated due to old age – it was a matter of timing and bad luck for us.
Kuniko and I cooked up some Chinese food for dinner, soup, a stir fry, some fried rice, and then we watched a movie – Perfect Days – with my parents. It was a pretty good movie, and it had some famous Japanese actors who did a good job with a mysterious story.
But then on Wednesday morning Dad wasn’t feeling great and tested positive for Covid. During the day other members of our family reunion checked in with positive tests, and so that was how our big family gathering turned into a superspreader event. Oh, no!
Our top priority was to get dad on some meds fast, so Kuniko and I drove to Kaiser in Santa Rosa and brought back his medicine. Once that was set, we basically were trying to do what we could to make sure that my dad could recover and we made things accessible for Banzai around the house.
The next day was more running around – getting stuff to stock the groceries and fridges in Glen Ellen, but we did manage to get lunch at In-N-Out, and do a short wine tasting at Landmark vineyards in Kenwood. We also went to a Mexican market for tortillas and sauces, and wrapped up our shopping lists for things to bring back to Japan.
Kuniko spent lots of time in the kitchen making some soups to keep things easy for my folks, and we divided what she cooked into containers for the freezer and the fridge. By then my dad was getting lots of sleep and starting to feel a little better, so we felt like things were going to be OK after we left.
Friday was our last day in the USA – we gathered linens from George’s place, organized around the house and tried to set up things to be easier once we had left. We said our goodbyes to my folks, and then Matt Atkinson was nice enough to give us a ride to the Airporter bus stop (in front of the Santa Rosa fairgrounds).
The Airporter is now called GROOME Airport Buses, but they were having lots of problems that day. They made us switch from a cool air conditioned bus to an old spare with broken air conditioning, so it was a hot ride down to the city. But once we arrived we could sit at a bar and drink/eat while we waited for our check-in and boarding to open up.
Turns out we were lucky – there was a computer glitch running through many transportation systems, and we met a lady who had been stuck in the airport for two days. Our flights were unaffected, and once we boarded we were able to get going and go right to sleep after dinner. We slept for about 8 of the 11 hours in the flight – no problem.
Back in Japan we did a little shopping and unpacking, and then we were cooking some more to get ready for the work week. We’ve only got two weeks here before our next adventure, this time to Europe. More on that later on!
