We had an early flight from JFK and so we decided to catch an earlier shuttle bus from the hotel. Even at 4:30 am there were a lot of other people with the same idea. One family had a huge amount of luggage, another had the biggest baby carriage I have ever seen, and the line quickly grew longer than the capacity of the shuttle. Luckily we made it on, and it was a quick ride to the airport.
The airport was surprisingly busy when we arrived, and quite disorganized. The check-in line was long (even four hours before boarding) and the security line was even longer. People were cutting in at different areas, the TSA people looked blasé about the whole thing, and I was glad we came to the airport early. After security we had time enough for a breakfast with some mimosas, a little snack shopping, and then the six hour flight to San Francisco.
My parents picked us up at the airport – it had been a year since we had seen them last. They indulged our request for In ‘N Out Burger on the way back to Glen Ellen, and the food really hit the spot.
The rest of our stay was relaxing and fun. Nancy and Lynn showed up the next day, and it was good to catch up with everyone. We ate lots of Mexican food, both at home and at restaurants and taco trucks. We did wine tasting at VJB, Ty Caton, Cline and Jacuzzi. We had a big anniversary dinner at Stella, the sister restaurant of Star in Glen Ellen. The dinner was OK but not revolutionary – kind of simple but with a lot of volume. But being there with family made the experience much more memorable.
At a taco truck in Sonoma Kuniko accidentally took a big bite of a very spicy chili pepper – I ran to buy chocolate milk for first aid. We also ran up to Mike Benziger’s farm, and it was cool to see what has been his focus since they sold off the wine business. He had a hefty crop of marijuana along with all the biodynamic vegetables (black tomatoes, amaranth, purple basil) and flowers. His dog was really cute too – a little vampiric as it licked Mike’s scratched legs. He had chickens and sheep up there too – very cool.
On our wine tasting at Cline we were served by a lady that looked a lot like Margot Robbie, and watched a stork stoically watch us while we sipped some pretty nice wines. We went across the street to Jacuzzi and enjoyed some of the Italian varieties they had there.
We had a drink at the London Lodge with Nancy and Lynn – three big plates of fried food went well with my beer, but things almost went off the rails when Nancy and Lynn misplaced their hotel room key. Luckily they found it later in my parent’s car.
We also had Brian Haven and Kerry over to share some Mary’s Pizza. It was good for Haven to catch up with Nancy and Lynn as it had been a really long time. They brought two pies from Sebastopol that were excellent – especially with vanilla ice cream.
Finally we went up to Santa Rosa to hit Best Buy and get my parents a new laptop. We looked at a few models and got some advice from the staff (heavy on the upselling) and then took it home and got it started. My dad was using Carbonite but there were some issues getting it transferred over to the new computer – I think he is still waiting for it to download completely.
We also spent time with Matt and Suzie before we had to leave for our flight. They looked the same as ever – and it had been a really long time since I could see Suzie.
On the way to the airport bus we ate a big dinner at Molcajete, tasty Mexican food but I thought it was a little pricey for what we got. The cactus salad was excellent!
Finally my folks took us to the Petaluma Fairgrounds parking lot and we waited a while for the airport bus. One bus came early but when I checked with them it seemed like to was going to opposite way. The female driver gave me a hungry look – it has been a while since I have gotten a “come hither” look like that.
But eventually our bus came and we said our goodbyes to my parents. They did a lot for us during the trip – paying for everything and making sure that we had a great time. We’ll be back in December for Christmas to spend more time with them!
We arrived with plenty of time in San Francisco, caught the plane to Haneda and had a smooth flight. The lady next to Kuniko kept losing her glasses (three times!) so that was a little disturbing but such is the case when flying economy.
The connection in Haneda to Kobe was surprisingly tight and the inter-terminal bus was nowhere to be found, just a long line of people that would never fit on one bus. We took a panic ride on a taxi, costing us 2000 yen but arriving with enough time to check in. We’ve got another tight connection in October on our way to Australia – we’ll have to work on a strategy to make it easier.
The flight to Kobe was half-full so we had plenty of space to stretch and we could see great views of Mt. Fuji and later our city as we descended. Then it was a simple matter of catching trains home.
We did a lot this trip but it was great to see some things we usually don’t – and also spend time with family and friends. Our next trip is coming up soon!
