Fabulous Friends,
Food and Wine
tour in Ca & a visit TO NY
We and 3 of my college friends (of 40+
years) and their husbands have been gathering together annually or more for over
20 years.
Most recently over 2010 New Year's we were in Carmel, NY at one couple's second
home. In May 2009 two couples
visited us on our home turf so Rick and I showed them less-touristy sites and restaurants in San Francisco then
all 6 of us whisked off
to drink and eat the
best wines and foods
in Napa and Sonoma wine country.
See below our previous connections over
the years to celebrate weddings and each other!
| 2010 new year's eve with friends 40 years after college graduation | |||||||||
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(Above & L & R) We and 3 of my college friends plus husbands retreated north of Manhattan to celebrate 2010 New Year's Eve. 8 of us spent 2 lovely days eating great food, drinking superb wine, walking in the snowy woods, relaxing and repeating the next day. |
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| Fabulous Friends, Food and Wine in touring in Ca | |||||||||
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Though Perry
and Sandy had visited the Bay Area in prior years, we gave them
the "Deluxe Walleigh Back Roads of San Francisco Tour." |
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Once Patti & David touched down at SFO, we began the "Deluxe
Walleigh Wine Tour" with dim sum at Yank Sing in SF; drove across the Golden Gate Bridge to Napa where we briefly stopped at our 1st B&B; then made the 1st of many winery stops at Domaine Chandon (Above Far L). After a 4-hour marathon-till-midnight French Laundry dinner, the next morning at Stags' Leap Winery (Above L) we had already started to "lean upon each other." (Above R) Wendy pauses to sip in the lovely garden there before walking out to a vineyard (Above Far R) on our extensive tour and history lesson. We then visited Stag's Leap Wine Cellars (note the apostrophe's different placement about which we learned the significance). |
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our 1st full day of Napa wineries, we toured Groth Vineyards then
checked into our inn in St. Helena before our final visit for the
day at Merryvale. (Above Far L) Rick and Wendy pose with Merryvale's assistant winemaker Graham (our son's high school friend) who gave us a personal tour and tasting (Above L & R) inside the special room made from an old redwood wine tank, detailing the whole process from vineyard to cellar to bottle. (Above Far R) Wendy and Rick stand near one of the many fabulous Napa Valley vistas. |
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Our 2nd full day of tasting was on Spring Mountain above Napa Valley
where we paused the tour for Pride Mountain's old horse-cart (Above Far L) for carrying harvested grapes to the winery then enjoyed the vineyards (Above L) with grapes just ready to "set" on the vines. Over the 5 days, we tasted at 12 wineries and toured a couple of others as well as those seen above. Our favorite full tours were Pride for its great reds, Schramsberg for its delightful champagne, and Merryvale for our winemaker host Graham. Chateau Montelena (Above R) , Barnett, Sherwin were lovely in different special ways. (Above Far R) On Saturday, we drove to the Sonoma Coast for a picnic before we stopped at one last winery, Ledson. Because we drank so well/so much during the days, we drank very little wine at night as we ate our way around Wine Country at French Laundry, Cyrus, Terra and Bouchon. We literally and figuratively rolled out of the Sonoma mountains back to SFO on Sunday to farewell our now-wine-laden friends! |
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| Wendy's College Friends at a Daughter's 2008 Wedding near Philly | |||||||||
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| (Above Far L)
The Tufts Alumnae and husbands are together celebrating David &
Patti's daughter's marriage (standing L & 2nd from L). (Above L) The Adlers, (Above R) the Garbers, and (Above Far R) are the Tufts friends, Class of 1970. |
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| Wendy's College Friends at Diana's 2007 Med School Graduation Celebration | |||||||||
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(Far L) Patti
& David and Sandi celebrate the success of Diana whom they have known since she was about 8. (R) Tufts' future alumnus Josh and 1970 alumni Patti, Wendy, Ted, Sandi, and Alice. (R) Diana with Patti & David). |
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Other Visits Back East |
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Patti, Wend, Kath & Sandi in NYC - Tufts friends since 1966 |
Kath, Patti, Sandi & Wendy at Patti's son's wedding |
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