Agraichen's VirtualTourist Home Page
| Page Views: 17,261 | Long...Slow...Distance........ by Agraichen - last update: Jun 16, 2009 |
Current Events...Jun - A few local trips through wine country Jul - ROAD TRIP....1200 miles south on Hwy 1 to Loreto BCS..Fun until you get the trucks doing 2x speed limit taking up your lane and there is nothing in Mexico known s a berm....you go off the asphalt, you roll. Current Upcoming Happenings2009 Jul/Aug - Thinking about an Alaska cruise Sep/Oct - Loreto, BCS Dec - Loreto, BCS 2010 Lexington Ky - World Equistrian Games. First time on US Soil. I need a room to rent if anyone is accomodating.... Most Recent Happenings.
2009
May - Less than two weeks in Loreto, BCS is not enough to end the season. The drive north is still in front of us since the truck needs to get a CA smog inspection before it can be registered again. Hopefully this will be uneventful in spite of the Swine Flu issues that have been present on the mainland. Friday we take off for the US.
May- Quick trip to SF for a screening of Angels & Demons on Thursday, the day before the release to theaters. OH WOW...great movie I don't care what the WSJ "critics" had to say.
Apr - Weekend trip to Napa to taste a few grapes. Rombaur was first on the list to replace the sold out 2005 Zinfindeld; Duckhorn was next as we had a bit of extra time. It was well worth the trip. Last, Quintessa for barrel tasting and to pick up some 2006 magnums. mmmmm....
Apr - Las Vegas. World Equestrian Event is back to the US.
Mar-Apr - Loreto Blue Whale watching in the Sea of Cortez
Feb - Monterey & Carmel Mercedes back road RIDE; Great time just driving back roads at speed.
On a rainy day in Danville, thousands of town residents turned out with EVERY major TV station in the SF Bay Area to pay tribute and welcome home Sully Sullenberger, the pilot of the US Airways jet that "landed" in the Huson River last week. ALL 155 people aboard the aircraft survived.
Jan - Livermore - Catching up on release parties missed in Dec at Bodegas Aguire and The Big White House. The new offering by John Evan has been in oak for 4 years and is s..m..o..o..t..h... Great stuff.
Jan - Napa - Release party at Clos Pegase with a Jazz ensemble featuring the Wine Club Manager Susie. Great time.
2008ROAD TRIP. Danville, CA to Loreto, BCS. Day 1: Danville to Hollywood on the set of My Own Worst Enemy. Day 2: Lightweight, Hollywood to San Diego to see an old friend. Day 3 5:00 AM meet with two others and a 5:30 AM border crossing. Day 4 off at 8:00 AM. By 3:00 PM we were in Loreto enjoying Margaritas. Napa for the Crush. Early run to Napa for a Harvest Party at Clos Pegas - Tasting, blending, learning followed by a wonderful lunch and a Grape Stomp competition. We Came in 3rd for the blend and 1ST for the Stomp...YES. Friday, Sep 26 - Danville - Dinner and concours to benefit Parkinson's Research. Former race car driver Sam Posey was in attendance. He joked that his cane (he has Parkinson's) has "camber" as he banged it a time or two.... On Sunday, Sep 28, I was fortunated to be able to discuss with Mr. Posey about some of his racing career as well as his thoughts on how both Paul Newman and Phil Hill left their marks on the racing profession. Friday September 26, 2008 screen icon and motorsports racing enthusiest Paul Newman died after a long battle with Cancer. Once again this year (Phil Hill, last month) motorsports has lost a great driver and supporter. |
|  | Now back to reality...
Cronicles of the family:
TV is subject to the economy too. Christian Slater's "My Own Worst Enemy" debuted in October and was cut in November. Now it's back to the network for the next gig.
In the "off hours" there is a community service project in the making. Bridges to Prosperity has not really had a documentary produced of their humanitarian work so Carla plans on doing so in 2009 with UnBroken The Documentary.
She was able to use the time off from the writer's strike quite well and is now fully PADI Certified as a Rescue Diver and got quite a bit of travel in herself. Now if only SAG doesn't go out too. With the rotator surgery behind her she plans to finsh the Dive Master requirements.
The road to Hollywood is not that smooth; just look at the encounter heading south on I-5 when Road RAGE took over....(See the album links below).
Now back to the more mundane stuff like my history and how I began traveling.
I tend to think I grew up traveling. In New England, USA, you can see a lot without driving too far so even a weekend is enough for a "short vacation" and it could be done inexpensively.
Trips to surrounding states could be done in just a few hours so on my father's occasional day off, we'd pack the car and just drive. Where ever we ended up at the end of the day is where we stayed for the night. Explored a bit the next day and returned home.
Later we began vacationing on Newfound Lake in Bristol, NH. After a few years of renting a cabin we acquired a small house near the lake and my summers were spent in "another world." After chores, I had the freedom to wander the Apalachian Mt. Range trail heads or swim in the lake or mountain streams which filled me with a desire to wander.
Fortunately I've been able to trave widely throughout the years, but there's more out there waiting and I hope to cover much more. |
Home Winter in No. CA sometimes provides a few "cold" days. Just enough to leave a bit of snow on "our" mountain. Only 3849 feet high, Mt. Diablo has the unique ability to allow people to see more land mass of the US than from the top than from any other peak in the US.
This phenonomon has something to do with the mountain's location and the fact that much of the "central valley" of California is quite flat. On a clear day you can see the Sierras to the east, the Ocean to the west, Mt. Shasta to the north and almost to Bakersfield to the south. | | |
| Oh Yeah? Well, mine is bigger than yours.... |
| | Locals dropping in... The resident varmits have decided to migrate by my back door (well better these guys than the wild boar that are beginning to show up on the mountain).
They must know that in CA, you can't do much with a wild Turkey (legally) other than shoo it away (but don't try it with a hen herding chicks) or just sit back and enjoy the gobble (even at 4:00 AM)....... and once again (2nd year) on Thanksgiving morning 3 dozen showed up for "breakfast" along with 4 deer. |
"The Zoo" has increased again It's hard to believe Merlin is now almost 1 1/2 years old. He's grown from a very scrawney colt to almost 15 hands. We were hoping for only 15-15.2 but at this rate he may top 16. BUT he's got great ground manners, gentle and playful as a puppy. | | |
| | My Favorite Web Sites... |
SF VT On the "GO" SF VT Madness Blowout -Part Deux. June 25 SF.. SF VT Part Deux Only SF VT can consistently outdo itself. This evening was a few hours of dancing and gambling (for fun money) on SF Bay. | | | VT SF Dine About Town CREW.... |
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| Yubert photographing his VT Fan Club.. |
| | VT HOSTED a fabulous time in Mahattan Beach, CA; KUDOs to the "Brains behind the machine."
And er...well..it seems some members always have more fun than others... |
 Agraichen's Albums | | | |
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 Comments for Agraichen | | | | |
ViajesdelMundo Sun Jun 14, 2009 03:14 UTC
Wd u believe it is almost 100F here today! ugh! Finally got a bunch of stuff loaded about some out-of-the-way places; highlighted on my HP. | olddude Sun Jun 14, 2009 01:01 UTC
Actually I got that moniker from my former coworkers since I was at least 20 years older than most of them. | msbrandysue Fri Jun 5, 2009 23:30 UTC
Jimmy Buffet rocks ;) | YVRDave Mon Jun 1, 2009 23:17 UTC
Thanks Al. Cali is still in the air. I know I am not going to Napa on friday for sure |
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