Work(s) in Progress

My First Trip to Napa Valley

A few months ago I mentioned that I needed a traveling companion for an excursion to Napa Valley that I "won" in a silent auction at an event for  Dani's Foundation.

Wow! I returned early Tuesday morning and I am still thinking about what a wonderful time I had.

I flew into Los Angeles on Thursday evening. My flight was delayed and just about every flight mishap that could happen did. In spite of the ominous start, the rest of the trip was simply outstanding. The weather was terrific - mid 70's or mid 80's and sunny the entire time. Everything else transpired without mishap.

My traveling companion and I drove up route 1 stopping in Big Sur at Nepenthe for lunch. What a magnificently pretty drive. We arrived in Sonoma in time for a delicious dinner at the Eldorado Kitchen before settling into the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn & Spa. I learned later that Boyes Spring is a bit past its prime, but the Fairmont was a beautiful place to stay and had a terrific fitness center.

Friday we drove around the Sonoma & Napa Valleys stopping in at Hess (to see the museum), Stag's Leap, Clos du Val, and Twomey. Of these, Twomey was by far our favorite for the quality of wine and the tasting experience. Just about all of the vineyards charge for a tasting; however, we learned that if you just wanted to taste a single varietal (e.g. "just the cabernet please") or ended up buying some wine that these fees might be waived. In general, portions are large enough to share so I highly recommend doing that as some vineyards had more that one tasting package and many are willing to pull together a package that suits your tastes (e.g. "just the reds please").

Friday afternoon we checked into the Meritage, the resort & spa I "won" in silent auction. The Meritage was tucked into an office park and so one view faced office building and the other a vineyard. In spite of the location it was new, immaculate and had all of the amenities one might hope for as a business traveler (bare bones gym, free wireless internet, 24 hr everything, etc.). That evening we enjoyed our Wine Train experience. I'd recommend doing this at lunch or mid-summer so you can enjoy the views out of the windows. It was fun if kitschy. And while great wine can be purchased on board, you might be better off bringing your own and paying the corkage fee.

The next day we explored Napa Valley in the back of a comfortable sedan hosted by Beau Wine Tours again as part of the silent auction package. I suspect that this may have led to the first and I hope last time I start drinking at 10AM. We started at Duckhorn, which makes several wines that I knew I loved. In terms of easy to access vineyards, Duckhorn was the highlight of the trip for me. Great wine, wonderful experience, terrific service, etc. From there we moved on to Prager Port Works, Cakebread & Salvestrin. The people at Salvestrin were terrific, giving us a tour of their wine making areas and process. The tawny port at Prager was excellent but not a part of their normal tasting package. Cakebread was somewhat disappointing. I've enjoyed their wines at several restaurants but the experience (and wine) was not on par with some of the others we had on this trip. Service matters and while I was a customer in the past, I suspect that I will not be in the future. Their loss really as I went in expecting to buy and to have a wonderful experience.

If the trip stopped here it would have been excellent, outstanding even. However, from this point forward, the trip veered into the surreal. So utterly outstanding that I barely have the words to describe it.

Sunday evening was filled with wine and a tour at the Napa Valley Reserve - beautiful grounds, an inspiring cellar & caves in process and incredibly delicious wine. We followed this treat with dinner at the Press in St. Helena. I never thought I'd say this but have the chicken! Really. Amazing.

We woke up early Monday morning to head to the Infineon Raceway in Sonoma where I enjoyed the Audi Sportscar Experience and got to drive the Audi R8 5.2 FSI quattro with its "soul stirring" 525 hp V10 engine on the track.

My traveling companion and I shared a private lesson. We each had our own car. I really did not want to get out of mine.  

This was a very high tech experience. We inserted flash drives into the cars' computer for our final laps on the track. In theory they'll send an email when we can view our laps on-line. I suspect they'll look something like this:  You Tube. The goal is to keep 1 to 1.5 car lengths between your car and the instructor's car. I know that my gap was too large for most of my laps (much like the linked video). The cones on the track mark the turns and apex. Helpful. As you can hear, the instructor coaches you (or in my case, makes fun of you!) through the track, commenting or giving guidance or encouragement as needed. I had no clue I'd enjoy this sort of thing, but I'd put the experience among the top ten days in my life.

Joy. Bliss. Fun.

I want to do it all again!

Traveling Companion Needed

I went to the movie Yes Man at Christmas with friends. I do not normally go to movies of this kind, but I enjoyed it and think of it still. I find myself saying "yes" more often to things I intended to do eventually. I'm just doing them sooner. It's all part of my quest for Bliss and my realization that there is only now.

My friend Martha is always the executive director of some health related non-profit. This year it's Dani's Foundation which focuses on Ewing's Sarcoma.

Dani's Foundation recently held a fund raising dinner (video here) with several hundred silent auction items. I started the bidding on four items and 'won' two of them, both on my "to do eventually" list: 1 week at a bed and breakfast in Hawaiiand 3 nights in Napa Valley at the Meritage Resort- complete with airfare, limo tour, and wine train tour.  Side note: it's really a sign of our economy when the opening bid on items such as these are the winners.While there are some blackout dates, I essentially have until March 2010 to go on these journeys. People ask me when I'm going. I am not yet sure. I need to line up a traveling companion. While I can easily chill in Hawaii by myself for a week, I definitely want a wine loving traveling companion for Napa Valley. Let me know if you are interested...

For my birthday I finally got the Kindle 2. I'm currently reading Outlierson it, another book by Malcolm Gladwell. Like one of his prior books, Blink, I am utterly enjoying this book. I cannot overstate how much I am enjoying my Kindle: it's smaller than a trade paperback and with its Leather Cover is much, much sexier.

I did not achieve the 6-pack abs I wanted for my birthday. I have been working out regularly - 5 or 6 times a week. However, for every 350 calories I've been burning off per workout, I've probably been eating an extra 600 or so. So, yes, I'm stronger and faster but also heavier. Oops. For the most part, my clothes are still fitting but I'm up a few pounds that need to be shed to see the muscle underneath. I currently belong to two athletic clubs. I really need to decide which one to stick with going forward.

While I have not been writing much on-line (my offline writing is going strong), this has been an amazingly good month. My friend who had the stroke last fall, is now almost fully recovered and back at work.  To quote a physician friend of mine "Cathy I don't believe in miracles, but A's recovery is a true miracle." Indeed. I went to her welcome back party earlier this month. I've never seen so many delighted people at a work event such as this.

Work has been insanely busy, but in a great way. We opened our annual business plan competition to the entire state of Colorado, not just our University family. So far, we're getting terrific interest from the community. We've been filming our orientation sessions (feel free to watch the first one). If you are a local reader and know someone who is starting a company, please have him or her contact me. Executive summaries are due April 16th so it's not too late to participate. We award more than $100,000 in cash and in-kind awards to the winners. The CEO of one of our incubator companies has been working with me on my presentation skills. He used to do corporate training for public speaking among other things. Since I open each session, I will soon have ample video footage for him to review and critique. This is not exactly fun, but will eventually make me better.

Christmas in Cozumel, part 2

I mentioned previously that my friend Chris and I planned to spend our Christmas holiday in Cozumel. I've known her for almost 20 years but it was the first time we've traveled together for fun. It was great to spend time with her.

I can only say wow. Our room was exactly as described, and then some. There were some oddities, like the rooms with no light bulbs and the toilet with the water turned off (we had 3 so it was not a hardship), but these were quickly repaired. I finally created a flickr account so you can browse all of the pictures here if you are interested.

I spent a lot of time sunning myself on our private deck or sitting in our private pool which had terrific views.

 

While we did normal vacation things like having a girl day at the spa or taking a boat trip to go snorkeling, my favorite activity might have been the meals.

 

What a great way to spend Christmas!