Month: November 2009

How can a destination be a kitchen store, you ask?????

Well, when it’s Shackford’s Kitchen Store & More…the & More says it all. Located in Napa, CA, this store is not just the plain vanilla kitchen store you find in every mall.

The window is loaded with unique ceramic kitchen stuff…from gaudy painted chickens to mostly attractive kitchen critters. Don’t that those fool you.

Walk inside…through the narrow aisles…slowly so you don’t miss anything. What ever you are looking for or didn’t even realize you were looking for…you will find it here. Don’t see it? Ask and a knowledgeable friendly staff person will find it for you. Chances are it’s located right next to some other kitchen utensil you always needed!

This in itself is a destination. It could take you hours to wander around. Happy snooping.

Storybook Mountain Vineyards were first planted in 1883 by Adam and Jacob Grimm, German winegrowers. Three tunnels were dug 100 feet into the volcanic rock and established Grimm’s Vineyards and Wine Vaults.

In 1964 a devastating wildfire destroyed the Grimm’s winery and vineyards. In 1976 Jerry and Sigrid Seps bought and renamed the property Storybook Mountain Vineyards.

Planting Zinfandel grapes at that time, the first wines were released in 1983. Since that time those Zins have been winning awards all over the world.

In 2003 Wine and Spirits includes Storybook among the top 100 wineries in the world.

The hills showed their colors this past weekend…golds, reds, oranges, and greens.

One of the tunnels dug by Chinese workers through volcanic rock.

This grove of Redwoods withstood the devastating fire and stands strong. As typical of a Redwood grove, temps were cool among the giant trees.

Sunday was another beautiful soccer day, with sunshine and a light breeze at times.

The flag is at half staff, honoring those who died at Ft. Hood, Texas.

Good soccer played by both Standford and Cal.

The Cal Keeper was busy all afternoon.

Great skills shown by all the players.

More Keeper action.

The final score of 4 to 1 was impressive enough. But with 27 shots on goal by Stanford to 5 shots on goal by Cal, this was a Win in many ways.

Not only did Stanford keep their #1 women’s soccer ranking but they will now have home field advantage for the tournament. Way to go, ladies.

Perhaps this was a day trip for the squirrel. At any rate, he seemed to enjoy tormenting Luna.

If only there wasn’t a screen on this window…

Last Sunday was the perfect day to watch the #1 Women’s College Soccer Team in action. Stanford hosted Arizona. It’s easy to see why Stanford is #1. These women play as a team, all have super foot and control skills, they play smart and they can run.

It didn’t hurt that the temps were in the high 70’s to low 80’s, sunny with no wind. Plus Stanford is a beautiful university. The finals start this weekend and Stanford is ranked #1 for those as well. If you are around, head to Palo Alto to see a great game this Sunday. Game time is 1:00.

Auberge du Soleil in Napa Valley, with its terraced accommodations sits nestled in along and down the hill side. You sort of see the cottages, maison rooms and main guest house as you wind up the driveway.

If you are in the area and don’t have an extra $500 to $4500 to spend on a night, stop by the terraced bar for a drink. Go prior to sunset for views worthy of photographs and paintings. Watch as the sun changes the hills from greens to grays to pinks.