When we went to SF, one of the highlights was a tour of my old stomping grounds from oh so long ago. We wanted to go to Napa but the schedule didn’t really have room for a really long day-trip. So we went to the vineyard that makes some of the world’s best Zinfandels and Cabernets: Ridge Vineyards, located not in the hills of the Napa Valley, but well-hidden in the hills overlooking Silicon Valley, in the town of Cupertino, most known as the home of Apple Computer (And, yes, I drove Lisa past the headquarters since she’s a Mac fan-chick, but even more importantly, past “Bandley Three,” the nondescript office building where the original Mac development team labored in secret to build the first version of the revolutionary machine).

Anyway, the road to Ridge Vineyards, which I used to ride on my mountain bike, is narrow, steep and twisty. It has an incredible view if one can take one’s eyes off the road for a second as you ascend. Lisa is none too fond of heights and threatens to get carsick when it gets twisty. And to my dismay, the wines that I could afford 30 years ago now go for hundreds of dollars per bottle, as Ridge’s reputation has gone global. Ack! But the wine was incredible and the weather was great, so it was still a successful trip.

It was indeed fun to visit Texas for John’s birthday party. The food was almost as good as the food at Lisa & her mom’s annual tea party, so it was pretty easy to withstand the assault on all the southern belles who wanted to check me out. Now I know how prize specimens feel at a horse auction, being prodded, checked for glanders and having my molars examined repeatedly. Fortunately, I seem to have passed since I was admitted back for the annual tea more recently, but that’s a story for another day.

–HCFG

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