Sheep, Cattle, Quail, and Hogs
Yeah, vacation is here – happy – happy – joy – joy!!! Six days of not being at work or home. Six days of my biggest worry being on time for our dinner reservation. Oh, and what splendid meals I plan to eat.
DoPa and I arrive at the airport in plenty of time to get thru security and any other stuff. We check in with our airline, and they already know an hour before flight time that they are running late. Additionally, our original connecting flight is only 30 minutes after we land at O’Hare. This is dicey without the delay, since it entails a terminal change. The ticket agent tried her best to get us on a reasonably later Chicago to Bay Area flight, but just couldn’t swing it. We end up getting re-ticketed on another airline and routed through Minneapolis, and end up leaving only a half an hour later. One good thing about flying from the Madison airport is that there is a ton of flexibility with re-ticketing to other airlines and their major hubs.
Now, I don’t know why, but the NTSB must have a crush me, because they always have to cop a feel. For some reason today, it seems I’m a “selectee” for additional security screening. Now I only fly about once or twice a year, but come on, every time in the last two years???? There must be a high threat of middle-aged white women going crazy after too many herbal teas.
An issue arises with the re-ticketing at the gate in Minneapolis, but I smile and apologize, and we end up getting our seats reassigned to the front of economy class with an extra seat between us to stretch out in for the four hour flight. I brought plenty of reading material with me, but I can’t resist looking at the “Sky Mall” catalog to see what the latest innovations in useless crap are. Here’s something I definitely can live without: the Booze Belt. I kid you not, the product copy reads: “Coasters!? We don’t need any stinking coasters!” This tacky fashion accessory includes two holsters for bottles, and six “ammo” slots for shotgun shell shot glasses for the low price of $90???? Ummm, I’d rather spend that for three or four nice bottles of wine.
We land, collect our luggage, pick up the rental car, and end up with a bitchin’ Dodge Charger. Then, the whole vacation space time continuum gets warped when the DoPa says, “Honey, do you want to drive?” I agree without hesitation. We take US 101 from the airport, through surface streets in San Francisco, and over the Golden Gate bridge on our way to Sonoma. Driving through the Marin headlands we see grazing Holsteins and remark that it reminds us of the landscape approaching La Cross, Wisconsin on US Highway 14.. The drive goes off with out a hitch. We arrive at the hotel with enough time to unwind after a long day of travel before we go to dinner.
And what a dinner… we eat at Café Le Haye, a small restaurant with a tiny open kitchen that’s tucked into a corner of the dining room. We start with a bottle of syrah, that turns out to be almost perfect. The menu wasn’t really big, so we don’t go the three appetizers and one main course route, and each order a main course. I’m not real adept at using superlatives to describe food, but I can say the food way exceeded my expectations. I had a free range quail stuffed with pine nuts, prosciutto, and chanterelle mushrooms: the flavors were out of this world. The DoPa went with the pan roasted pork tenderloin in a mustard sauce with pears that was another winner. With full tummies, we walked back to our hotel room to retire and drift off to sleep.
DoPa and I arrive at the airport in plenty of time to get thru security and any other stuff. We check in with our airline, and they already know an hour before flight time that they are running late. Additionally, our original connecting flight is only 30 minutes after we land at O’Hare. This is dicey without the delay, since it entails a terminal change. The ticket agent tried her best to get us on a reasonably later Chicago to Bay Area flight, but just couldn’t swing it. We end up getting re-ticketed on another airline and routed through Minneapolis, and end up leaving only a half an hour later. One good thing about flying from the Madison airport is that there is a ton of flexibility with re-ticketing to other airlines and their major hubs.
Now, I don’t know why, but the NTSB must have a crush me, because they always have to cop a feel. For some reason today, it seems I’m a “selectee” for additional security screening. Now I only fly about once or twice a year, but come on, every time in the last two years???? There must be a high threat of middle-aged white women going crazy after too many herbal teas.
An issue arises with the re-ticketing at the gate in Minneapolis, but I smile and apologize, and we end up getting our seats reassigned to the front of economy class with an extra seat between us to stretch out in for the four hour flight. I brought plenty of reading material with me, but I can’t resist looking at the “Sky Mall” catalog to see what the latest innovations in useless crap are. Here’s something I definitely can live without: the Booze Belt. I kid you not, the product copy reads: “Coasters!? We don’t need any stinking coasters!” This tacky fashion accessory includes two holsters for bottles, and six “ammo” slots for shotgun shell shot glasses for the low price of $90???? Ummm, I’d rather spend that for three or four nice bottles of wine.
We land, collect our luggage, pick up the rental car, and end up with a bitchin’ Dodge Charger. Then, the whole vacation space time continuum gets warped when the DoPa says, “Honey, do you want to drive?” I agree without hesitation. We take US 101 from the airport, through surface streets in San Francisco, and over the Golden Gate bridge on our way to Sonoma. Driving through the Marin headlands we see grazing Holsteins and remark that it reminds us of the landscape approaching La Cross, Wisconsin on US Highway 14.. The drive goes off with out a hitch. We arrive at the hotel with enough time to unwind after a long day of travel before we go to dinner.
And what a dinner… we eat at Café Le Haye, a small restaurant with a tiny open kitchen that’s tucked into a corner of the dining room. We start with a bottle of syrah, that turns out to be almost perfect. The menu wasn’t really big, so we don’t go the three appetizers and one main course route, and each order a main course. I’m not real adept at using superlatives to describe food, but I can say the food way exceeded my expectations. I had a free range quail stuffed with pine nuts, prosciutto, and chanterelle mushrooms: the flavors were out of this world. The DoPa went with the pan roasted pork tenderloin in a mustard sauce with pears that was another winner. With full tummies, we walked back to our hotel room to retire and drift off to sleep.
posted by Lola at 10:23
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