The Inn at Kelsey Creek Cobb

... bartender starts a fire for us and gets us hot drinks. We get settled into our rooms and hop into our private hot tub as soon as we as we can get naked.

After a nap we take a short walk to the private restaurant and tuck into a wonderful dinner. Then back to our wonderful little lodge. Tomorrow, hiking and taking in the delights of the spa.

... up and the guy Jamie was great. A beautiful ranch, we sat in the lviing room and drank a collection of great pinots and syrahs. Second we went to the ever famous Chateau Montelena. (Winner of the imfamous Judgement of Paris 1976 tasting for their 1973 C******nay). After being greeted by the world's biggest douchebag, we were passed onto Mary-Ann this sassy 50-something year old woman who gave us a great tasting. We got to try the 2003 C ...

... the sun to be up. Me and Jim ran errands to the supermarket to get the necessary ingredients for the breakfast casserole (which was awesome) and I think I nearly created an international incident by bagging my own groceries! What? the lady was working the till by herself and the queue was forming so why wouldn't it put my shopping into bags? Blimey!

The fun bus turned up at 11. I know it was not going to be a standard mini-coach ...

... run with his unofficial best man speech. there was laughter, there were tears, it was perfection. and the food--oh the food! it was hands down the best food at a wedding ever (not to offend any previous wedding i've been to) but the apps were divine, the short ribs were amazing, and the veuve cliquot unbeatable. i couldn't even resist the mini desserts.

thanks again kim and greg for a fun and delicious weekend!

... heavy bunches of dark grapes. Stands of eucalyptus give the air a beautiful tang. We finally decide to stop, choosing the deLorimier Winery where we taste some luscious zinfandel, their '04 Meritage, and the '03 which we buy a case of to share with the kids this coming week. We camp just past Calistoga and look forward to seeing Javi tomorrow.

... veggie dogs, and a dessert bar from V. Sattui (made with chocolate, caramel, coconut, walnuts, and graham crackers). Yum.
- Marveled at the foster mom at the next site over. She was doing an incredible job with four boys all by herself. She ran a tight ship, and they were very well-behaved. And we had a lot of respect for her for taking them all on AND taking them on a camping trip. There are good people out there.
- Read a bit and called it a night!

Fredrik and I flew to SF the day before, drove and stayed at Santa Rosa. After the race, we stayed two nights at bed and breakfast inn in Calistoga, tried the mud spa, visited old fathful geyser, the petroleum forest, several wineries, and Copia in Napa, enjoyed the wine and food.

... of Charles Schulz the creator of "Peanuts" and Snoopy fame. They have a museum to him and his creation but it's ok....we didn't visit. Downtown didn't offer much but we had a coffee in a place near the old (and now disused) railway station which is now the Tourist Info Centre. We wandered around for a while and then headed out for Kendal-Jackson vinery further north up 101 which we found with no difficulty. The place is very attractive with huge gardens and ...

I wanted to contrast the type of coverage one typically gets in newspapers with the type of storytelling I intend. The first story is the beginning of an article from the Bangkok newspaper, The Nation. The San Francisco Chronicle's six-month tsunami anniversary piece is similar albeit a tad more compelling read. The second is my take at a narrative story-telling start with a human face. (Making my apologies: This is a very raw, first-draft partly fictional example ...

... why they have cable car!!!!! I made it to Lombard Street, this is the road which zig zags down the hill - it was exactly as I imagined it and I walked down and back up again. It is a very pretty street - lots of flowers and colour! I continued walking until I heard a cable car coming (the bell!!) and caught it to the cable car museum. This is the building where the cable cars come to sleep at night (!!!!) and where they are controlled from. It was amazing - even better that ...