Indian Springs Calistoga

... 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.

Hello. recenly I have stayed at the heaven's edge ranch in jenner,ca. unfortunatly my stay was not comfortable. there was alot of mold and mildew in the house and when I was leaving I saw a mouse. just thought you would want to know before staying there. happy holidays and safe trips to all!

Well... Tonight is our last night at "the compound". I have to say.. I'm ready to get the hell out of here. Rob is still going to be working for a couple more days so we're heading over to my friend Claire's to stay until Wednesday.

Living here at the compound has really been amazing. And even though I'm definitley ready to get moving I'm pretty damn sad ...

... 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 ...

... 26 miles, this was not going to be easy.

We were advised to visit Artesia, a hillside vineyard with great views over the autumnal vines and an interesting architecture but they were so busy with tours that we couldn't even get to the bar to take advantage of our buy one get one free tasting token. Instead we went for some dinner at a cheap little Mexican place in a nice part of town surrounded ...

... ago. It was our first and favorite place. It is still a beautiful place, and the wines are truly outstanding, especially the Magnificat. After Franciscan, we went to the Oakville Grocery, a gourmet food store where we bought some nice bread and cheese. Next, we went to Cakebread Cellars. Jeff really liked this tasting because the tasting involved three different stops. Plus, the woman who was pouring the white wines ...

... to Bodega Bay really brought home just how sound the advice I had received was. Narrow, twisty road and climbs to make sure your speed doesn't exceed 40mph. It would have been a miserable trip that I would have only seen the yellow stripe in the road. Before we got there I was wondering how close this road would be to the Bear Tooth Hwy in southwestern Montanna. It was every bit as hairy, save for the elevation. I drove that sans trailer, and swore I'd never tow anyplace ...

After a year of bureaucracy, the visa was approved, thus launching us toward our new lives. The plan is to start traveling in about two months, with much to do in the interim...jobs to quit, junk to sell, habits to break, much to leave behind. Moving sucks; moving internationally sucks on a whole new scale. The plan: Now: Packing July: Central America October: Start life in New Zealand

... so much fun hanging out with homeless crazy people for a few hours. U dont realise how many people use the bus station as their sleeping places..... And Rusty and I have a inside joke about how crazy people are, especially in Hollywood, and its because of the water, so anytime someone crazy goes past, we whisper to each other 'dont drink the water'..... The 8 hour ride was uncomfortable, but overnight is ok because everyone is quiet. apart ...

... then I remembered going into STA Travel and taking out my tickets (which were in the same pocket). I phoned them up and, thank God, they'd found it. So i'm going to pick it up tomorrow morning. I'll try and be more careful in future... but at least they found it! Theres free dinner tonight at the hostel, but then after that I'm just gonna crash out- I'm exhasted! I think I walked about 8 miles but I feel like I've walked around the entire San Francisco city- and I'm doing my long bike ride tomorrow!