Adventure at Every Turn

Saturday was splendid. Mid-morning we headed toward Napa Valley. We drove through the vineyards for a while in search of a winery to tour. We found a respectable-looking winery called Mumm and parked our car. The air was pleasantly warm, dry and breezy. The path to the winery unveiled a wooden gate, leading to a colorful vineyard and some blue mountains beyond. Very picturesque. The tour was incredible. I never realized how much work it takes to make wine. Maybe now I’ll appreciate it more. (But I don’t think I’ll ever appreciate it as much as Pepsi.) ;) Anyway, it was very interesting. After the tour, we continued driving through the wine country hills and stopped for lunch at a cute little town called Calistoga. We ate at a deli (red checkered tablecloths and all) and watched the end of a close college football game. We heard rumor that there was a geyser somewhere to the north of Calistoga called "California’s Old Faithful." Supposedly it shoots a 60 ft. stream of boiling hot water into the air every 20 minutes. In search of more adventure, we decided to check it out. We didn’t realize until we got to the geyser entrance that it was privately owned and not a state park. We saw a bunch of signs at the entrance advertising other "attractions" inside, for example "fainting goats." We supposed they were trying to convince us we were getting our EIGHT BUCKS worth! It was worth it simply because we laughed and laughed at how hokey it was. The geyser was pretty cool - but not eight bucks cool. There was a little "hut" outside the geyser that played a video of this little old lady who owned the property. She was hysterical. We joked that she probably had a hose underground that shot off water and it wasn’t really a geyser after all. Just a gimmick to get some attention and spending money. Funny. After leaving the geyser, we saw a sign advertising a petrified forest. Hmmm . . . interesting. Maybe we’re just suckers but we headed off to find that also. We never did find it but, hey, it was a beautiful drive. What a wonderful day. What a wonderful world.
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That night we made a Wal-Mart run to buy some frames and nails to hang up some pictures in Kevin’s office. It was fun decorating. We ended up staying at his office until late. But now it looks all spiffy and stuff.