I have yet to add my opinion about this whole Virgina Tech shooting thing and don't look for me to do so. However, I came across this brilliant post that has a list of no less than 56 people/groups/ideas that are to blame for the shooting including the devil, Collective Soul, and abortions.
(If you think this links to some nutbar that lists these as reasons think again. He actually lists links to articles, blogs, etc. that decide who is at fault - really funny)
So the last year or two has brought an incredible proliferation of disastrously horrible horror flix that never really deserved to see the light of day (Saw, Hills Have Eyes) let alone a sequel (Saw II, Saw III, Hills Have Eyes 2). However, thanks to the kind people of New Zealand, the film industry has redeemed itself. I present to you ... Black Sheep
Top 3 lines: "bloody animals"
"get ready for the violence of the lambs"
" you wouldn't understand"
Once in a while, a film comes along that defines a generation. This may be it.
It is hard for me to believe that this summer brings this movie, The Simpsons movie and Transformers the movie.
The second leg of our Spring Break journey brought us to Sonoma and the heart of wine country. The drive from San Luis to Sonoma was trecherous - mostly Oakland and this bizarre stretch of traffic that seemed to be caused by a Sunday-only flea market in some middle-of-nowhere town along the 210. Our arrival brought the realization that our quaint inn was in a not-so-quaint neighborhood and was likely only serving as temporary home to 3 other guests. However, the Sonoma Creek Inn had nice rooms (documented by the dozen or so pictures Amanda took of the room at various angles) and we even had a fountain on the patio. Amanda stayed in the room for a nap as I ventured out with a long-time friend who drove out from ______ to go taste some wines in a local tasting room. The wine I had was really unique. Somewhat carbonated with a malty taste - even a sense of hops. OK, so the tasting room turned us away saying they were closed although it was 30 minutes before the time displayed on the window. After 2 pints of Smithwicks and some garlic fries I made my way back to the room and left shortly thereafter for the dinner at the Rutheford Grill in nearby Napa. The dinner was noisy but tasty as the patio with gimongous fireplace was the highlight.
Our first full day in Sonoma brought us to Sugarloaf Ridge State Park for some hiking. It was a bit awkward since there were no rangers to be found and only one other couple in sight. However, we took of on our adventure and quickly found ourselves face-to-face with some very dangerous wild animals. We stood still in the distance hoping to avoid being spotted. We were not so lucky. I did get this picture before the attack:
OK, so it wasn't that bad. That, my friends, is a wild turkey.
Here are some other pictures from the hike:
I was very impressed with my wife seeing that she got to the top of these huge rocks with what seemed like great ease. After climbing up myself I discovered that the other side was about 5 feet from the ground. I climbed the tough part again later just to prove my masculinity.
One of the hikes that they offered was a trail that they called the "planet walk" in which they created a trail that was a scale model of the solar system. The idea was that you would realize just how much empty space there is in the solar system. Each step accounted for 1 million miles. You quickly got from the sun to earth in about 500 feet and Mars in another 1000 feet or so. We made it to Jupiter and Saturn no problem, but were quickly running out of time, so we stopped short of the next planet. However, for your viewing pleasure, here is... wait for it...
... the bridge to Uranus.
This was a really nice park, but the lack of other people combined with tall brush and narrow trails and the big watch out for mountain lion signs brought our hiking day to an end.
I'll continue later with some wine tasting in Napa and Sonoma. I know you're all intrigued.
The wife and I took a little trip for Spring Break since, for the first time in our relationship, our spring breaks coincided. We hit all the hot Spring Break locations - San Padre Island, Daytona, even did a little New Orleans. Amanda flashed anybody that seemed remotely interested. We went out to all kinds of clubs - some with foam, some with jello wrestling, some with wet t-shirt contests. Man - it was crazy.
Oh wait. Actually, we went to wine country. It was a perfect Spring Break trip for a couple of married 50 year-olds. No topless chicks, no guys with wife-beaters and too much hair gel, nobody throwing up off the balcony. And before I go on I have to admit that I was very excited to be going on this trip and I enjoyed every minute of it. Which says a lot about the impending completion of my 20s. (a little over 4 months left as I write this)
A brief itinerary: 1 night in San Luis Obispo, 2 nights in Sonoma and Napa, 2 nights in Monterey. I'm going to do a couple of posts with some thoughts about our trip and some pictures. Enjoy.
Day One: San Luis Obispo.
We started, just like every other trip, with a trip to McDonald's for breakfast. The drive up the 101 is a great drive once you get past Hollywood. Trees, water, etc. It gets better after you pass Oxnard. Upon arriving we checked into our fancy hotel - Le Travelodge. Now, if you ever decide to make a trip to San Luis Obispo you must stop at Firestone and get a tri-tip sandwich. I love tri-tip and have had much of it in sandwich form. The one thing that annoys me about tri-tip sandwiches is that you must revert to your carnivorous roots to tear the meat apart, thus making the sandwich more of a challenge than a meal. Not at Firestone. You'll walk in thinking that its a corporate chain generic sports bar, but you'll leave with a belly-full of sandwich. 4 things make this sandwich awesome. #1: toasted buttered bun - a rare commodity in the tri-tip sandwich world. #2: delicious sauce, which regulars will tell you to get an extra cup of since they never put enough on the sandwich. I actually like that because you can regulate the sauciness. #3: they put enough meat for a guy and too much for a girl, so the guy can eat the little bits that his girlfriend/wife/lover/friend-with-benefits leaves on the plate. #4: meat so tender that you can actually bite through it. An absolutely awesome sandwich.
Later that day we went on a little wine tour. We went to Tolosa, which has a huge gorgeous facility, but doesn't really make much wine. They had a really good garlic olive oil, a really nasty almond olive oil, and we bought a very delicious bottle of unoaked chardonnay. The second winery, Kynsi, was the location for my proposal to Amanda back in May 2006. There is no photo evidence of this since Target killed the film, but at least they gave me $50 in gift cards to restore the memory of that event. Here's a picture at Kynsi:
That lizard is about 18 inches long and tried to bite me. OK, it was pretty much 4 inches, but it looks giant. They have owls that hang out in their barn, so that is why they have an owl in their logo. They make less than 1000 cases of each wine (which is not a lot). We bought their estate Pinot Noir and a bottle of their Pinot Blanc. These may have been my favorite wines of the whole trip.
We went on to Wolff Vineyards. This is where I would have proposed to Amanda had she taken my suggestion that we walk around in their vineyards. By the time we got to Kynsi last time, she had enough wine to be convinced. Wolff is our favorite spot since it is a small place, it has outdoor seating, and has the best view of any vineyard I could imagine. Take a look:
After wine we hit up the Apple Farm for dinner. Don't go there unless you really like gravy. Think Mimi's Cafe, but brought down to a more 909 level. Nasty. We then retired to our fancy hotel and slept for our long drive to Sonoma the next morning. We walked around a bit in San Luis too, which was nice. I saw a lot of green hills that I wanted to run to the top of, but they were probably steeper than I thought, so I didn't.
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Changing the wine world.
