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Published: September 11th 2013
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I was just thinking, Ive been here in California for 4 days and I havent seen one Bear, why do they have a bear on there flag if they dont have bears? I happen to be a big fan of Bears at least I know what a bear is as opposed to a packer? What is that anyways someone from a moving company? Oh Oh back on track, and on with the blog!
About an hours drive from Mill Valley where we are staying is Napa and Sonoma. We had a 50/50 shot and chose Sonoma. A beautiful drive but I must say everything along the route was very simple. Those of you who have ever driven through Wisconsin towards Minnesota should know about Wall Drug 500 miles before you even get there! We found Sonoma we drove past the grapes, but where is the the world is Carmen SanDiego? Behold! Bug saw what she knew in her little buggily heart would be a helpful neighbor, we stopped at a State Farm office and received help from the team member Ashley, the agent was as all good agents are, "networking" (out to lunch). Turns out all of the places to
sample wine are confined within a town square. Four sides of a square with a park and a town hall in the middle. Seems you can attract people with wine even if its not California wine, they just want wine period. Actually it wasn't even obvious where to get wine samples, the square was 75% tchotchkes, cotton clothing, hats, nicky knacky stuff. We landed upon a little restaurant called the girl and the fig, sounds cute don't it? We waited a few minutes and asked to be seated outside. The atmosphere was good, it really had the potential to be a great experience but the girls fig was just a little figless. The waitress didn't seem to know too much about the products other than the food, unable to help guide us on a wine selection we just took a shot in the dark. This place gets a rating of just OK. Leaving the Newton-fest we proceeded to walk down the third leg of the square, we stopped at Adobe Road. Very friendly staff, knew how to talk up the patrons, with only four wines being poured today- all reds- and having just left the figgy place we were so
searching for something good. The four reds again were OK but failed to excite either the bug or I into buying any of them, not to mention they had sold out on all white wines. Feeling like this was a more appropriate response to what a wine tasting should be we moved on. Not even two doors down we looked into a shop that had wine tasting sign out front that said Chocolate port. Who could pass that up, not to mention they had a giant cow made from corks inside the store. (Wisconsinites had a special kindred toward cows) Bug and I went in politely and browsed the gifts, very few bottles of wine were out within the store, didn't they want to sell any? And what a stuffy name Charles Creek? Sounds like a confused englishman. The woman working was stocking but asked where I was from, I said Wisconsin, her reply was Wisconsin thats one state I have never been to. I asked her what does it take to get a taste of the Chocolate port, thinking I would have to shell out some more cash for a little splashy taste, she said its free let me
get you some! This is what Im talking about! if you want to sell your product let people sample it!! I was awesome then she said try this Chocolate raspberry port, again something very wonderful!!! SOLD!! This my friends is how you sell wine, even though it doesn't meet all the criteria of being a true port its still outstanding!
As you learned yesterday I am allergic to shellfish and had to pass the local fare of oysters and clam chowder, but I am also allergic to tomatoes, I wasn't always allergic, I use to can them with my mother every year, and loved the sweetness of a warm fresh picked tomato, ummmm all just a memory. The Sonoma town square was having a farmers market this afternoon and must say they put our farmers markets to shame. Well maybe not shame but really fresh local grown produce that is just different than what is offered in Wisconsin. Its hard to understand $3.00 a pound for peaches but thats a story for a different time. Bug and I spied these peculiar little blackish purple tear drop shaped fruits, a lady on a bicycle was eating one, we figured that
they were probably figs. I asked the vendor if these were figs which he acknowledged, he said he just picked them one hour ago, I then asked if I could buy just one because I had never seen them where I was from and was not sure if I would like them, he gave me one to try and insisted that I would be buying more after the sample- again this is how you sell stuff- give out the sample!! Both Bug and I had no idea how wonderful a fresh fig was, and yes we did buy more. What a cute little farmers market, fresh foods, smoked meat, flat bread baked in a stone oven right in front of you, fresh local flowers, grapes fruits galore!! One booth was selling worms, I stopped and asked other than fishing what are worms used for? She explained that the people here use the worms in composting, so I said ohh for people who are trying to be green, exactly she replied!!Go figure.
Beagles, shitzus, westies all got loved on today.
So at the end of the day it was all just a mixed bag of experiences. The girl and
the fig -Zero, The Bear the bug and the fresh fig-One=WON!!!!
Good night from a very tired bear and a sleepy little bug.
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larry sorensen
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I have a fig tree in my yard that's about 35 years old.