After over 6,600 miles and through 16 states, I've arrived at my last destination of this leg of my journey. It's been quite a ride, literally and figuratively. This week has been both different but pretty special too.
Napa, California
Sunday, I left the hills of San Francisco for the greener hills of Napa Valley, passing over the Golden Gate once again. The temperature on the Marin (north) side of the bridge was 56 degrees. Fifteen minutes later it was up to 78 - a classic example of the microclimate that SF sits in.
I had not been to Napa and the wine country since Jimmy Carter was president, 1979, while visiting my brother Bob, then living in Oakland and working at the Mack Truck plant there. I stayed in downtown Napa, a lively town with many good restaurants, wine tasting rooms and a lot of charm. Napa (and neighboring Sonoma) are not only huge producers of wine, much of it exceptional, but is a giant tourism destination, where you can tour wineries by balloon and by train in additional to conventional means.
I was fortunate to have an inside angle courtesy of my younger son Chris, whose friend Paige grew up in Napa and whose parents own and manage two wineries, Luna Vineyards and Moone-Tsai, a high end producer of wines. Paige's parents, MaryAnn and Larry, treated me to a tasting of both white and red wines from both Luna and and Moone-Tsai wines, some that have sold out after receiving great critical praise. All of the wines were delightful and several superb. Larry and MaryAnn took me to lunch at a quintessential Napa restaurant, complete with sun-drenched patio, flowers, fresh ingredients and tasty food. Larry then took me on a tour of the winery, which was immaculate and obviously well-run. Their winemaster is a talented French winemaker who they have partnered with to great mutual success. I was fortunate to be able to bring home a couple of magnums of their sold-out 2008 cabernet and look forward to drinking them on some special occasion a few years hence. Who knows!
Unfortunately, I only had two nights in Napa, so could only dip slightly into the culinary and wine treats offered there but will be back - hopefully with some company. On Tuesday, I headed north again for Oregon.
Ashland, Oregon
When I was trying to sort out the section of my trip between Napa and Portland, I did not have much of an idea about where to stop. My brother Bob, though, came up with a brilliant suggestion - Ashland, a town just over the California border and, to be candid, a place I'd barely heard of. En route, I was treated to some extraordinary sights, Past Redding, the mountains spring up quickly and soon I was traversing alpine lakes bordered by steep hills and mountainsides thick with trees. Time and again I stopped to take in the views. But when I turned one corner, I had to catch my breath because it was my first sight of Mount Shasta, perhaps the southernmost of the great Presidential Range that carries north up to Canada and includes such giants as Mt. Hood, Mt. Rainier and the now slightly shorter Mt. St Helens.
I again stopped just past the little town of Mt. Shasta to snap a shot of this awesome mountain, dressed in a new robe of blindingly white snow that just throbbed in the sun, a mesmerizing sight. I nearly ran off the road a few times trying to see it in my rear-view mirror.
An hour or so later, I sailed into Ashland, home to Southern Oregon University but, more importantly, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. I was not really aware of it but this theater company is one of the world's leading Shakespeare festivals, putting on major productions of the "Bard's" work as well as other plays and some musicals. I copped a ticket to Troilus and Cressida, a new joint production with the New York Public Theatre. This is a very long (3 hours), little-produced Shakespeare play derived mostly from the Illiad. The director reset the play in modern times, with the Iraq war substituting for the historic war between the Trojans and the Greeks (although he retained the original dialogue). The Iraq context added little political context but helped update the play for modern ears and was brilliantly done, with a lot of humor for this quasi-tragedy. Good call, Bob!
Portland, Oregon
Wednesday I made the long drive up the length of Oregon to Portland, which borders Washington State. A guidebook had given top ranking to the Ace Hotel in downtown Portland. What I did not appreciate was how cloyingly hip the place was. Naturally, I fit right in (lol as the kids might say). I then dashed to Vancouver, Washington, which sits across the Columbia River from Portland. There I had dinner with my uncle Bob and aunt Jean, whom I had not seen for many years, at my cousin Tina's house. I had not seen Tina since I was a teenager. Needless to say, we had lots to talk about and we enjoyed a wonderful home cooked meal, topped off by home-made rhubarb pie (with ice cream!) made from rhubarb Tina grew in her garden.
The next day, Tina and I met at the justly-famous Powell's Books, and after spending an enjoyable hour wandering its aisles, she led me on a tour of downtown Portland, especially along the Willamette River. It was great to see her and we fell very easily into talk about our lives up till now. Tina put the squeeze on me to come out in November for Thanksgiving, when many of the Dodds cousins descend on Portland and I am very tempted to do so.
Portland is quite the town now, full of brewpubs, hundreds of food trucks, art galleries, slouching hipsters and a huge population of aggressive panhandlers and homeless people. I enjoyed several rounds at Stumptown Coffee, one of the best-known purveyors of high-end coffee, topped off with a visit to Voodoo Donuts, an unbelievable doughnut emporium, where I enjoyed the maple bacon bar. Wow! Here is the huge menu of donuts.
Portland is a very appealing place, with a lot going on. Too bad it gets so much rain . . .
I arrived a short while ago in Seattle and will be here until Tuesday, when I jump on a plane back to New York. I feel like this is simply the end of the beginning of my "personal journey" (a fancy excuse for goofing off!) More later.
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