Eat

Very much a foodie these days. Wine, Beer, Amazing food, anything to get my palette going. A few people showed some interest in my last post from the California trip and Portland... how about a few more.

Starting with Victoria, BC, Canada

Portland. Go there. Come home 20 lbs heavier, I did and don't regret it one bit.  As usual, a link to the photo collection is HERE

Stay

Hotel Deluxe – Beautiful hotel. On the edge of downtown. Walking distance to everything. Valet parking across the street is $1 more than the lots in the area but having the car right there in case you want it was nice. Layed back bar in the lobby has great drinks (Champagne cocktails) and great service. I also loved the mornings with the cheese cloth fruit infused water in the lobby. So refreshing first thing. We only ate breakfast there once. A little pricy considering the options in the area but the staff was amazing! I don’t know how Hotel Deluxe manages it, but their staff was always chipper and happy to see you. It might be the water :P  

Eat and drink

Saint Cupcake Galore. Go in, order a multitude of mini cakes, best way to try them all, and a tall glass of milk or a coffee. Do not think about how much sugar is in them, how many calories you are stuffing down, just think about how delicious they are and that you walk off all of the bad stuff later.

Deschutes Brewery – Try their flight of beers so you can sample as many in one sitting as you can. I didn’t find a bad one, just wanted larger glasses of them all. Their food was really good as well. We stopped for lunch on our last day and the portion size was just perfect. If I lived closer I would invest in a growler and fill it often.

Henry’s Tavern - We went here A LOT. If I lived in Portland, this would be my local watering hole. All the food was good, Too many beers to choose from, and such a welcome atmosphere that I never wanted to leave.

Clyde Common - Try the daily punch. It was pretty tasty for what ever was in it when we went. Also their Nasturtium (drink) was tasty. No food had, but everything that came out of the kitchen looked really good. The idea of the common tables is cool, definitely a place I want to go back to.

Red Star Tavern and Roast House – Drinks to start, Ruby Gimlet (mmmmmMMMMmmm), Saint 75 (delicious) . Meals, Rib eye was the best steak I have ever had south of the boarder. The Brick Chicken, Mussles, Pork and roasted Cauliflower ordered by others were also great, I was too focused on my own to really remember how great.

PF Changs – First time there and had a very filling lunch. I’d suggest sharing, the orders were almost too big, and then you don’t have to box it up.

Rogue - Great selection of beer, again I suggest a flight to try as many as you can. That’s all I can say, we only stopped in for a drink.

Gruner - Only stopped in for a drink here as well. Probably a bad idea that it had raw egg in it as I was not a happy camper the rest of the night. I would like to go back and try something else though.

Roma Ristorante - Though feeling quite ill from the egg drink diner at Roma was pretty good. Home style Italian food. Check it out.

Kenny and Zuke’s Delicatessen - Great breakfast, great coffee, great location to watch everyone head off to work. Very nice and relaxed place to wake up in the morning. I suggest the omelettes. YuM!!!

Shop 

Finnegans Toys - Cute toy store, quite large with a huge selection. Being a big kid myself, it was a ton of fun. Stop and take a look around, you might find something for the kids or yourself.

Powell’s City of Books - We limited ourselves to 2 hours just so we didn’t get lost in the store or in a book. Worth a visit, make sure you have room in your suitcase; there are a ton of deals to be found here. As graphic novels go, they are over half price off than a regular cover price and are just like new! I could spend days and a lot of money here.

Dundee, OR 

White Rose Estate – Best view of the valley. Cozy tasting room you can stand and chat to the wine maker at the bar or sit at one of the tables around the room. I could have listened to the wine maker all day, he even signed the bottle my brother-in-law bought. Amazing place.

The Four Graces – Cool old house turned into the tasting room. The Pinot Noir tasting flight really demonstrates their range with that particular grape. The atmosphere felt like visiting a family member you like but never stay long because there isn’t anything to do.

Erath – Beautiful Winery, Beautiful grounds, friendly inviting staff… all that before you even taste the phenomenal wine!

Argyle Winery - Beautiful tasting room, ask about the ghost. I really enjoyed the POP Flight tasting. Ended up leaving with a couple bottles and a Sparkling Wine bottle resealer/saver. Works amazingly well!!

Red Hills Market –  Great for a quick tasty lunch and beer to change up your palette from Wine tasting or to just pick up snacks or a picnic for the road. Patio is sun or shade. It is also within walking distance from Argyle wines.  Market Picture

Pacific City, OR 

The Pelican Pub - Good beer, good seafood, GREAT VIEW!! Stay until sunset if you can. It is about a 2 hour drive but worth every minute there and back. The View at Sunset

The trip was amazing. I’ll try and give a rundown as best as I can, definitely a wine drinker’s paradise. For my full collection of pictures please visit Flickr.


Sonoma


We flew into Oakland, CA and rented a car (aprox $220 for the week for a Nissan Ultima, unlimited KM’s from Budget. You can book online). We drove from Oakland to American Canyon (just north of Vallejo). First night was in the Best Western Inn and Suites at Discovery Kingdom near Six Flags in Vallejo. Scary walk around the trying to find beer. The gentlemen who owned the gas station was nice enough to tell us that it was probably best to get in our car and drive up the road to Safeway and find something there.

We moved on the next day and stayed at a hotel on the highway called Gaia (http://www.gaianapavalleyhotel.com/ ), literally 10 minutes up the road from where we had stayed the night before. The hotel was ok with a nice restaurant but I would suggest staying closer to Sonoma Valley if you plan on doing some wine tours. It’s about a 20-25 minute drive in the morning.

Sonoma has a Best Western in town (http://www.bestwesterncalifornia.com/hotels/best-western-sonoma-valley-inn-and-krug-event-center ) and everyone around there is EXTREMELY helpful with directions and information, a lot closer than staying outside of town. Most of the Wineries in the area are open for tastings from 10am-5pm and range in price from Free-$30. Excellent book on prices and info about the wineries (Fromers Wine Guide). Great app for your phone is “iVisit Wine Country”, also worth checking out. Would have come in handy when we were there had I known about it.

I would suggest sticking to a schedule of 4-5 wineries a day. Gives you time to enjoy each one, do a tasting, take some pictures without feeling too rushed. Full list is below, mixed in with some of the lunch stops that are worth mentioning.

List of Wineries we visited (get ready)


Cline Cellars (http://www.clinecellars.com/) – Very Friendly, take the tour it’s free and they have a great history. The grounds are beautiful so make this your first stop in the morning and walk around before the tasting room opens. Tour highlights, The Red Truck, the solar powered warehouse, the train car, the bird cages, the sign that warns of alligators in the pond… so much more. We were also introduced to a new term the Wooly Weeders (sheep), it stuck with us for the rest of the trip. These Wooly Weeder get moved from vineyard to vineyard and eat the weeds, poop, which in turn feed the wines and grapes. Eco-Awesomeness. You must taste everything!!! Must have selections are the Sonoma Zin, the Cashmere and the Los Carneros Syrah.



Jacuzzi Family Vineyards (http://www.jacuzziwines.com/) - Literally across the road from Cline. Amazing Spanish style building with a beautiful tasting room, grounds and patio. Two things. make sure you try all of the olive oils they have there from http://www.theolivepress.com/ and take the stairs to the top of the tower for a view of the vineyard and valley.

Before you go to Gloria Ferrer, look on a map and find “Bonneau’s Towing & Mechanical”. There is a small convenience store on the corner of Bonneau Rd and Arnold Dr (Hwy 116) called “Food to go” or something. They make killer sandwiches for lunch; anything on the menu will be amazing!!

Gloria Ferrer (http://www.gloriaferrer.com/) - Perched on a hill side in Sonoma valley. Take a lunch and eat on their patio that overlooks it all. Pay for the tour, it’s worth it for the history of the champagne, wine making and wine caves.

Schug Carneros Estate Winery (http://www.schugwinery.com/) – Small cozy tasting room and amazing wine. Very friendly staff, we showed up just as they were closing and they allowed us to do a quick tasting.

St Francis Winery (http://www.stfranciswine.com/) – Some of the best Zinfandels in the valley. Huge selection, and beautiful tasting room and patio. I hear the food is awesome but I didn’t sample the food myself when we were there.

Ledson (http://www.ledsonwinery.com/) – Most impressive thing was this was used to be some guys house! He moved up the road and turned it into a tasting house because people would often stop and ask if there were tastings. Guess he got tired of it. Definitely worth a stop to check out the inside and take some pictures.

Chateau St Jean (http://www.chateaustjean.com/) – Good wine with a beautiful garden and grounds. It was POURING raining when we arrived and had continued most of the time we were there so staying outside and getting photos was very limiting. Very nice gardens though and I wish we could have spent that time wandering the grounds.

Kenwood (http://www.kenwoodvineyards.com/) – Another location where it was Pouring rain. We had to run from the car to the buildings barn style sliding door. Once inside you pay for your wooden tasting tokens. A brief history and information on the winery was spouted by the lady pouring the wine. Behind her is a wall of bottles featuring the art used as their labels for their select series wine.

White Oak (http://www.whiteoakwinery.com/)– Very relaxed tasting room. A little nook beside it contains bottles of unseen vintage. Spent time outside relaxing and photographing the lizards warming themselves in the sun.

Korbel – (http://www.korbel.com/Default.aspx) Champagne tasting on our way up to the Russian River Valley. Staff (Two Gentlemen) were “busy” with three members and could barely tear themselves away to let us do a tasting. Very nice building and surrounding area for a rest stop but didn’t find the staff as helpful or informative as the other places we stopped.

The Red Grape (http://www.theredgrape.com/) - Stopped for a giant Caesar Salad and a pepperoni mushroom pizza for lunch. MmmmMmmm.

The Bear Republic (http://www.bearrepublic.com/home.php) – Lunch stop for the day. Good beers and a pretty good selection of pub food. I suggest the #5 burger.

Ravenswood (http://www.ravenswoodwinery.com/#) – Set back away from town, make sure you find this on a map first as it was a little confusing for me to get to. First thing I remember is the flowers and the old wood building as we were driving up to it. Almost like it is tucked into the corner of the valley surrounded by Grape Vines and a knarley looking tree on the edge of the parking lot. Inside were two small tasting bars that served up some killer Zins. I sat outside and took pictures of the flowers and an old lamp hanging by the door. A man approached and told me to feel free to wander into the storage area where their huge vats of wine were stored. Wandering around the corner I found the door open enough to let a sliver of sun in. I passed through and stood staring at these huge containers rather than take a photo all I could think about was how lucky I was to be there.




Santa Rosa / Red River Valley

DeLoach Vineyards (http://www.deloachvineyards.com/deloach/index.jsp) – The staff really showed us what it was like to go during the off season. We had stopped for our usual, a tour and tasting, when we asked about the tour, our gracious host mentioned that unfortunately the manager was currently doing a private tour for one of the wine members. We decided to start with the tasting and hoped that by the time we finished we might be able to jump into a tour. Pour after pour we tasted, the lady was so kind I am sure we tasted everything behind the bar, though only having paid for a regular tasting. Some time had passed by this point and it did not appear as though we would be getting that tour, our hostess must have read our minds and she said she would take us on a brief tour herself and showed us the private tasting room and the barrel room. After we finished and ended back at the bar, she reached under the counter and said “We just started bottling this this week. It’s our OFS Tawny” Trust me when I say this, You will never find a better Tawny than this!!

Alexander Valley Vineyards (http://www.alexandervalleycellars.com/) – Pulling into to park and seeing the giant doors to the wine cave open and staff hurriedly sending barrel after barrel into its depths. Amazing wine, great staff, definitely try and get a tour of their wine cavesl!!


Napa Valley

Domain Carneros (http://www.domainecarneros.com/) – Beautiful Champagne mansion you will see on your way from Vallejo to Sonoma. Excellent champagne (especially at 10am, right after breakfast hehe!) fresh, clean and gets you ready for your days of tastings.

Mondavi (http://www.robertmondavi.com/rmw/) – No tasting done here but the grounds are worth a look. They grow a fresh garden full of Artichokes and other vegetables. Orange Trees and a ton of rose bushes surround the entrance. Check out their website to see if you can get there when there is a concert going on.

Opus One (http://www.opusonewinery.com/) – Amazing looking building, you can’t miss it. Worth stopping and touring around. If you are with a group of 2-4 people, I suggest you all chip in and get one taster ($20 per glass), go up to the rooftop viewing area and share the wine while admiring the beautiful landscape.

Cakebread (http://www.cakebread.com/) – Our tour of the facilities was very interesting. So much information into their whole process, tasting the INCREDABLE wine, at the end of the tour we found out the gentleman that gave the tour used to be the wine maker. He took us aside and spent another 30 minutes talking about the wine, the winery and thanking US for coming. I feel terrible that I can’t remember his name but I really appreaciated the time he spent with us. When he found out I liked taking photos, he took me over to the private patio reserved for members. I was allowed to take more photos while he gave me more history into the grounds and the Cakebread house. After all this we finally walked up to the till to pay for the wines we were taking with us and he let us keep our etched tasting glasses. It may not seem like a big deal but it really just showed us that he went over and above a usual tour experience and touched us with his kindness.



Duckhorn (http://www.duckhorn.com/) – Massive wrap around patio on this beautiful country style home. We had a small tasting while sitting in the gardens around the back. I noticed on the way out we had parked next to an actual Cork tree. I really like the short driveway up to the building, you have to drive through the rows of vines to get to the parking area.

James Cole (http://www.jamescolewinery.com/) – Biggest Wine Glasses EVER ! Intimate tasting room, perfect for a tiny wedding.

Shafer (http://www.shafervineyards.com/) – Long ride up a sloped hill up to their hillside estate you take a side road from the main road, no signage or anything. We only stopped for a picture, you have to make reservations in advance for a tasting. The left quickly and I raced my sister down the hill like we were little kids again.

Stag’s Leap (http://stagsleap.com/) – Right off the main road with lots of trees to lock the bikes to. Great old buildings and the staff really made us feel welcome even though most of us felt sweaty and gross.

Regusci (http://www.regusciwinery.com/) – I skipped the tasting here. All the ladies on the tasting patio were mesmerized by the burley tour operator rocking a Kilt. There were cool mini orange trees, olive trees and the dog that no one was supposed to feed

Beringer (http://www.beringer.com/) –Take your time here, the grounds are a lot to take in. The mansion house has several tasting rooms as well as the winery behind it. The garden and patio around the house are amazing for photos too. I also think we found the doorway to the secret garden.

Heitz (http://www.heitzcellar.com/) – Don’t miss this small stone building on the side of the road. You enter, there is a warm cozy fire going in the fireplace with a dog curled up next to it, two giant reading chairs right in front, a row of smiling customers and winemakers. Within seconds of walking in, it feels like home. Amazing wine, free tasting and we took a bottle home of the Zin that was on special for ridiculously cheap!

Darioush Winery (http://www.darioush.com/)– Didn’t do a tasty here but the Roman inspired architecture is awesome. Tadpoles in the Lilly pad front water feature. Snotty looking crowd of 50+ (aged) men and their obvious girlfriends or trophy wives.

Clos Du Val (http://www.closduval.com/closduval.php)– Didn’t do a tasting but the building is beautiful. Walls full of Ivy vines, gorgeous patio, with huge wood doors that beckon you into the tasting room .

Side note… riding back on a bike, down the Solano Road that runs parallel to the St Helena Hwy is a very gentle upward slope as you head back toward Yountville. Riding this in +20 degrees, no wind, no cloud, after 3.5 hours of drinking and bike riding is extremely tiring. Pick up a couple bottles of water from the Soda Canyon store, they will help a lot!

Domaine Chandon (http://www.chandon.com/)– Last stop on our wine tour by bike. They have a small bike rack next to the parking lot that was quite full, we didn’t have an issue locking them all to a post close by. Stone toad stools lead you along the path toward the entrance. Once inside the bottle wall will lead you up the stairs to the bar. Order from their Bubbly tasting menu, you are sure to enjoy anything on it. It may take a few minutes to get your drinks depending on what you order and the number of people, the staff didn’t seem to be in much of a hurry. Thankfully we weren’t either and the wait was worth it, the drinks looked amazing


Soda Canyon Store (http://www.sodacanyonstore.com/) - Lunch stop for our bike tour day. Soda Canyon Store serves fresh made sandwiches in a small convenience store so you can grab drinks and snack at the same time. Picnic tables are usually free over by the creek. It is just a very nice place to just sit and watch people, bikes and cars.

Grace’s Table (http://www.gracestable.net/) – Such good food and found that the portions were done properly here. Make sure to save room for desert.

By far the BEST meal we had the whole time was lunch at Tra Vinge . AMAZING Italian food!!! They are north of Napa Valley right off the highway. Quite pricy but you won’t get better food anywhere. Our lunch started with the Mozzarella “Al Minuto”, hand made fresh mozzarella with bruschetta. Wine flowed then followed by Rabbit, Butternut squash Ravioli, Duck and Bison. mmmMMmmMM!!!! Most restaurants have a small corkage fee so any wine you buy from the vineyards can be brought with you for lunch or dinner.

We did a bike tour, just north of Napa there is a little town called Yountville. There are a ton of wineries around there most are accessible by bike. Check out http://www.napavalleybiketours.com/ if you are travelling by yourself the guided tour is a great way to meet tons of people and has a guide that will take you to some of the best wineries in the area.

That was the end of our Sonoma and Napa tour. We then flew down to Anaheim to spend a few days in Disneyland… but that’s another story.

Great songs I am listening to this week


The Fray - You found me


Red - Breath into me


The Gaslight Anthem - The '59 sound


Seether - Careless Whisper (Wham cover)


The Prodigy - Omen


New Found Glory - Listen to your friends

Big complaint. I hate being forced to use a new operating system when new hardware comes out. I figure, faster hardware on old Stable OS is probably going to run way better. So... here is what I have found for drivers for Windows XP for the new Dell Adamo... mostly work arounds from other dell models

Intel GM45 Video Driver

http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/format.aspx?c=ca&l=en&s=gen&deviceid=16047&libid=6&releaseid=R212481&vercnt=3&formatcnt=0&SystemID=LAT_E6500&servicetag=&os=WW1&osl=en&catid=-1&impid=-1

Intel Wireless 5300

http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/download.aspx?c=ca&l=en&s=gen&releaseid=R194581&SystemID=LAT_E6500&servicetag=&os=WW1&osl=en&deviceid=15758&devlib=0&typecnt=0&vercnt=2&catid=-1&impid=-1&formatcnt=1&libid=5&fileid=268580

Creative Integrated webcam

http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/download.aspx?c=ca&l=en&s=gen&releaseid=R213648&SystemID=LAT_E6500&servicetag=&os=WW1&osl=en&deviceid=16027&devlib=0&typecnt=0&vercnt=3&catid=-1&impid=-1&formatcnt=1&libid=17&fileid=302206

Broadcom NetLink 5784 Gigabit Ethernet

http://www.broadcom.com/support/ethernet_nic/netlink_k57.php

I am still having issues finding a working Audio and bluetooth driver. If anyone out there knows where I can find them, please post in the comments. I also have one unknown device. I will update this post if I find any new information.

UPDATE 1: Bluetooth

HOORAY! To Update the bluetooth download the two links.

Chipset - http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/download.aspx?c=ca&l=en&s=gen&releaseid=R182522&SystemID=LAT_E6500&servicetag=&os=WW1&osl=en&deviceid=1134&devlib=0&typecnt=0&vercnt=1&catid=-1&impid=-1&formatcnt=1&libid=27&fileid=249091

Bluetooth - http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/download.aspx?c=ca&l=en&s=gen&releaseid=R205002&SystemID=LAT_E6500&servicetag=&os=WW1&osl=en&deviceid=16166&devlib=0&typecnt=0&vercnt=2&catid=-1&impid=-1&formatcnt=1&libid=5&fileid=286033

Run the installer. It should extract but you don't need to install the package. Go to device manager and the two Human Interface devices that are disabled ... use the chipset driver to update them. They should show up fine and enabled once the driver is updated.

Next run and install the bluetooth manager. It will complete the bluetooth device setup.

UPDATE** SUCCESS!!!

The audio driver is located here

http://www.wickmanstudios.com/content/view/17/29/

Look under step 7. There is a whole package of drivers for download. Download and unzip. Run the installer in the audio folder and away it goes!!!

Labels: Adamo, Dell, Drivers, Windows XP

Merry Christmas everyone!


Snowflake
Originally uploaded by K Wudrich