"Graffitti Nightt" car show sponsered by the Cappuccino Cruiser Classic Car Club in Old Town Folsom on historic Sutter Street. Many cars from the pre-1970 cars which were made up and shown on the street. Lots of people, music, food and vendors. Nice day for a fair. Actors Bo Hopkins and Candy Clark of the movie "American Graffitti" talking to folks and signing autographs, they were sweet.


Pictures can be seen in link below
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=70137&id=1507778102&l=52e9a4a542

Heavenly MountainGondola Ride 20Aug10

Traveled 85 miles east of Folsom on Highway 50 to South Lake Tahoe where we stopped at the ski resort of Heavenly Village to take a Gondola ride to the top of Mount Heavenly. First top was the "Deck" where there is a large platform to view the entire south lake, then to "Adventure Peak" where games for kids, restaurant and bar is located. Final stop require the use of a ski-lift to the summit where we hiked the rest of the way to the top of the mountain at 10,040 feet elevation. Great day, with great weather and great view of Lake Tahoe, Desolation Wilderness, Nevada's Carson Valley. We then walked around Heavenly Village, crossed into the State of Nevada into the casinos to look around. Nice area, will have to visit again.




All the photos can be seen in the Shutterfly website below:

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Headed to the Amador Flower Farm which is east of Folsom about 30 miles in the very small town of Plymouth in the Amador Valley. It was kind of hard to find as I had to travel on some roads I was not familiar with but finally got to the sign which showed me the way into the farm. The Flower Farm is 14 acres with four acres of award winning Demonstration Gardens designed to showcase daylilies. Hundreds of flowers and plants for sale and spread out in lovely grounds. I took a walk around the grounds there were many kinds of flowers and plants which were availble to purchase. The growing grounds are home to our "mother" plants which the farm use to send to their catalog customers.

  Afterwards I headed to some vineyards in the Amador Valley to taste their product. I was a little disappointed with the wines here but stopped by Serrafina on the way back, one of my favorite vineyards.I stopped by Deaver Vineyards and Villa Toscano which had nice Zinfandels and Syrahs but nothing outstanding to me. 

   I stopped by my favorite vineyard at Sera Fina Cellars at the west side of Amador Valley. I had some wine and the owner gave me a cigar he is considering selling at the vineyard. Had a good time catching up with them and had a great day exploring.


Photos can be seen in the public folder below.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=68636&id=1507778102&l=6075a141b0

A glass of wine, a cigar and a great view at Sera Fina Cellars.

Ballons On the way to Healdsburg

On Wednesday headed to Healdsburg, California about 2 hours west of Folsom, for a working meeting at General Dynamics. On the way spotted about 8 ballons floating in the early morning sky over the famed wine region of Napa Valley.
  I enjoyed the way these ballons just hung there in space against the morning sky.

Ballons in the distance rising over the wine region of Napa Valley

Lots of vineyards around the Healdsburg Area

Winchester Mystery House, San Jose, 01Aug2010

 During my trip to San Jose for the weekend I decided to stop by the Winchester Mystery House which is only a couple of miles from the location of my former townhouse.The California mansion was under construction continuously for 38 years, and is reported to be haunted. It once was the personal residence of Sarah Winchester, the widow of gun magnate William Wirt Winchester of Winchester Rifle fame. According to popular belief, Sara Winchester thought the house was haunted by the ghosts of individuals killed by Winchester rifles, and that only continuous construction would appease them. Sara oversaw and planned the day-to-day guidance, its "from-the-ground-up" construction proceeded around-the-clock, without interruption, from 1884 until her death on September 5, 1922.

 This trip I walked inside the Winchester Firearms Museum with lots of nice vintage rifles and pistol then I took a tour of the inside of the house which is laid out in the strangest way. There are short stairs that go for along way only to bring you 9 feet to the second floor. There are stairs that leads to the ceiling, cubbards with no depth, windows on the floor, and many more strange arrangements. Sara Winchester was only 4 feet and 10 inches tall and thus many of the passages/doorway are design to fit her small frame. The number 13 was Sara's favorite number as she was very much into the mysterious. This number can be seen in the architecture with window panes, stain glass sections, decrorative wood panels all having 13 in the desingn. Unfortunately we are not allowed to take pictures of the inside of the house.

Afterwards I took a self walking tour of various spot of the once vast estate. Lots of history. The self guided tour had 20 stations along the Winchester Estate. The Estate which Sara Winchester called Llanada Villa, was self contained at the time and had its own gas lighting plant, water tower, fruit drying shed, greenhouse, coal chute and car wash.

Selected pictures can be seen at the public Facebook site:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=67329&id=1507778102&l=ce74ff631d


All 159 pictures can be seen at the Shutterfly site:
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Annual Bob's Birthday and Pool Pary 30 Jul 10

Every year my good friend Bob throws a Pool Party on his birthday weekend in the first part of August. This year I drove from my new home in Folsom to the old home in San Jose about 2-1/2 hours southeast of Folsom.

As usual Bob and his wife Mary, set up the pool with soda, beer, chips and food all around the house. People started to show up with everyone bringing something to the party. I decided to bring a couple bottles of wine from the Amador Valley that I picked up during my wine tasting events there. The weather was perfect with sunshine and warm temperatures



The highlight of the event was of course the Cannonball Diving Contest. Last years champ came in with his medal and after some practises the fun started. Seven contestants did many attempts to show off the judges who was the best Cannonball Diver.

In the end a Newcomer from England won the contest. Everyone had a great time.

Lots of fun and met many new people and seen old familiar faces.

Selected pictures of the Pool party can be seen in the public link below.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=67218&id=1507778102&l=18310a77bf

The contestants of the cannonball contest with the Winner wearing the Gold Medal

The pool party was a great day.