Madera Wine Trail Wine & Chocolate Weekend

Oh my, it has been far too long since I have posted on this blog.  What with the holidays, moving to a new house, and spending inordinate amounts of time at the veterinary specialists with the huskies as they were diagnosed, and are now treated for, cancer, we haven't had time for much exploring.  We have been having fun times with friends, but haven't really gone on any roadtrips until this past weekend.  We headed out on the Madera Wine Trail for their Wine & Chocolate Weekend with our friends Heather and Joe and their friend Andrew, who recently moved to Sacramento to take a job at a law firm.

The special event cost $25 and included a commemorative wine glass, tastings at all area wineries, and delicious chocolate treats.  Many wineries featured artists with work for sale and some had food and live music.  Our first stop was Quady Winery which specializes in ports and other dessert wines.  We enjoyed some of their wines, but one of them, Purple, was an "acquired taste".  The label reminded us of a frat party invitation and the taste was most similar to Grape Pucker. 

The crazy label for the crazier wine.

Basically, it was gross and we sought out the nearest tray of chocolate truffles to cleanse our pallets.  The moscato was good, though, and Sean particularly enjoyed their  Starboard Batch 88 port.

One of the best parts of the Quady Winery visit was the mobile wood-fired pizza oven onsite for the event.  I loved my little wild mushroom, tarragon, and goat cheese personal pizza, and the nutella, wild berry, and mint dessert pizza was fabulous!

The Nutella, wild berry, and fresh mint pizza!

Our next stop was Chateau Lasgoity Winery.  We sampled some wines and Heather treated us to chocolate-covered strawberries.I particularly enjoyed the Blanc duVal (white of the valley) which was light and crisp, and will make perfect sipping by the pool this summer.  Unfortunately at this point we had to leave our friends to head home and check on the huskies.  They enjoyed more tasting, with their trusty designated driver, Heather.  Once home we thought twice about cutting off our wristbands as they were good for the entire weekend, but since Ili was headed to the radiation center for the next week we wanted to spend as much time with her as we could.  There's always the Spring Wine Trail Adventure in May!

Waiting for our wood-fired pizzas.  Sorry I cut you off, Andrew!

Mist and John Muir Trails

Thursday's Thanksgiving dinner at the Ahwahnee Hotel just wasn't enough Yosemite for us this weekend so we headed back yesterday for some hiking.  Our plan was to hike to Taft Point, but the NPS closed the road up there, so we were forced to alter our plans.  Not a problem when there are so many incredible hikes we have not yet taken in the park.  We chose the Mist Trail to the top of Vernal Fall, and then looped back on a portion of the John Muir Trail to escape some of the holiday crowds and see another part of the park.  We took off from the trailhead at Happy Isles Nature Center.

The trail is incredibly steep in places on the way up to Vernal Falls, but the number of little kids on the trail gave me hope that I could make it.  The boulder piles along the trail are amazing.  I can't imagine witnessing a rockfall of that magnitude.

There are more than 600 steep, granite steps completing the last portion of the Mist Trail to the top of Vernal Fall.  This part was tough on the thighs, but I just imagined the people who built the trail and the hard work they participated in and I knew I could make it to the top.  Staring at the steps ahead and not the ground far below made it easier to ignore how high we were.

While late summer and fall are the lowest flow in the falls, it was still worth seeing Vernal Fall up close.  We'd like to see what it looks like in May at full volume.

This is a view of the trail from the top looking down.  It is difficult to see them, but there are people on the trail all the way down to the valley.

At the top the trail splits.  We could have headed back down the way we came, or to the left to view Nevada Fall, but chose to take a right turn and return to Yosemite Valley via a portion of the John Muir Trail.  It did not disappoint.

Thanksgiving Dinner at the Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite

Since we couldn't be home with our family for Thanksgiving, Sean and I and our friends Heather and Joe decided to head to the Ahwahnee Hotel inside Yosemite National Park for their special Thanksgiving dinner.  Over the river and through the woods indeed, though it wasn't to grandmother's house that we went.  The food was delicious: 2011 menu.  We snapped some photos outside the hotel as well as inside by the massive fireplace and at the table, where Sean enjoyed his Gobble Gobble Ice Cream dessert.  We drove home full and happy and enjoyed the sunset over the valley walls.

Sentinel Dome - Yosemite National Park

Yosemite has seen some snow showers and, since it's almost Thanksgiving, Sean and I were craving some cold temperatures.  We headed to Yosemite to hike Sentinel Dome.  Glacier Point Road is now closed past the Sentinel Dome parking area due to the snow, but we were able to reach the trailhead parking and head up to the dome.

The view was a bit obstructed due to the cloud cover, but it was quite beautiful seeing the cloud mass from one side and the clearer skies from the other.  Sentinel Dome has a beautiful 360 degree view, including views of Yosemite Valley and its waterfalls.

The one thing we couldn't get a view of the entire time we were standing at the top of the dome was Half Dome, which was unfortunate.  I guess that just provides an excuse to head back up in the spring when the snows melt.

Merced River Hike

This past Saturday we headed up toward Yosemite to a hike we had read about along the Merced River about 15 miles past the town of Mariposa on Highway 140.  After a slow drive down a 1-lane, dusty road and across a 1-lane wooden bridge, we came to the trail's beginning.  Apparently this trail involves a fitness test as we needed to pass through a narrow opening in order to cross one last bridge along a private road before reaching the trail itself.

The trail runs along the Merced River and is the old bed of the railroad that brought early visitors to Yosemite National Park from the town of Merced through the town of El Portal. Along the opposite bank of the river we could see old, rusted pieces of curved metal and wooden braces that provided a chute or pipeline of some sort at one time.

It was a beautiful fall day in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

All that fresh air and hiking made us very hungry so we stopped at a great restaurant in Mariposa, The Gold Coin, which is housed in Mariposa's oldest building.  The town was really hopping due (we think) to the opening of Santa's Bazaar at the small, local hospital.  It's a fun, quaint little goldrush town (and home to the Mariposa Gazette, the oldest weekly newspaper of continuous publication in California) that now serves as a great stop for food and shopping on the way in or out of Yosemite.  Quite a few UC Merced folks have chosen to live in or near Mariposa and make the daily trek to Merced by car or commuter bus.

Fruit, almonds, and orchards

Sean's back has finally healed enough to allow us to take daytrips again.  Saturday we decided to head up to Modesto to shop at the Farmers Market and Stewart & Jasper Orchards Company Store and have lunch at Chipotle (Sean misses having one in town).  The market was great, as always.  I'm having fun trying out fruit I haven't had before, at least not in its whole form.  We bought a different kind of persimmon from last time and some quince, which the farmer told me are great raw drizzled with lime juice, tequila and salt.  I will have to give that a try.  I'm also sprinkling pomegranate seeds on everything these days.  They are so delicious and nutritious at same time!

We also bought some mini guavas.  I have had guava juice and guava jam, and a friend from The Bahamas once made me guava duff, a delicious dessert, but I have never eaten them raw and whole, so I am anxious for them to ripen.

 

Unfortunately, the Stewart and Jasper Orchards company store is not yet open in Modesto, though we had been informed that it was.  We fell in love with their roasted, salted, in shell almonds when we bought them at their store in Monterey.  However, while looking for the store that is not yet open in Modesto, we did stumble upon the Royal Robbins outdoor clothing store where I bought a fabulous scarf and glove set (not sure when I will even need those... maybe when we head back to Minnesota in December).  Royal is a Modesto native who became famous as a rock climber, particularly in Yosemite, and who started an outdoor clothing company with his wife (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Robbins).  So we had to head to the S&J company store in Patterson, which gave us a chance to gawk at the gorgeous Coastal Range for most of the trip.  There we bought some of our favorite almond treats.

And speaking of almond orchards, today we decided to take the dogs for a nice stroll in one just down the road from our house in Merced.  It was lovely to walk down the straight path in the shade, with leaves crunching under our feet.

Local Food

This week there was some good news, bad news, and neutral news related to local food in Merced.  The bad news involved the announcement of the closing of the Merced Organic Store.  Unfortunately this store was not able to overcome the loss of revenue caused by the massive summer construction project downtown that closed off the nearest street and made access difficult.  While I do not eat much prepared food, organic or not, it was nice to have them in town and I did stop by every other week or so to buy staples and snacks.  Honestly, I feel a bit of nostalgia for the place since I sought it out when I first visited Merced for my interview at the UC.  They gave me a coupon that I saved in case I got the job and I used it the week after we moved in.  I am sad to see them close, but am not entirely surprised as I was often the only shopper on the days I stopped in.

The good news is that Merced now has a great bakery called Little Pink Boxes that just opened on Main Street.  I am excited to try their croissants and other pastries and can vouch for the deliciousness of their cookies as I brought a dozen to a work meeting on Thursday.  They will be open late on the weekends and early on weekdays, so will accommodate everyone's schedule making it difficult to pass them up. Last week also saw the opening of a new hot dog specialty restaurant owned and operated by three graduates of UC Merced.  While friends and colleagues are initially underwhelmed by the selection, in spite of the locally sourced meats being served, we all hope to see improvements as the business grows.  In a town of 80,000 with high unemployment, local food and businesses take on great importance and many of us try our best to give them our support.

The place that never lets us down, of course, is the Merced Farmers Market.  A salon appointment had me shopping at the Modesto market last weekend (and I particularly appreciated the local cheddar and portobellos) but this morning Sean and I once again hit our favorite stands in Merced.  Along with the second week of persimmons, this week brought locally grown kiwi fruit.  The farmer told me to wait 2 weeks for them to be fully ripe unless I am willing to place them in a bag with an apple to speed up the process.  Since Central Valley apples are nowhere near as delicious as the Minnesota grown variety I am used to (I miss those fabulous U of M creations, with Honeycrisp still the hands down favorite) I have no problem sacrificing one of the Fujis I picked up last week at the Modesto market.

Another reliable favorite that has appeared in this blog before is Houa Khong Laotian/Thai restaurant.  We've been back a number of times with guests and they all love it as much as we do.  Last night we dined with our friends Nora and John and it was finally chilly enough (sort of) for me to try their version of Pho.  It was fabulous!  I am so happy to have found my spot for that delicious noodle soup.  As an added bonus, on the way out Nora found the homemade specialty cookies they sell to go and bought us each a bag.  They are made with coconut milk and are very fancy and delicious.  Served with a scoop of Ben & Jerry's vanilla, this cookie was better than any waffle cone I have ever had.