California Wine Country

September is practically here, and that makes me realize that Fall is close at hand. It will soon be time for changing leaves, cool evenings, butternut squash soup, pumpkin harvest as well as harvest of the grapes. That last one, grape harvest, will be indicative of my fall here in California wine country, as I will be cycling through the vines of Sonoma County from now until mid November.

I have really mixed feelings about being away from home for so long, but am choosing to stick with "grateful for the employment" as well as thankful to be in such a beautiful location if I have to be away from Ben. It is nice to stay in one location instead of moving around every two weeks for the next three months. I have a secondary home at our guide house here in Petaluma, CA, complete with thriving tomato plants and twinkle lights dangling from the communal back yard patio. I can go on a run and quickly climb up to my own little "Lone Pine" park, or perhaps I'll get around to visiting some of the yoga studios that I see all over town. Lest I paint too rosy of a picture, there is also a hobo spider living in our bathroom and a landlord who likes to let himself into our house and prowl about while we aren't home...

As for northern California, I think I like it. By the end of my stay I might have progressed to loving it. The wine country itself is still widely uncharted to me, and I am feeling some apprehension at the thought of trying to understand all these valleys and tributary valleys and AVA's (think designated wine growing "area" like Dry Creek, or Russian River Valley, each producing it's own flavor characteristics in its grapes). It seems like there are bazillions of wineries and I have no prospect of a rubric for comprehending them. My analytical brain wants to sort them out and reduce this wine network all down into a clearly defined and categorized system for understanding them all, but the body of knowledge I would need to so do comes from a lifetime of expertise that I haven't even started to acquire. So, that leaves me feeling a little unsettled and flailing in a vast and alien wine culture. Nothing to do but start wine tasting I suppose!

Today I caught my first glimpse of the Golden Gate Bridge. I was bummed it wasn't golden and glimmering. Apparently it is red. Who knew? Actually, it's all still hearsay to me because the fog clinging to the city was too thick for me to see the color of the bridge itself. Tomorrow though I'll know for sure because I am biking over the bridge and and up Mount Tam. The fog in northern Cali is a presence that is becoming familiar to me. San Fran and the coastal areas of NoCal are covered by a blanket of fog for much of the morning, if not the afternoon as well. The wine country is a drier and sunnier clime, but the fog drapes over San Fran like a favorite pashmina.

I am settling in for a long haul this fall. It feels heavy to be away from Benny, but I am taking solace in the adventure of a new place and a new body of knowledge waiting to be learned. Stay tuned for more updates on my time in the California wine country.