Metrosexual in Vineland

Dara and I went on a brief road trip for her birthday (which isn't until tomorrow, but who's counting). We drove a few hours north through the wine country -- Napa and St. Helena, and on to Calistoga. In a nice touch, Dara had burned a collection of CD's for us from her vast iTunes-based collection, which we listened to along the way. Aside from wine and water, Calistoga is famous for its hot springs and mud baths.

You can blob around in really thick hot mud, or you can try what we did, which was a few cups of volcanic ash in a bath at about 104 degrees. Once you get the thought of people shoveling up dirt from their back yards near Mt. St. Helens out of your head, you can relax and -- as they say -- let the toxins soak out of you. This was followed by a foot massage and then an all over massage. That was the first real massage I've ever had, and it was great. We might not wait another 50 years to repeat it.

On the way back today, we stopped at the "old faithful" geyser in Calistoga. Supposedly one of only three geysers that erupt pretty much on schedule, it was pretty impressive when we were there. At the same facility, they have a set of Tennessee fainting goats. These goats apparently fall over when scared, due to a genetic disorder. Dara and the kids saw them once while I was not around, so Kyla was anxious to know if I could actually scare them enough to make them faint. No dice.

We also stopped at the site of Jack London's estate in Glen Ellen (of Valley of the Moon fame). After voyaging around in the Snark right after the 1906 earthquake, Jack London and Charmian settled down out in the wine country. They spent a lot of money and time building their dream house, Wolf House, only to have it burn to the ground right as they were ready to move in. He pretty much never recovered, and died shortly thereafter. Here is Dara in front of what would have been a reflecting pool in the middle of the house. I also thought you might like a flavor of what the vineyards look like this time of year, in this case along the trail back from Wolf house.

A great trip!