More California Notes

Last Tuesday, June 3, there were several hundred, perhaps over a thousand local and area elections across California. On Monday and Tuesday, we drove past several intersections in Lake County and Napa County communities where people waved signs at street corners.

I spoke with some people in Middletown. They were waving signs for a progressive woman running for County Supervisor. She won.

Radio stations ran election results all of Tuesday evening and Wednesday. They competed with the realization in California and nationwide, that Barack Obama has won the delegates necessary to represent the Democrats in November.

Before leaving for California, I was looking forward to getting a new perspective on Alaska progressive politics through what I might learn in California, Oregon and Washington during our 20-day trip. California's political scene doesn't seem to resemble Alaska's, even superficially. I am hearing a lot of reporting, though, that indicates demoralization in many aspects of GOP campaigning down here, just as we're seeing in Alaska.

Tuesday, Judy and I took a wine tour of my favorite California vineyard, Heitz Cellars, south of Calistoga. Then we drove into Napa, and bought organic food at the Oxbow Market. We brought the produce, cheeses and some of the wine we'd gotten at Heitz to the home of a longtime friend in Forest Knolls, where we spent the night.

John Granatir was one of my two or three closest friends when I lived and fished in Cordova, back in the early and mid-1970s. He and I left fishing in the early 1980s. John moved to Maui, where he studied Zen Buddhism for a few years.

Then he moved to the San Fancisco Bay area. He and his wife, Pamaleh, own a Kayak rental and guiding business, Blue Water Kayaking, on Tomales Bay in Marin County, in the summer; and in the Sea of Cortez in the Baja, in the winter.

John and I cooked dinner for Judy and Pamaleh Tuesday evening. We had a bottle of Heitz Cellars' 2005 Petite Verdot with the meal. Later we sat around talking about progressive politics in California and Alaska, until we couldn't stay awake. Then, in the morning, we compared notes and projects on renewable energy and new technologies for increasing the efficiencies of internal combustion engines. We broke off to go down to their kayak beach in Marshall, to rescue some kayaks that had broken loose during an overnight wind storm. Judy and I wanted to stay another day!

Later Wednesday, we toured the Pedroncelli Vineyards near Geyserville, in the Russian River Valley. Driving further up Highway 101, we ended up at a very blue-collar RV campground to the north of Willits.

Today, we hiked in the Redwood forests southeast of Eureka, and walked around the college town of Arcata, home of Humboldt State University, where Alex is going to start attending soon. We also hoped to tour Cypress Grove Chevre Company's operations, but they are moving from one building to another, and aren't giving tours.

Tomorrow morning, we tour Humboldt State, then we drive up to Crater Lake in Oregon, where it has snowed every night for the past several days.

images:

sign waving people in Middletown

Heitz Cellars showroom

John & Judy in the Redwoods

Storm on Tomales Bay

Pedroncelli vineyards