In the Sasquatch Healing Temple

Down the coast from Portland on the I-5 we came across the LARGE redwood forests! Three-quarters of the world's tallest trees are found in these redwood forests. Driving on the road through the massive all-consuming trees surrounding one felt like we were in some slightly less-dark German fairytale (Grimm-lite). Jono even maneuvered our Blueberry through a 3000 year-old tree; gives a new meaning to the phrase "drive-through".

Along a very bad dust road was probably a bad time to try out my American driving skills. I could focus on nothing other than the left tyre and what was ahead of me. Being grateful for our third party insurance after we hit one particularly large pothole, Jono eventually asked me, " Jo, are you watching the right tyre?" To which I replied, "Oh no, I'm not". No surprise that my driving was viewed with healthy skepticism thereafter. I did, however, manage to cross a bridge basically the width of our car as we headed towards the infamous Sasquatch healing temple.

The A-frame accommodation we knew would be a memorable experience, because after all we were in California- so we may as well embrace Hippie-dom. To quote Jono, "I have never been to a stranger place in my life." In the depths of the forest without signal, electricity or running water, lay a little homestead-come-yoga-temple. The people were lovely, but a certain holistic hemp-wearing, unblinking hippiness struck a deep resonance of discomfort with our mod-con city-slicker lives. A satellite dish covered by bits of broken mirror was the solar oven which was near the saw-dust composting toilet. Pet mice and goats roamed freely and an obscure Aquarius mosaic decorated the newly constructed green-house. We left early for Napa Valley, grateful for our corporate-crony-style bourgeois sell-out lives. That is all.

In suburbia of Santa Rosa, we found comfort in the modern decadence of a shower. It was great to meet up with Dyl and Tas in Sonoma at the Girl and Fig (a lovely restaurant with an open air courtyard and a Mediterranean feel about it). The next day we visited Russian River brewing company for a tasting that was great with Belgian and all sorts of Californian beers including "Pliny the Elder" (double IPA, currently believed by Beer Advocate to be the 3rd best beer in the world. The second, "Pliny the Younger", a Russian River triple-hopped IPA is produced for 2 weeks and sells out immediately with people queuing up outside the brewpub for 10-12 hours to get some). A ride up and down the main drag of the wine-lands in Napa confirmed for us that while it is stunning, it possesses only a fraction of the beauty of Franschoek and Stellenbosch. After the famed Paris tasting of 1976 when Californian wines bested the best of French wines in a blind tasting by a variety of judges, the area began to gain substantial popularity. According to our guide at Cakebread there are now over 1000 wineries in the area of Napa and Sonoma. The Cab Sauv and Reserve Chardonnay were brilliant! For a huge spoil, we went to Bouchon - one of Thomas Keller's incredible cafe-like bistros. It made up for the granola bars we ate for dinner in the A-frame.


AREA RECAP: Napa Valley and Santa Rosa
Highlights: Redwood drive, Cakebread tasting, Bouchon lunch, seeing Dyl and Tas trundling around Napa in a convertible Mustang
Lowlights: A-frame living.
People: Healthy, much too wealthy
Oddities: 3 signs that all said Sweetcron. A-Frame. Sasquatch Healing Temple. etc etc.
Jono & Jo’s totally objective and no-way subjective rating scale: 14% Alcohol by Volume out of 100
Reminds us of: Mpumalanga landscape with vineyards
Distance travelled:  Unknown miles (Miles are meaningless when you're off the grid, man).