Tuesday, 7/9/02 - 15:39
(Wrote this in my notebook last week, but it's taken a while to post because we haven't been at home around the computers much lately.)
Solvang. 45 minutes northwest of us, population 4850, a little bit of Denmark in Southern California. Not that I really believe this place is in Southern California; it's too much like the kitsch towns of the Midwest. It's crawling with half-timbered gift shops, smorgasbords, and mediocre "Bageri" that proudly ship their goods all over the country. Even the Days Inn is built with its own pseudo-windmill. At night the Christmas lights come on -- rather pointlessly, since most of the shops close fairly early. The surrounding hills support every bad ranching scam of the eighties, from alpaca to ostriches, as well as zebras and other wild animals raised for Hollywood.
But the really odd part is that this same corner of Santa Barbara County is home to our very own local wine country, where we went for our first anniversary. Aren't wine connoisseurs looking for France rather than Denmark? Don't they share Guybrush Threepwood's aversion to porcelain gifts?
Saturday morning Ted finished paying the more pressing bills and I finished off the last couple of thank you notes from the wedding. (1) We packed everything we could think of -- including cheese slicer and bread knife for picnics, and half my underwear drawer -- and then we were off!
We visited twelve or fifteen wineries in all, tasting on average five wines at each. Ted was driving, so he spit after each drink. I wasn't, so I didn't, thereby rendering myself pleasantly easy. Ted says he still got the full taste even when he spit, though, and no doubt he also go to feel a bit more sophisticated. Most of the other people we saw were all about getting plowed, probably to the point where they couldn't actually appreciate their wine.
For anyone interested, Foxen and Melville were by far the best. However, we didn't actually buy anything from Foxen, since for some reason we didn't take notes on the first half of the tasting, and because we already have a bottle of theirs at home. From Melville we bought a white called Enoch's, though it was misspelled as "Inox." We didn't get it because of the name; we got it because it was good. I kept trying to get all Tim Powersy about the wineries, pointing out greenmen and stuff, but Ted just wasn't going for it.
I've discovered that in general my favorite type of wine is a sauvignon blanc, fairly dry but with a fruity nose. And I don't really like the more buttery chardonnays. It's less clear what I've learned about reds, except that I don't actually like them quite as well as whites. This is an unfortunate discovery. As J. Z. Smith pointed out, no scholar of religion worth his spit prefers whites to reds. The symbolism is all wrong. Bother.
Between some of the tastings, we went back to our small but well-appointed room in Solvang at a "suite country inn." In it were three Tiffany lamps with price tags indicating sums in excess of $300, and also an address where you could buy them. Then Ted started tapping the lampshades, and verified that they were plastic, just sort of ads for the real ones. Which really makes sense, but of course the question it immediately raised in my mind was, where can I buy plasticTiffany lamps?
On Monday evening we saw a beautiful sunset, and on Tuesday morning we drove home. A very nice little mini-vacation, plus it's left us craving wine. Mmm, wine...
Monday, July 1st, was our actual anniversary. Lately I've been thinking all the usual "wow, already a year" platitudes, but nothing really worth relating. Married life is great so far, because Ted's the best.
You know what? We were listening to my parents' Oldies But Goodies mix tape the whole time, because it fit the vibe and always brings back good memories of childhood car trips. And Ted didn't mind at all! In fact, he now knows a lot of the songs on it well enough to sing along, which both horrified and delighted me. Horrified because I can't believe I've dragged out that tape often enough for him to sing along. Delighted because I'm so glad I have a husband who's willing to enjoy my favorite silly crappy music with me.
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(1) Wedding thank you notes. I know. I'm really embarrassed about this, too. Though not as embarrassed as I would be if we weren't still getting presents. Anyway, they're all done now, except for the ones to the groomsmen, which Ted's supposed to write. But I'm not too worried about them, since they're guys and they all got thank-you gifts already, so they can't be too offended. There were also a few people whose new addresses we've never been able to obtain, even though I stuck Ted on them and he tried every reasonable measure. Sadly, I actually wrote several of their cards a long time ago, and then they just sat on our desk breeding dust bunnies for months.
I think I actually did a pretty good job on most of them, though they probably would've gotten done more quickly if I'd encouraged Ted to help, rather than carefully writing them myself on the computer and then copying them out by hand.
Anyway, here's my all-time favorite:
Dear Dr. and Mrs. Bein,
Thank you so much for the money you gave us! We're thinking of spending it in part on a set of wine glasses. Ted and I have been learning to appreciate wine lately, and it'll be nice to offer our friends wine in glasses that actually match. It's a shame that you couldn't make it to Chicago for the wedding, but I'm sure you've heard how happy we are and how many good things in our life there are to toast. Thanks again -- we're impressed and honored that you remembered it.
I have no idea who these people are or if I've ever met them. I wonder if they know that?
Long live Diaryland!
The five most recent entries:
More Naval Gazing - Saturday, 8/13/05
Anniversary Diving - Friday, 8/12/05
Academic Tip of the Week - Tuesday, May. 17, 2005
How to tell a Midwesterner - Sunday, 4/24/05
Academic Feelings - Thursday, 4/21/05
Ted's most recent entry:
Monday, May 12