The Coast

I finally get it.

For years, literally years, people have been telling me to experience Northern California. "You'll love San Francisco if you love Boston," they said. "If you like LA you will be blown away by the North coast." And other things like that. I finally got sick of hearing it all, and I went to check it out for myself. Luckily, I also finally got the excuse with Megan's family headed out for the wedding of her Aunt Erin. So last Friday night Meggie and I boarded a JetBlue flight at Kennedy Airport bound for San Jose. For the next nine days, I had some of the coolest experiences I've had in the US. Here is just a taste.

You Can Find Me In The Cove

From the moment I saw it, walking towards the park on the Embarcadero, I knew AT&T Park was going to be for me. Now, of course, there is no place in the world like Fenway. It is the ultimate cathedral to baseball. If you don't know this by now, then you are just not paying attention. However, teams of late have been building markedly better stadia throughout the major leagues. I've been to a few of the new generation parks, Jacobs Field and Camden Yards among others, and while they are definite improvements, surely the Park at 24 Willie Mays Plaza must be the crown jewel. It is straight out of the old school. Despite the fact that our group tickets were in the third deck, I felt almost on top of the action. Not that there was a whole lot of action going on between the Giants and Pirates, but still, I felt close to the players and the game. We Red Sox fans are spoiled rotten these days, because we get 81 days a year where we get to see our boys play in those hallowed grounds. But if I ever had to choose another place to watch 81 games a year, AT&T Park would be it.

Wild World

I never made it to the Wild Coast of South Africa. I will certainly have to see it when I go back, but for now, the Mendocino coastline will have be a placeholder. It is a truly wild, rough place. As Highway 1 cuts north, slicing its way along the coastline, the vistas and ruggedness become ever more pronounced. The Mendocino headlands, in Mendocino village, a quaint seaside community for ex-hippie burnouts and, as it happened, "Murder, She Wrote" fans (it was filmed there), were the best part. An underground maze of caves and grottoes, punctuated by cliffs and beachheads, the headlands are a wonderful place to wile away the lazy afternoons hours, getting a chance to see what the California coast has looked like for centuries. And yes, even we indoor kids can enjoy it.

Foodie Paradise

I always loved going to Cooperstown when I was young. It was a monument to the game of baseball which had become a huge part of my life even in my youth. So it was no surprise that I got an analogous feeling as I arrived at COPIA - the Center for Food, Wine and the Arts, in Napa, CA. Eating in Julia Child's kitchen, the flavors I had recognized from my youth permeated throughout the air, as the wondrous smells wafted in from the open kitchen. My mom learned to cook while she nursed me, watching Saint Julia on PBS when I went down for my afternoon nap. And as we passed through the courses - Curried Summer Squash Bisque, Flatiron Steak with Garlic Smashed Potatoes, and Bing Cherry Strudel - I could almost hear the sharp tones of Julia's well-worn old New England voice lilting through those aromas, making the most elegant and decadent food accessible to us all. After lunch, I got to see exactly just how much of a playground COPIA could be. I stopped off at the Wine Spectator Tasting Center and did their "Judgment of Paris" tasting - a tribute to the famed 1976 Paris Tasting, in which I got to experience both Stag's Leap Artemis and Chateau Montelena Chard, both worth the price of admission. Then we wrapped up our visit, walking through the Edible Garden, taking in the different tastes and smells as the open-air pantry excited all the senses simultaneously in a veritable sensual orgy of foodgasm. A perfect, leisurely end to a wonderful visit to the monument for food.

Love, California Style

From the town that inspired Alfred Hitchcock's masterwork "The Birds," I got the chance to experience possibly the most beautiful wedding in the most beautiful setting you could ever conceive. How's that for an image? Nestled snuggly on the northern rim of Monterey Bay, the Monarch Cove Inn provided a veritable Shangri-La for the celebration of Megan's aunt, Erin, and the man who has become the love of her life, Ralph, and their commitment to each other. Now, don't get me wrong, I haven't gone all soft on you or anything. But I think you know enough about me by now that despite my tendencies towards sarcasm and cynicism, at heart I am an old hopeless romantic. And I believe in the power of love. Never before has that been feeling been more palpable in one time and one place than on that breezy Saturday afternoon. The setting sure helped, as did Ralph's signature "Swimming Naked" drink - and the 7 of them I drank (Ask for the recipe, it's pretty much the best beverage I've ever tasted. Ever. Including beer.). But the high point, and the one that slayed just about everybody was the expression of love in the couple's vows. Most times, people writing their own vows end up sounding like Rachel McAdams' sailor sister in Wedding Crashers, or Homer Simpson - "in richness and in poorness, in times when flying monkeys..." - in a word, hokey. But love flowed in the words Erin and Ralph shared with each other. As with everything else on Saturday, it was an exactly perfect microcosmic representation of their lives together. And in those words, and in that moment, in that perfect place and time, they created an everlasting bond with each other, and between both of their families and for the new family they will build in the coming years, and one that I am privileged to which I am honored to have borne witness.

We had lots of great experiences. The above are just a few selections. I owe a great debt of gratitude to the entire Bentley family for the experience. And I invite you to check out more pictures on Facebook for more from the California Odyssey.