Monday we were back on the road but only for a short distance. Leaving Charlie and his family we drove on to Hopland about an hour north to make a visit to my cousin Emjay's new tasting room. Emjay and her husband, Jim, are the owners of Naughty Boy Vineyards of Potter Valley. Their new venture is adding a tasting room in Hopland. Emjay chose the name WAA WAA as her business...Wine, Art and Antiques (times 2)! Jim was busy putting the final touches on the room and they were hoping to open this last weekend. Paul picked up a brush and did some little finishing details.
Emjay was out at their place so we closed up the store and drove the motorhome out for a 2 night stay right in their vineyard. What a fantastic view with warm and sunny skies.
Tuesday Paul and Jim headed back to Hopland for another day at the tasting room, hanging Uncle Joe's giant Moose head as the focal point on an upper wall. More antiques and boxes of goodies were packed into the truck while I stayed in the vineyard and enjoyed time down by the creek behind Emjay's house. Such a peaceful setting.
She gave me one of her favorite books, Tisha, the story of a young teacher in the Alaska wilderness in the 1920s. It was a perfect afternoon to just sit in the coolness of the trees and water and read. Must have been 10 degrees cooler down by the creek than at our motorhome.
That day the sign went up on the tasting room...
and Jim put a final layer of wax on the floors. Now all they need is to fill it with their awesome wines and open the doors.
Dinner both nights was outside in the yard and delicious!
Emjay and I just had to pose for this photo that evening.
Camping sites don't get any better than this one!
The next morning Emjay, she was off to Tracy and Jim was putting in a day in the vineyards so Paul and I left for the little town of Willits about 20 miles up the road and a visit with Paul's cousin Evelyn Fisher and her 3 boys...and were we in for a treat!
Somehow though, I made a huge mistake in our directions and instead of only a 20 mile drive we passed through the town of Willits and continued another 20 miles before I realized that just couldn't be right, and back we went to Willits. We knew she lived out of town but what a surprise to follow her directions west along a paved road, then about 8 miles further down a graveled mountain side road to arrive at her home. (No...we did not do this in the motorhome, only the SAAB, but quite the drive, nonetheless). Evelyn's husband, Adrian, is a contractor so when he has time he's busy building them quite a homestead on 200 acres of wooded and forested land.
Their home sits among a redwood grove with a nearby spring for their water supply. They live completely off grid and what an amazing life for her boys! There's a pond for swimming and fishing, blackberry bushes for picking and Evelyn's amazing all organic garden with an orchard of fruit trees and a pretty amazing sunflower.
We loved our visit and were so glad we had made the trek out to see her amazing life as a modern day pioneer woman. We were so impressed with what they have accomplished in just a couple of years with lots of dreams still ahead. Being so far from everything means they also have all kinds of wild life around: rattlesnakes, bears, deer and even a bobcat that had dug under the walls of their chicken coop and wiped out her flock of 30+ chickens earlier this year.
These 3 hammocks hang in the shade near the pond and the boys hung out with us.
Such sweet boys enjoying a life very children know today. Besides their organic lifestyle they attend the Waldorf School in Willits where Evelyn works during the school year.
We left with a bag full of veggies and so happy to have spent the time with Evelyn to get a glimpse of her life. We still had some miles to do to get near Richardson's Grove for the night. We loaded the SAAB onto the dolly and north we went.
1 comment:
It was so great to have you guys here even for just a few hours. Next time plan for a few days! (Oh, the Waldorf School is in Calpella.)
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