Hi again, y'all--Another possibility -- this time from Trip Advisor.
--LL
Hi Y'All--What do you think of this place? It is available for our dates and in our price range, I think.
Cheers,
Lurkin' Lynnie
Also, have a gander at
http://www.vrbo.com/44858
It is also in the Garden District. Places in the French Quarter were either already booked and/or too expensive.
Here's the message we sent to the "second-choice" property. Alas,
even though the VRBO website indicated that the other (less expensive)
place was available for our dates, when we checked with the rental
agent, it was no longer available for that week.
We thought we should strike while the iron was still hot on this one.
Petey says, Patricio, that you will just have to make some sacrifices
while we are there to make up the difference. I think not eating for the
week was one suggestion …. Please let us know
as soon as you can if you do NOT want us to proceed with this booking.
Otherwise, I'll confirm with Julie that we will be there. It's going to
be fun. I'm looking forward to it and spending quality time wit youse in
de new year. Cheers for now, LL
Hi Lynne and Peter,
Thank you for your interest in our property. We do have those dates
available and the rate is $245/nt. There is ample free on street
parking right in front of the building. We are conveniently located
walkable to many great restaurants, coffee shops, museums,
shopping and the streetcar. Please let me know if you would like to
book as we are receiving numerous inquiries for January.
Best, Julie
Hi Julie,
That's great that you have the dates available. We'd like to go
ahead and book for the nights of January 16 through 22. There will be
four adults; ourselves and our friends Patrick Dunn and Corinne Durston.
Please advice what we need to do to secure
the booking.
Thanks and best regards, Lynne and Peter Lighthall
Book! Book! Book! Cheers, Patrizzio, with permmissione from Cora Lee. Amos sends his regards and would like a reservazzione for 2013 when I will be Grand Fondoing! Fondestos, Patrizzio!
Hi Lynne and Peter!
Greetings from Berkeley! Arrived here after spending three fun-filled, wine-soaked days in Healdsburg!
Great selection of places! Grand work indeed! Both seem more than fine, (Luxury! Sheer Luxury!), from point of view of price, rooms, furnishings, location, etc. Only question we have is availability of parking. Could you inquire when making booking? Not a big deal but we'll need to know, at some point. (Corinne discovered that depending on location, one must use pay parking of some kind.) Please book whichever place you'd like or one with parking, if such should be the case. Again, thanks for doing this.
Amos and Pat are coming for dinner this evening so it will be terrific to meet her. Cactus is doing skillet braised chicken pieces, brown rice, green beans and a green salad, while Donna Florida forked out for a cranberry/apple pie from Whole Foods! We are sipping a Kunde, Kenwood, (southern Sonoma, in case you don't know the winery), Magnolia Lane, (Getting ready for the Deep South!), 2011 Sauvignon Blanc, 13.8%. For dinner we are opening three David Coffaros: a Matt's Select,(Assistant Winemaker's product), 2009 Petite Sirah, 14.8%, a DC 2010 Petite Sirah, 15.8% and a DC 2010 Petit Verdot, 15.5%, all Dry Creek fruit. Before the dinner reds we will have a Lazy Creek, (Anderson Valley), 2007 Chardonnay, 12.8%, one of our favourite wineries there. David's neighbour, across the street gave him a case of wine just a few minutes after we had arrived and he asked me to choose anything to open for this evening!
Not sure if we'll have room for any maltage by evening's end but brought Cactus along a work-horse, 10 year old Laphroaig. Have an interesting Jura and an Ardbeg, (courtesy of Duty Free at Truck Crossing), for night-cappage in New Orleans while the Babes are changing into something "more comfortable"!
Let us know what you are able to book. Fondestos and Cheers, Cora Lee and Patrizzio!
 |
| I'm surprised that you are not wearing your swim suit with a pencil stuck behind the strap of your gogges!!! |
Patrick James Dunn
Happy Christmas and a Healthy New Year to you, Carmen Miranda, and Southside Johnny! Have been enjoying a wonderful few days in and around Healdsburg. Snap was taken yesterday at David Coffaro Winery where we attended their December Open House. Fondestos and Cheers, Cora Lee and Patrizzio! Pics: Cora Lee with Pat, (far right), and David, owners. Part of fun was that guests were encouraged to wear "ugly" sweaters!
I was up at 7:00am to do some last minute packing before siting up for my last ride before we left wine-country. Left at just after 8:00am and followed the same route I'd taken on previous two rides. More traffic even though it was earlier and I supposed it was all the God-fearing folk going to church! The mist and low cloud over the valley bottom vineyards was a sight to behold and I was glad that I had decided to ride. At one point I thought that I would simply spend time packing the car but night before made decision to load most of our considerable possessions, (mainly wine and suitcases), we'd taken into our room when we first arrived. That task completed I knew that I would have at least two hours of "quality" cycle time available to me before I had to be back and showered and changed for the road. Check-out was 11:00 am so that was the deadline I was working towards.
Friday night we had enjoyed a delicious meal at Ralph's, one of our favourite spots off the Healdsburg Town Square. We sat between two couples, a Mother and her teenage son, to my left, and two friends, both women, on my right. I was happy to dine on a wonderful Caesar Salad, the lemon dressing was divino, with side orders of fava beans and spinach. Would have done Chloë proud although she has actually started tot eat some meat. She had a few pieces of turkey at Thanksgiving, bacon at Pig and Mortar, and even some steak when Spumoni visited in early December! Cora Lee had a wonderful Thai Seafood Curry and we took along a great bottle of Coffaro 2010 Barbera, 15.6%. Unfortunately, for me, Coriandre took a great liking to my favas even though her nose wrinkled when I ordered them initially!
Mother and son were from Rohnert Park, (Rodent Park is what Margaret Friesen's, [My former boss at ILL.], brother Gus used to call community. He was a pilot out of SF airport and choose to live there for ease of commute as well as being able to keep his light plane at the regional airport nearbye. Sadly, he was killed, about twenty years ago now, when this same plane crashed. I don't know the details but obviously it was a terrible thing for Margaret and the rest of her large number of other siblings. I'd met Gus a few times when he'd visited Vancouver to see family and friends. He possessed a jovial, ebullient personality and I liked him very much, although I only knew him casually.
The woman, Patricia, sitting next to Cora Lee, is a gerontology nurse in Healdsburg and she moved to Sonoma from Pasadena a few years ago. Her friend, Lisa, still lives in Pasadena, a block or so from Rose Bowl Parade route. They knew each other from LA and Lisa often visits. She is originally from Chicago so we enjoyed chatting about the city and all it has to offer. Both of us would dearly love to spend time there. Lisa was married, at one time, to David Hamilin, a former executive at Universal Studios in the 1990's, I believe. At the end of the evening, we We exchanged cards as Patricia is very fond of Vancouver and we certainly would like to do a house exchange in Healdsburg.
On Saturday night we had reservations for Willi's, a spot new to us although it has been around for a few years, at least. Located just north of the town square, "the East Coast and South America meet Wine Country at Willi’s Seafood & Raw Bar. The extensive list of small plates are designed for sharing. The menu features items ranging from New England Style “Rolls” and Latin-inspired skewers to ceviches and tartares. The chef’s raw bar features an ever-changing selection of fresh seafood, including at least eight varieties of fresh oysters."
We shared the following: BBQ’D Oysters “Tomales Bay”; Chopped Salad of Romaine, Sweet 100’s, Pecans,Cucumbers, Olives, Blue Cheese, Mustard Vinaigrette; Caramelized Brussel Sprouts, Linguica, Apples, Blue Cheese Sage Brown Butter; Pan Roasted Shrimp with Chilies, Lemon & Garlic and Almond Crusted Petrale Sole, Lemon Caper Butter, Wilted Spinach all washed down with a delicious Sauvignon Blanc, a Sbragia Dry Creek Valley 2010, which, according to the Wine Spectator, is "succulent, with apricot, peach and nectarine flavors that are ripe and perfectly juicy, with plenty of power and the finesse of a fleshy texture and a long, detailed finish." Couldn't agree more! A great, great place and one we would highly recommend!
By now I had a pretty good idea of the distances between various points along the route and so knew that I could manage at least 40K before having to be back at the motel. From motel parking lot exit on Grove Street, south through town and onto Eastside and then DCR, past Mill Creek Winery, it is almost exactly 33K. Instead of heading north where West DCR intersects, I made straight for Healdsburg to wend my way back to the Travelodge. Had to do a bit of dipsy-doodling on Grove Street to bring count to 41.3K but I was back in plenty of time to shower and change and load last few bags in car before we said goodbye to our home away form home at 11:05am!
Drive south on 101 is a piece of cake and we made turnoff onto I-580 without any problem, over the Richmond Bridge to take the Ashby Exit it into Berkeley and were knocking on the door of 116 Vicente by just before 2:00 pm. Warm welcome from Donna Florida and Cactus and then Sherpa Davey and I muled all the baggage we would need to the house. Once this was done, I re-loaded the car with the three cases of wine I had stashed in their basement and then returned to join gang as we visited.
After some of Vincenzo's wonderful java I had a quick shower and then worked on my backlog of messages until Pat and Amos arrived. Had a wonderful meal and a grand visit. Had never met Pat before so it was a pleasure to get to know her. They left at close to 10:00am as Amos had his US Citizenship exam next morning. We wished him well and said goodnight. Our gracious hosts did the dishes and I readied myself for bed. It had been a long day and I was pleasantly tired. Dropped off to sleep even before Mme Coriandre came to bed to read. To be continued...
Cheers Patrice,
I had a great lunch with my old mate Tony Whelan (who I am sure you have met) yesterday at a seafood buffet at the Sheraton in the city.I thought of you whilst consuming a Tasmanian Ninth Island Pinot. Not sure whether you can buy it in BC, however here are the tasting notes.
Love to all the Dunn gang for Christmas and the New Year.
Best wishes Tiptoe and The Generalissimo.PS off to Taiwan in mid Jan so will be sending pics from the Republic of!!Hi Gents,Hi Patrick, thank you for the wonderful sentiments and also the photos! All of us here at Famiglia Coffaro had a grand time and are so happy to hear that you enjoyed the festivities. I'm so glad the party coincided with your trip down and we thank you for the special effort you made to include us in your travel plans. So wonderful to have you and Corinne with us. Take care and have a wonderful Christmas and safe and exciting travels to New Orleans and beyond. As Corinne mentioned, would love to get your blog from New Orleans so that we can hear about all the fantastic adventures you will no doubt encounter.
Please check that you see 'Suttree' MP3 in both Dropboxes
1. Book Club drop box , created by Mark and
2. and another one created by Moe.
I tried to share my 'public' dropbox with those too.
Let me know please it it worked. Thanks, Cheers, Misha
Cheers until then! Pat (and Dave)
http://www.xing.com/profile/Oliver_Bender5
HI Pat,
Thought this might interest you.
I think that Business Leadership and Management Training might only partially cover what Oliver does. That is the name used in the VCC Continuing Studies flyer, for some of the offerings available through his company. Of course he offers a whole lot more, like recruitment, handling apprenticeship, further training, outplacement, and even more mysterious opportunities for career development.
Oliver might come out for a short visit sometime next year. bob
David Kessler David Kessler shared a link: "Today is the Day to Talk About Reducing..." 
Today is the Day to Talk About Reducing Gun Violence signon.org I just signed a petition to President Barack Obama: President Obama: Today is the day to talk about the deadly toll of gun violence on American families, communities, and especially, our kids.
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