This summer found us on the Return To Napa Vally 30th Anniversary Tour. We put together all the original band members and, though the equipment had aged, the songs sounded pretty much the same.
On the road again – on our way from San Francisco to the Napa Valley
We played (stayed at) the same venue we had 30 years ago – Napa Valley Lodge in Yountville, once a sleepy wine country village but now a bustling, wine tourism mecca filled with outposts of Thomas Keller's food empire.
Room with a view at the Napa Valley Lodge. The lodge staff, learning that it was the Anniversary Tour, made sure there was a chilled bottle of (California) bubbly waiting for us on our terrace. Rockstar fame has its benefits.
Even though I was on the road, I kept up with my decades-long daily photo project, which I call oh-so-imaginatively "what i saw today". This set, then, is what I saw during two days in the Napa Valley, thirty years later.
All photos: iPhone 12 Pro, Photoshop CC, with a blend of Chardonnay and carbon dioxide.
Ukulele player and vocalist. Diane Shaskin, taking a break in Thomas Keller's large chef's garden that supplies produce for Yountville restaurant The French Laundry. Often rated the #1 restaurant in the USA, our band has the rare distinction of walking out of not only TFL, but Keller's other renowned Yountville dinery, Bouchon Bistro. If it ain't got a beat, you can't dance to it. If you know what I mean.
The band backstage in Yountville.
When we saw this Rolls we thought it was one of the band's perks. We were very disappointed.
You can't drive Highway 29 through the Valley without stopping to make yet another photograph of Oakville Grocery, an iconic spot (est. 1881) that has, since our last tour, been purchased and improved by a winemaker originally from Burgundy. Bon travail, Jean-Charles !
Behind-the-scenes photos of us warming up during a return visit to the cellars of Schramsberg Vineyards, producers of some of the best California sparkling wine.
The vocalist, warmed up.
At restaurant Press, in Saint Helena.
Another day, another winery. Here's uke ace Diane confabbing with promoter Chris Dobson. We were excited to meet him until we learned that Chris wasn't the local promoter for the band's tour, but for Covert Estate winery. Although disappointed (once again) we went through with the wine tasting session anyway.
Sparkles and frites at Auberge du Soleil
Before heading back to San Francisco, we made one last stop at another of our previous haunts, Domaine Chandon.
