I am yearning for a new adventure. I am busy with my design practice, and very grateful for this reality in a community where small businesses are toppling daily. But , I also need to go forth and have experiences which aid me in my personal growth as a designer. I have no wish to become static, doing the same thing day in and day out.
A place I am currently interested in is Cavallo Point Lodge which is now part of Golden Gate Park. This location was once Fort Baker, sitting tucked into the Sausalito side of the Bridge. Here, in a brilliant bit of adaptive reuse the former officers quarters have been rennovated into a luxe lodge. There are the lodge quarters, a restaurant of some note, a spa, an art gallery and the cause of my yearning ... a cooking school! It's all albout sustainable foods, cooking from the local farmers markets and artisan growers ...... they are BIG advocates of heirloom varieties and cooking with said produce. They are serious about what they call the
triumverate of chef-farmer-vintner. Students of the once monthly cooking school travel to the
San Rafael market where selections are made, menus are planned, so the experience is farm to table and fresh, fresh, fresh.
I am also interested in the "green" rennovations of this historic location, the art, the general ambience of the locale. Sigh. I am definitely yearning for this exerience. Anybody else out there having fall yearnings?
16 comments:
What a fun concept! While you're there don't forget to take the balloon tour over the vineyards! This mermaid has been out of water too long, but is beginning to think she'll never see it this year....
Morning Mermaid,
Sounds like you are yearning for saltwater bays! I hear you.
A few years back, Blowfish and I were going to take the hot air balloon trek across Tuscany traveling from vineyard to vineyard, staying in villas with families along the way and learning to cook with them from their very own gardens. SIGH!!!!
We didn't go ;-( the world politics were a bit thorny and the dollar was plummeting. We stayed home and renovated the Garden Room, a longstanding wish list item on the home front.
I can smell the reek of Patchouli oil and hear the scurrying of birkenstock mandals from here.
A better short-term project might be the Bourbon County Secretariat Festival this week-end. I'm sure there are buildings there.
A MUCH better long-term project would be to supervise what the Virginia State Fair authority is doing to the hallowed (sp?) ground of Meadow Farms where the legend was foaled and raised.
ive been there. i have a friend in Muir Beach. you take a bus from SF airport and go to sausalito and then you go over mountains to the beach. nice there. but, i mean, it IS california. i like sf okay though. you know, V is form there. i love the area around the bridge over at the presidio - the eucalpytus forest. are you going to go?
is that YOURE mermaid above?
I have an adventure planned, Fishy, I'm traveling to Chickory in early November. Spring is my time to plan adventures, Fall is typically when I love to hunker down in my own world with projects, etc.
It sounds like you've been workingtoo much at both home (wisteria?) and your office and I had hoped you'd get that trip to the antique stores this past weekend, instead?
Mermaid? You both have similar avatars. :-)
Go Fishy, GO!
I have been thar'! I mean, seen it--never been to the cookin' school thang. But me an Uncle did go to Sausalito, Muir woods. up to Bodega Bay whar' I saw the most amazin' lupines!! Then we did the touristy the balloons over Napa thang.
It is lovely--go go go !!
How fun to do something like this -- a vacay with a purpose! To quote my husband "You only regret the things you DON'T do ..."
I agree with another, a vacation with a plan sounds wonderful. And learning about cooking only adds to the pot to be sure! But California is not probably a destination I would choose, if still I really hope you get to enjoy your idyllic travels and lodging.
I am living my vacation, sort of. I left Iowa for the mountains of Utah and plan to buy a house, settle into to whatever of life I have and have left, and enjoy the mountains and outdoors as a permanent vacation spot I happen to live in. I'm not sure it is the same, but it is what I have. You might say, whenever I want to go on vacation that all I need to do is grab my hat, pack and jacket, open my door, and let my feet find their way.
Still, elk or bear, deer or skunk, moose or mouse, none offer cooking lessons, though they might offer the bounty.
Troll,
So funny! My nose might still be permanently damagd frm the years my brother bathed in the nasty patchouli stuff.
K9,
YES! that is Mermaid from the Pond. She just started her own blog....do go read her first post. It will encourage you about the 20somethings. Did you mean you had been to the area or you've been to thew lodge, spa, restaurant, cooking school. My fear is the beautiful spot is overwhelmed by incessant noise from bridge traffic.
Boxer,
A differemt type of farm to table experience!
My bet is you will love the Chickory experience but not if it is flooding. AND ... the wisteria is still needing attention. I DID go antiquing last weekend with a friend leaving Blowfish home to attend to his interests...which somehow did not include the wisteria.
After years of searching I finally found JUST the table i needed for the Foyer at a price I culd afford so it was a great outing!!!!
I guess Mermaid and I both have lots of color in our avatars. Her blog is new ...she hopes to play our MM game this week but go on over there and read her first post ... might make you feel better about the next generation. It might not.
Aunty Belle,
I have never seen lupines ...
Pam,
Thanks for the tip, I might try your husband's philosophy on Blowfish.
Doom,
I've lived in some "destination" cities, you generally have to seek a way to enjoy your own community by learning to navigate around all the tourists. Thank God most of them did not go to the beach @ 6am! Bout those critters which may offer bounty for your table? Some of them might be stalking the like of yu for their own "tables". Hope you are fleet of foot or rapid with a trigger.
I am about the size of the black bears we have around here, larger black bears, males, and larger than many of them. But I depend more on trigger and aim to be sure. It's those sneaky cats one must take caution with, though I know a trick... Wear bobbly eyes on the back of the hat. Really. And carry a decent caliber pistol if they enjoy your humor more than they should.
I feel about California the way I do about Paris: it would be paradise without the people :o). Seriously, though, if I HAD to live there? The Bay Area or Carmel.
Funny, most people feel like reinventing themselves come springtime. For, me, like you, I start reassessing things come fall. I'm yearning to commit more of my time to my creative writing, rather than my work-for-hire. But my mortgage keeps getting in the way . . .
Moi,
I so get that pesky mortgage thing! I'm thinking the budget isn't going to stretch for any California trips this Autumn. Replacing that main level AC was damn pricey. Sigh. I do have clients who offer me free use of their mountain or beach getaways,
I have never done that but this might be the year.
As for finding the time to pursue writing for self vs writing for livelihood. I get that too, I never quite get around to doing for me what I do for my clients.
And as for getting out the art supplies and making some art .... sigh...why did I ever let that get to be a back burner issue?
whew!
Doom
LOL at the eyes in the back of your head!
Your blog keeps getting better and better! Your older articles are not as good as newer ones you have a lot more creativity and originality now. Keep it up!
And according to this article, I totally agree with your opinion, but only this time! :)
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