Sea Star 7

After a big breakfast cooked by Robert, we headed off for some wine tasting.  The first winery, Mitchell Katz was a pretty setting, but the wines were not all that great, and we didn’t end up buying any wines.

The second winery, Garre was great, and we liked all their wines.

We then headed to “linner” at Bruno’s - a local Italian restaurant.  They had a drink that was like a margarita – salted rim, tequila, lime juice, but with grapefruit soda.  Was a nice change, and we should make it sometime!

Melissa was itching to cook some French tarts with the fresh peaches and pears.  So we hung out in the kitchen most of the day.

For dinner Mike and Melissa made chicken marsala.  Unclear who was teaching who.

While the pies were baking we headed out for drinks and appetizers with the neighbors.

After a nice breakfast at home, we headed out to Dry Creek Vineyard for some wine tasting.  Despite being sailors, Carol and Jerry had never been there.  The wines were nice and the setting was even better than the last time we were there.  Carol bought four bottles, but they charged her for the wrong ones.  Melissa spotted the error and they did a credit back to Carol’s credit card.  Alas when Melissa got the email receipts, she realized they credited one bottle instead of three.  She contacted the winery and they credited back the correct bottles, but gave Carol one bottle for free for the trouble!

We had lunch at a tapas restaurant in Healdsburg called Bravas.  It was delicious and relaxing.  We headed over to Jerry and Carol’s daughter’s house.  They have a huge 80 acre farm where we picked lemons and tomatoes and visited with their three grand children.  On the spur of the moment, we decided to drive out to the beach and watch the sunset.

Then we drove home and Melissa cooked a shrimp pasta dinner.

After a great breakfast at Tater’s Cafe, we headed off to Ashland OR.  We were really looking forward to seeing a Shakespeare play – which neither of us had ever done.  We had chosen the classic – Romeo and Juliet.

Along the way we stopped at a few wineries: Hillcrest, Cooper Ridge, and Freed Estate.  Along with lunch at Alexander’s Greek Restaurant.

We checked into a super cute B&B called the Mcall House.  Built in the late 1800’s by the local mine owner Robert McCall, the house has been fully restored.  Its gorgeous.  We stayed in the McCall master bedroom.  There was a copy of their wedding license dated July 4, 1876 – 100 years to the day after our country was born.

Dinner at Alchemy was scrumptious.  Dave had scallops that were cooked perfectly.  The restaurant was a 5 minute walk from the theatre.  We grabbed some wine, ordered our intermission drinks, and headed into the theatre.  At first, we thought we were in the wrong theatre.  Rent is also on stage in Ashland right now.  The stage was set inside a homeless encampment under a bridge.  We should have walked out then before the play even began.

The first half was painfully “woke”.  Filled with gun violence, pelvic thrusts, and middle fingers.  White against black.  Clearly a politically correct message here.  And god forbid you not applaud it as you are sure to be ostracized for not appreciating this modern mockery of a classic play.  Disgusting.  We left at intermission, grabbed our drinks and headed back to the B&B.

We sat in the living room, had our drinks, and discussed how far gone our society seems to be – that this could be considered art.  We felt ripped off.  When we went back and looked at the Oregon Shakespeare festival website, they described the rendition as “modern” but certainly not “unfit for families” which is what it should have said.