Hi, Everyone!
We’ve been having more adventures in California. On Friday, we drove to Napa Valley on a very twisty road! First, we stopped at Joe-san’s favorite store, at Greystone, the Culinary Institute of America in St. Helena. He likes to see what’s new for cooks there. I showed Moose-san the chocolate truffles for sale. Don’t they look yummy?I was really surprised to see my cousin, Bunglie Lion, waiting for a new home. Moose-san and I hope somebody really nice buys him!
Then we went to an olive orchard in Rutherford, Round Pond, for a tour and olive oil tasting. Moose-san and I made friends with an olive tree, then we got to see how the oil is milled out of olives. First, the olives are brought in on a conveyor and sorted. Then Round Pond uses a stone mill to grind their olives. The mill machinery is only used during the olive harvest, so Moose-san and I got to see it up close. Moose-san wanted to try to turn on the machinery, so I had to be a good helper and push the “off” buttons! Then we all got to taste four kinds of olive oil and two kinds of wine vinegar. We used sugar cubes to taste the vinegar!
On Saturday morning, Grandma and Joe-san and Nancy-san took Moose-san and me for a walk around Vintners Inn. We saw goats and sheep on the walking path through the vineyard, then we got to make friends with flowers planted around the inn. Vintners Inn is a really pretty place and everyone is very friendly to little lions and moose!
After our walk, we checked out and headed to San Francisco. We drove back to Napa on the same twisty road. I could smell the redwoods and eucalpytus trees when the sun came out. Do you suppose my koala friends would like those trees? We had lunch at a Japanese restaurant, Morimoto. Everybody used chopsticks to eat lunch. That would be hard to do with little lion paws!
Then we stopped to buy Belly Flops at the Jelly Belly factory. Grandma couldn’t find Belly Flops from the Thai plant, so we got American ones. The Jelly Belly mascot was very friendly and gave Moose-san and me a ride on his motorcycle.
From there, we drove to San Francisco. There was a big backup of traffic on the Bay Bridge, and it took us a long time to get to where we are staying. But we were just in time to have dinner ready when Uncle Steven and Aunt Kara got here. Moose-san and I were good helpers, getting ready.
This morning, Grandma and Grandpa and Joe-san and Nancy-san took me on my favorite walk near our hotel, on the Bay Trail. I got to show Moose-san the pretty wildflowers along the walk. It was windy, but the sun came out and we had a nice walk to Oyster Point and back.
Today is Grandpa’s birthday. I’m going to give him a great big lion hug before he goes out to dinner with Uncle Steven and Aunt Kara and Grandma and Joe-san and Nancy-san. Moose-san and I are going to stay home and eat cookies!
Love,
Lion-san