squeakr

On behalf of Magic111, Jerrie and myself -
we would like to invite all FT'ers from far and wide and even SFO to the

First Annual 2006 Sonoma Do - Salute to the Arts

Salue to the Arts , in the beautiful Sonoma Valley Downtown Plaza, is a 3 day extravaganza of art, food , wine and good company - the good company being the FT'ers who attend!

The detalis are sketchy right now, but the tentative plan, hatched over a delicious Mexican lunch last week, includes:

A Friday night SF Dinner to launch the weekend

7 PM
Royal Thai -
610 3rd St at Irwin
San Rafael CA
Enter parking lot beside restaurant from 4th (under freeway).
415 485-1074


A Saturday visit to Sonoma, where for the relatively low price of somewhere between $25-35, we will partake of wine tasting and delicious munchies -and will be able to see among others, Jerrie's beautiful photographic work -
TICKET INFO later in thread

followed by

DINNER AT The Red Grape, Sonoma, CA - lovely downtown location, casual - starting at 6 PM
http://www.theredgrape.com/start.html

followed by:


Sunday - A neighborhood brunch at Bambino's In Cole Valley, in San Francisco - 12 NOON - NOTE CHANGE
Bambino's
945 Cole St.
San Francisco, CA 94117
Phone: 415 731 1343

CONFIRMED
magic111 and jerrie
mr. and mrs. old and slow
nor4 +1
monitor
franny
squeakr and mr. squeakr
r bernheim +1
alysia
dan1431
KathyWdrf
Vpescado
TravelKhatt


PROBABLE for at least some activities
WindFlyer
work2fly
tom911
row1a and mrs. row 1a
roesner
jack123
jet2K + family

WindFlyer

Count me as interested—if I'm here, I should be able to make at least some of the activities ^

work2fly

http://www.oregonbrewfest.com/

Hmmmm...tough call

Wine and arts or beer and farts

magic111

Thanks to squeakr for getting this up as yesterday was hectic before my redeye here to ORD where I connect to the aa flight to PVG. But since I have a few hours to wait here in the flagship lounge let me add some more information.

This will be the 21st Salute to the Arts/Wine Tasting at the Plaza although the information is not online - here is the link to the 21st This event which is considered the "ultra-premium showcase of the winemaking, culinary, visual, performing, and literary arts" (is that smug enough for you or what) always sells out. In fact you can not get the "passports" (good for half a dozen or so food samples and another half a dozen or so wine tastings) the days of the event. It is our understanding that by buying as a group we will be able to get a discounted rate on the "passports"

squeakr and I were not sure that those who were coming from out of the area would be able to find lodging in Sonoma county for this event so we decided to kick it off Friday night in San Francisco at a location to be chosen later. For those from out of town (or who wish to partake of the wine in abundance) magic carpet rides will be provided. Ask belle3388 or DEK about the mc rides. (almost ranks up there with a Brooklyn tour - but neither of the two have been on a Brooklyn tour)

A note about Jerrie - Jerrie shares space in a gallery on the Plaza with her landlady (fine arts paintings) and one other photographer (a retired Delta pilot). The gallery is going to be closed during this event and she will have some small exhibition rights in the event. Some FTers have purchased pieces from Jerrie in the past and even more FTers have recieved some of her works as gifts. She just wants to disclose fully to anyone who attends that her primary reason for her participation in inviting other to this event is not self-promotion but to give back to the community who has always welcomed her at DOs even though she does not post.

techgirl

Wow - three FT events in one weekend (Portland Brewers Festival, Gilroy Garlic Festival, and this) and I can't make a single one.

tom911

I'm in the same boat. With having to drive over, I'd probably come to some of these, but not every one.

KathyWdrf

I'm interested!

nor4

Sounds interesting. Put me in the "maybe" column.

WindFlyer

Now I'm really interested!! ^

rbernheim

Put it in our book as a maybe. We would be 2.

monitor

We're keeping this one in focus. We'll know a lot more about July in another month or so.

KathyWdrf

So, where would the suggested lodging locations be?

Let's see.... Friday night dinner in SF -- which suggests SF as a good location to stay on Friday night. That ol' postprandial (not to mention post-bibulous) somnolence will getcha!

Saturday tasting and munchies in Sonoma, followed by dinner in San Rafael (which is on the way back to SF on Hwy 101), followed by Sunday brunch somewhere between Petaluma and SF -- all of which suggests somewhere on the Santa Rosa/Petaluma/Marin corridor (Hwy 101) as possible places to stay. Of course, if you can spring for it, the Sonoma area would be nice to stay in as well.

I'll look into a few hotel possibilities.

monitor

Your effort will be appreciated.
The only hotel that I can remember outside of the City was a spa type thing up in Sonoma where we stayed about ten years ago. It was fairly nice but IIRC fairly pricey.

KathyWdrf

OK, here are a couple of hotel ideas for Saturday night, July 29. Since I'm mainly a Hilton HHonors and Starwood person, those are the chains I looked up first.

There is a cheap-ish and easy option in San Rafael: the Four Points. I've not stayed at this hotel, I understand it's probably nothing special, but the location would be workable given the events planned. There would still be a fair bit of driving around, however! For example, San Rafael to Sonoma is about 30 miles. Anyhow, the Four Points can be had that weekend for rates around $130 to $140 per night, for a NON-prepaid reservation. (You can save maybe $10 by booking prepaid, non-cancellable, but I certainly don't recommend doing that at this stage!) I booked myself a cancellable res at this place for Saturday night. It's also available for a reasonable points redemption at 3,000 Starpoints per weekend night (but no stay credit with Starwood on award redemptions). The website says that this hotel is under renovation, so that could be good (if you get a renovated room) and/or bad (if there's disruption and disturbance caused by the work).

Four Points by Sheraton San Rafael


Another possibility might be the Doubletree Hotel Sonoma Wine Country, which is actually also on the Highway 101 corridor (i.e., not actually in Sonoma). It's in Rohnert Park, which is about halfway between Petaluma and Santa Rosa, and it's half an hour's drive (or more) from Sonoma itself. (Rohnert Park is 30 miles north of San Rafael; San Rafael is 20 miles north of San Francisco.) This hotel is a decent place (I've stayed there once), but the rates for that weekend are $250-ish, plus tax. However, you can (for a short while longer at least) book it for 25,000 HHonors points per night, which is a reasonable deal vis-a-vis the cash price. (And you DO get stay credit with HHonors even on award stays!)

Doubletree Hotel Sonoma Wine Country

magic111

Thanks for posting the hotel info KathyWdrf.

Let me also add that there is in Petaluma a Sheraton that already has no availability in addition to the Embassy Suites in San Rafael with no availability. This is a big event for the area and is one of the reasons that I'll offer magic carpet rides from the city to sonoma and back.

Depending on where the group is centered we may have the Sunday Brunch in the North Bay or over in Benica where tom911 is or in one of the neighborhoods in the city. squeakr and I wanted to leave this option opened. Maybe if a number of folks are flying out Sunday it will down by SFO