An Island and Wine Vacation, April 2020 style
Apr 13, 2020, 5:22 pm
#1
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 1999
Location: Over the Bay Bridge, CA
Programs: Jumbo mas
Posts: 38,631
An Island and Wine Vacation, April 2020 style
Buenos Aires? Canceled. Tel Aviv? Canceled. Two Honolulu trips? Canceled. And so, when the opportunity arose to take a trip to an island paradise, albeit a short trip, it was hard to pass up. Given that it was already (mostly) pre-paid, it was even more difficult to resist.
And so, several days ago, when I received an email from Dashe Cellars that the wine club shipment was ready for pickup, I thought it presented an excellent opportunity to get out of town and pick up the wine.
One of the cars, the blue one (for more colo(u)rful detail), had not been started in at least a couple of weeks, so in went the key (yes, it requires a key), and off we went, on a Wednesday afternoon, to the freeway, leaving Berkeley, passing through Emeryville and part of Oakland, only to exit I-880 South near Downtown Oakland. I'll note that no PDB was served, nor was there any service during the duration.
With anticipation almost as eager as when one is flying over the Pacific for five hours to finally see Diamond Head en route to HNL is when one sees the entrance to the Webster Tube en route to Alameda Island. So close to Island arrival. After arriving on the Island, we then had to detour around a fair amount of road and other construction as we continued our island adventure on what was once the Alameda Naval Air Station. While approaching the parking lot (no resort fee and no parking charge notwithstanding its island location with a great view of San Francisco), I followed the facility's explicit instruction. Call the number, push 4, let them know you're there, and your club allocation will come out to your vehicle. And Mike Dashe himself came out with the 6 bottles of wine, and carefully placed them in the rear, conveniently popped open for access.
Much like sitting at the poolside bar, but without the pool, and with the bar being inside the building and inaccessible, and without actually being able to drink anything, we had a pleasant chat with Mr. Dashe, us outside of the vehicle near the front doors, and Mike, past the rear of the car. And as quickly as it had arrived, our island vacation was almost over. The time had arrived to depart, with the sealed beverages in the rear. Before we knew it, just like seeing Diamond Head right after HNL departure, we saw the entrance to the Posey Tube, knowing that the next land we'd see would be the Mainland.
After arriving on the Mainland, we stopped at Minimo Wine to pick up that wine club shipment. No service between the Island and Minimo, and no service at Minimo. They brought out the wine to a counter near the door. We had a chat from afar (but out of the car) and returned to the car, and instead of immediately returning to the Freeway, took a leisurely drive up Broadway.
Speaking of Broadway (a digression, but you're at home, I'm at home, and we've got time for digressions right now), why do so many cities and towns add a suffix to Broadway? Broadway St., Broadway Rd., Broadway Blvd,.etc? It already has one built in, Broad Way, but one word. Oakland, San Francisco, and New York City have it right. I could never figure that one out.
Back to the drive up Broadway, I could only wonder how many of the shops and restaurants will never open again, and what of the planned and already-under-construction development will never occur, or suffer delays. By the time we reached Temescal, I decided that our Island Paradise Adventure with Wine Tour needed to conclude. All that travel with no PDBs, no onboard service, and nary a drop to drink had to end. Not even free parking and no resort fees would cut it by this point (not to mention that we could carry on all the liquids). So, the 24 to 580 to 80 jaunt home commenced, and took maybe 10 minutes at 5-something PM on a weekday. (It would have been a minimum of 30 on a "good" typical day would one be stupid enough to take the freeway at that hour.)
The blue car behaved well, and we were home, where I prepared dinner. The spoils of trip? I waited until Saturday, and opened the Dashe Cab Franc, which was delicious.
While it wasn't the island I had planned on visiting this month, it is an island, there are some palm trees, a breeze (about 25 degrees cooler than I'd have preferred), and the wine selection was excellent.
It did take a couple of days to get over the jetlag.
And so, several days ago, when I received an email from Dashe Cellars that the wine club shipment was ready for pickup, I thought it presented an excellent opportunity to get out of town and pick up the wine.
One of the cars, the blue one (for more colo(u)rful detail), had not been started in at least a couple of weeks, so in went the key (yes, it requires a key), and off we went, on a Wednesday afternoon, to the freeway, leaving Berkeley, passing through Emeryville and part of Oakland, only to exit I-880 South near Downtown Oakland. I'll note that no PDB was served, nor was there any service during the duration.
With anticipation almost as eager as when one is flying over the Pacific for five hours to finally see Diamond Head en route to HNL is when one sees the entrance to the Webster Tube en route to Alameda Island. So close to Island arrival. After arriving on the Island, we then had to detour around a fair amount of road and other construction as we continued our island adventure on what was once the Alameda Naval Air Station. While approaching the parking lot (no resort fee and no parking charge notwithstanding its island location with a great view of San Francisco), I followed the facility's explicit instruction. Call the number, push 4, let them know you're there, and your club allocation will come out to your vehicle. And Mike Dashe himself came out with the 6 bottles of wine, and carefully placed them in the rear, conveniently popped open for access.
Much like sitting at the poolside bar, but without the pool, and with the bar being inside the building and inaccessible, and without actually being able to drink anything, we had a pleasant chat with Mr. Dashe, us outside of the vehicle near the front doors, and Mike, past the rear of the car. And as quickly as it had arrived, our island vacation was almost over. The time had arrived to depart, with the sealed beverages in the rear. Before we knew it, just like seeing Diamond Head right after HNL departure, we saw the entrance to the Posey Tube, knowing that the next land we'd see would be the Mainland.
After arriving on the Mainland, we stopped at Minimo Wine to pick up that wine club shipment. No service between the Island and Minimo, and no service at Minimo. They brought out the wine to a counter near the door. We had a chat from afar (but out of the car) and returned to the car, and instead of immediately returning to the Freeway, took a leisurely drive up Broadway.
Speaking of Broadway (a digression, but you're at home, I'm at home, and we've got time for digressions right now), why do so many cities and towns add a suffix to Broadway? Broadway St., Broadway Rd., Broadway Blvd,.etc? It already has one built in, Broad Way, but one word. Oakland, San Francisco, and New York City have it right. I could never figure that one out.
Back to the drive up Broadway, I could only wonder how many of the shops and restaurants will never open again, and what of the planned and already-under-construction development will never occur, or suffer delays. By the time we reached Temescal, I decided that our Island Paradise Adventure with Wine Tour needed to conclude. All that travel with no PDBs, no onboard service, and nary a drop to drink had to end. Not even free parking and no resort fees would cut it by this point (not to mention that we could carry on all the liquids). So, the 24 to 580 to 80 jaunt home commenced, and took maybe 10 minutes at 5-something PM on a weekday. (It would have been a minimum of 30 on a "good" typical day would one be stupid enough to take the freeway at that hour.)
The blue car behaved well, and we were home, where I prepared dinner. The spoils of trip? I waited until Saturday, and opened the Dashe Cab Franc, which was delicious.
While it wasn't the island I had planned on visiting this month, it is an island, there are some palm trees, a breeze (about 25 degrees cooler than I'd have preferred), and the wine selection was excellent.
It did take a couple of days to get over the jetlag.
Apr 16, 2020, 7:40 am
#4
Join Date: Apr 2000
Location: LAX and LHR. UA lifetime Gold 1.9MM 1K , DL Gold Medallion, HHonors Gold, Marriott Gold, Avis President's Club
Posts: 3,592
Apr 16, 2020, 11:40 am
#5
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 1999
Location: Over the Bay Bridge, CA
Programs: Jumbo mas
Posts: 38,631
Apr 16, 2020, 2:18 pm
#7
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 1999
Location: Over the Bay Bridge, CA
Programs: Jumbo mas
Posts: 38,631