Right, so I'm hopelessly behind with this blog... My learned sister tells me it is because I write too much. This is true I guess. Having said that, my style is to waffle and go on tangents. Without that, will it even be interesting?? Well, I'll try and be a bit more succinct today. Feedback appreciated.
Haggin Museum
The Haggin Museum houses a lot of Stockton and Central Valley specific artifacts, as well as more general historical pieces. There is also a substantial are gallery. We saw only a small part of the museum. It is the sort of place I would enjoy wandering around by myself I think. We had a tour guide, Chuck. Not a bad bloke, and very talkative about the exhibits.
Some highlights include:
Models of old Stockton shop fronts
One of those wooden speedboats my dad has the plans to build
Lots of info about mining in CA (I drifted off at this point and looked at the speed boat, because the learned Scott had explained this to Sarah and I two days before)
Great landscape paintings
A mummy (we didn't see this though)
A very early model of a Caterpillar tractor made by Mr Holt
Some other old stuff that wasn't as old as the mummy, but was older than Chuck
Interesting place. Is a good grounding on the area. We've been a bit spoiled I think and already learned a lot of what the museum would teach us. Scott, Kristen, Graham, Sharon, David, Larry, Lloyd and others.... You are good teachers!
Stockton East Rotary
We presented at Stockton East at lunchtime. They are a really beaut club. They had:
A nice size where you could talk to almost everyone
Plenty of fun and frivolity
A real Anglican Priest to say grace
A choice of four meals & dessert (a member's birthday cake)
Neat banners with plaques printed for past presidents and Paul Harris Fellows and stuck on
Almost more guests than members!
And guess what, they were organising volunteers to staff the Asparagus Festival! There's a bit of it going around...
Lodi Wine Commission
Right... One short working lunch completed, and we are off to have fun! Oops, I mean to study the important economic drivers of the district. We drove along roads surrounded by vineyards to reach the economic and strategic heart of the Lodi Wine Appellation, then Visitors Centre.
The manager of the Commission, Mark, showed us the vines, explained the growing practices, explained the economic conditions in the industry, answered our questions about Australian imports and, importantly, let us taste some wine. It was very civilised...
Jessie’s Grove Winery with Greg Burn
When Mark ran out of wine, we headed down the road to a vineyard at Jessie's Grove, one of the few remaining groves of oak trees in the valley. Graham is a member at this vineyard, which means two things. 1 - It is pretty good, 2 - They grow Zinfandel. Lots of Zinfandel...
I was not disappointed. The location and the wine were both great. Our ability to objectively taste the 7th and 8th wines was impaired by the tasting of the first 6, but Dave and I stood at the bar and fearlessly made the attempt. We enjoyed the process. There was a beautiful young woman named Michelle running the tasting, so I felt right at home! Or perhaps far from it...
We were triply lucky that local winemaker Greg Burn was about to commence bottling two vintages the very next day, that Larry (Glen's host) knew him, and that he agreed to show us around. He was in the process of doing a final tasting of each bottle of his Cabernet Sauvignon vintage before commencing bottling. I learned an enormous amount in the half hour of so that we listened to him describe the process. If we have time, Graham and I are going to head back with arm chairs and let him talk some more...
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