Bringing in the New Year...

So the wife and I celebrated the arrival of the New Year at our good friends’ family vineyard in Glen Ellen, a small town in Sonoma County that author Jack London helped put on the map.  It was probably one of the best New Year’s Eve experiences I’ve had to date: good friends, food and wine, very relaxing.

Like Halloween and St. Patty’s Day, hitting the town on New Year’s Eve is no longer an experience I find enjoyable.  In fact, I think those holidays are probably the worst three nights of the year to go out, especially here in San Francisco.  The streets are littered with drunken idiots, it’s damn near impossible to get a cab, and there’s a 99.9% chance you will either witness or become involved in a fight, among other adverse things.  

Below are a handful of photos from New Year’s and the ensuing weekend.  We finally got a break from the fog on Sunday, so the misses and I decided to take a hike over by Lands End where the views of the Golden Gate Bridge and coastline are spectacular.           

Enjoy!

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This is a picture of the great Babe Ruth, a.k.a. "The Bambino," signing a baseball for my friends' grandfather.  He still has the baseball today, which is worth a handsome sum of money, not that he would ever consider selling it, of course.  

Dago Red...

Winter in Sonoma...

Jag gets down on the piano, for real!

The lovely Miss Kate and Eva

The Ferry Building.  This is where it all started.  I can practically write a book about this tat and its meanings -- both visible and hidden, but maybe I'll wait to tell you over a frosty at Schroeder's instead.

Sunday's Lands End and Coastal Trail hike.