This is going to be a day running around the mountains. I wake up and we have breakfast, and it's time to go pretty soon after. I have to get to the airport to pick up the rental car. That kinda sucks. I had ordered the car at the downtown San Jose location, but Hertz doesn't open any of the locations around town on Sunday, so you have to go to the airport, and you're stuck paying the higher rates. Bastards.
Pulling my luggage out of Eric's car, I wrench my back a little. I didn't think much of it at the moment, but I'll notice it later in the day. I get in the car, and start heading toward the Santa Cruz Mountains. Once I'm on the freeway and moving smoothly in the traffic flow, I call Kate to see if she & Bob are ready for me to drop in. Turns out Kate's sick, and can't come out to play today, so I hop off the freeway and stop in Cupertino (my old neighborhood) to get a snack and figure out what I'm going to do.
After a bite to eat, and a stop by a store for some pop for in the car, I call Scott & Michelle. I'd planned on having dinner with them. They're around, and starting early works for them, so I get directions and drive to their place. Highway 17 still isn't much fun. I probably should have gotten some decongestant, too. The nagging cough that started last night has turned into a runny nose and clogged sinuses. But they have some Sudafed around, so that works out.
We decide to head up to Boulder Creek, get a late lunch at the Boulder Creek Brewery. Traffic's bad in Santa Cruz, so we head straight up into the hills and wander around for a while, going past the Boulder Creek Country Club before we finally find Boulder Creek itself. Guess we didn't take the most direct route, but I left my GPS in the trunk of my rental car.
After lunch, the four of us (their daughter Haley's along, too) head to the Organic Wine Works for some wine-tasting. They're crushing grapes, so Haley's got something to watch, too. Then a stop by the tasting room at Bonny Doon Vineyard, and some more wine.
Dinner was some steaks on the grill, and I did a load of laundry in their machine rather than paying big bucks at the hotel. Then back across the hills to San Jose, check into the Arena Hotel and call it a day.
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