Safe and Sound

After around 11 hours in the car, we made it to Jen and Wayne's in Tallahassee around 4:30 AM local time. We've been sleeping on and off all day and are now sitting down to dinner. Hope everyone else is doing well. Stay safe.

RSD closing schools

Schools in the Recovery School District and those operated and overseen by the Orleans Parish School Board will be closed on Tuesday, Sept. 2 and Wednesday, Sept. 3, officials said. ... At the earliest, Recovery School District schools will reopen on Thursday, Sept. 4, officials said.

At least now we know Melissa doesn't have work Tuesday or Wednesday. That certainly makes any decisions easier on us.

In the event of evacuation ...

This blog will be used as a resource to keep all of us in touch.

Bingo

Where was I? Ah yes, Friday. Chad planned a winery tour for the out of town family at some place a friend of his worked. After the longer than expected drive, we finally arrive at the Hall winery. The place was under construction so that was a bit of a downer, but then they started talking about their new building ... desgined by Frank Gehry. That got my attention. The tour guide was very informative and the rose they server in the lobby was a nice start. There are a number of historic buildings on the site, so that was cool. We tasted a few wines in the barrel to get a feel for what they taste like as they age. (They taste not yet done, FYI.) In the tasting room, we had three reds, which were all quite tasty, the blend they served being the best. It was a very nice experience and a I recommend it to all. Thanks again Chad for setting it up.

After the winery, we stopped for a quick bite at Dean and Deluca next door, then headed back to the hotel. Everyone took some time to rest up before the rehearsal. The rehearsal itself went like any other rehearsal you have been to goes. Nothing special to report. The dinner after was at the oddly named "Blueax Magnolia" in downtown Napa. Good food, good wine, good company, no complaints. Chad and I seem to share public speaking abilities, poor guy.

After dinner, I was prepared to head back to the hotel, when I am informed by the other groomsmen that we have been given permission to steal him away for the night. This being six years to the day since the groom was arrested, I was quite worried. :) What else could I do but tag along? We all piled in the car and headed out to the middle of no where to ... an Indian Casino. (Warning: that site has horrible music on auto-play.) Chad had a great time playing a the poker tables and I did my best to feed the slot machine. They have big appetites. Wound up back at the hotel around 4AM.

back in NOLA

The wedding was fantastic. I'll write more about it later. Just wanted to make a quick post to say that we made it back yesterday after a bit of a delay.

"maybe get in a protest while you're there?"

Our last morning at the Queen Anne in SF went down like the other ones, lazy breakfast downstairs in the lobby. I'm really quite pleased with the hotel and recommend it to anyone. After taking a while to pack and get our directions sorted out, we got in the car and on the road. The thirty minute drive to Berkeley was fairly uneventful. One thing to note, the road into town, University I think, felt more like a New Orleans road. Fix that road people.

Berkeley itself felt very much as I expected it to. Very college town feel and lots of young people around. I felt a bit overdressed walking around, and certainly felt a good bit old. Ahh being 30. I set up shop in Pete's coffee shop and Melissa went shopping. She spent a good bit of time in Amobea, a record store, then hit up a few vintage clothing stores. We walked around campus for a bit, just to get a feel for the place, and stopped by the bookstore. Then we found a bar and grill just off campus to have lunch. I had a Pyramid Hef on draft which was delightful. I spoke to the fam and found out they had landed in Oakland, so we got on the road to head to the hotel just outside of Napa in Fairfield.

We met up with mom, dad, Melissa, and Andy and after hanging out for a bit, and enjoying the manager's reception, we drove over to Chad's house for the evening's gathering. The rest of the family arrived, as did a few of Chad's friends, and we all hung out and had BBQ. Good times. We contributed ice cream from Safeway and it was delicious. It was a good bit cool and windy outside, which I hadn't expected that far inland, so despite the nice backyard and break from the NOLA heat, we spent much of the evening inside.

To end the night, I drove back to SF. Melissa accidentally left the dress she brought for the wedding in the armoir at the hotel. After checking with the hotel to make sure they had it, we figured it would be best to go that night to grab it so as to free up the rest of the time here. A bunch of us piled into the RAV4 and drove into SF. Since Beth was along for the ride, and had never been to SF, after we got to the hotel, we drove around for about half an hour just to see what we could see to show off the city for her. I think she got a pretty good overview. Hour there, hour back, 30 for sightseeing, and another 30 since they decided to close the interstate at the bay bridge and give us a detour, made for a 3 hours trip to the city. It must be nice living that close to SF, but I gotta imagine traffic is a killer.