Sunday, January 27, 2008

Santa Helena Ranch - June

Also my second visit to Mike's family ranch was very eventful and relaxing at the same time. This time we were not alone there, but there was also one of Mike's uncles and his daughter.

On one of the days we all went for a hike to "Old Man" (see photos below), after which we had a dinner at Armadillo's, a very good Mexican restaurant in St Helena. After coming back home we played a game of Bocce, and later in the evening also "The Great Dalmuti" and "Unexploded cow". Both of these card games are lots of fun to play, especially when you want to warm up the party.

Lev, Mike and I also went for a short wine expedition to "Wine Garage" and "Enoteca" in Calistoga where I again bought too many bottles of wine - I have to finally figure out where to store them properly!


Here are few photos from this trip:

The ranch - a front view:


On our hike we met "an old man":


On one of the afternoons guys were playing in the swimming pool. In the background you can see Mike's family's vineyard (notice that now wine branches are not bare anymore):


Bocce - focused Lev throwing a ball:


The aim of Bocce is to bring (throw) your ball closer to palini (small white ball) than balls of opposing team (one team has blue and the other pink balls). Look how close once I managed to throw my ball!:


Here Mike is judging the distance between the balls of different teams and palini: