Reflections on a good year, and a window to the next
A year ago today found me returning from an overnight backpack trip to one of the Sierra Club’s many huts. I had put together a fun New Year’s Eve event for some friends that found me stirring up a big seafood boil, the kind that goes best when poured out onto a large table covered with newspaper. That event was a blast, considering that some of us were not backpackers yet managed to lug a 2-gallon stockpot full of seafood, potatoes, and cob corn (in my case), untold home-made side dishes and snacks, and about 17 bottles of champagne up 700 vertical feet of mercifully short trail. After I arrived home on New Year’s Day 2006, I logged on to see that my new e-commerce, fully-databased website, californiawinehikes.com, had gone live.
In the year that has passed, I’ve had great fun meeting new clients, walking outstanding California trails, tasting all manner of wonderful wines, and learning much about blogging each of them. Considering the estimated 50 million bloggers worldwide (a conservative number, perhaps) and taking into account the numbers published by Technorati.com which show that this baby of a blog is ranked in the top 61,000 of them, I feel that I’ve come quite a ways along a stunning vineyard path of experiences.
Not bad for one year.
I remember thinking a little over a year ago that in order to support my business, I should integrate a blog into my planned website. Looking back, I’d have to say that it was the best decision I could have made.
Truly, I could not have anticipated just what the blog has since become. While it certainly can be construed that visitors to this blog have checked out my scheduled tours and resources pages, the blog has more precisely become - at least to my eyes - a vehicle responsible for generating a number of dialogs both online and off. And the best thing that I’ve heard come from it is the notion that people want to experience winehiking for themselves.
I’m here to tell you that winehiking will step out of its infancy and onto the sunlit trail of joyous adventure, delectable fun, and quintessential California outdoor experiences this year.
And so I invite you to walk that winehiking trail with me. If there’s one thing I know about hikers, you love your invigorating fresh air, the beautiful scenery that surrounds you, and the taste of the terrific food that follows. And if there’s one thing I know about winehikers, wine complements your entire experience; it washes down the food, pleases the senses, heightens the joy, and enhances the camaraderie of friends old and new. And even wine lovers who don’t regularly hike as often as I do find that the wine is much more appealing, even more well-deserved, after a walk in the wine country.
What the trail and table chatter often comes down to is twofold: people realize they should get outdoors more often to enjoy the splendor that is around them while getting some needed exercise, and they realize that going straight home after a hike is not an option when they can instead linger longer with each other, with good food and wine, and enjoy real euphoria.
There’s something heady, alright - a synergy, even - about combining fine wine with that natural post-hike glow. I’ve seen proof of it time and time again.
Yes, winehiking truly is good, clean, healthy fun. Come join me in 2007, won’t you? Here’s a little “shoehorn” to get you started:
- Walking the Zinfandel Trail, March 3
- Butterflies & Wildflowers, March 24
- Zinner’s Ridgetop Delight, April 8
How will you resolve to enjoy this happy new year? The above tours are but a handful of the winehiking delights awaiting you in 2007.
A Sante!
The Winehiker
