Journey Staff Room

You’ll probably never hear Jack Gibson and Kimberly Knox doubt the power of music and food to bring people together. The two traveled from Moses Lake to Spokane for Pig Out in the Park in 2002 on one of their first dates and have been coming back ever since. That’s why it only seemed logical for the couple to hold their wedding at this year’s presentation of the end-of-summer bash at Riverfront Park, which takes place Sept. 2–7.

Gibson and Knox plan to tie the knot on the City Hall stage on Saturday afternoon. With such acts as Lukas Nelson & The Promise of the Real (fronted by the son of country music icon Willie Nelson), Cracker, The Tubes and the Austin Lounge Lizards on this year’s bill, Gibson and Knox’s wedding certainly won’t be the only highlight of the food-and-music extravaganza. But it may prove to be the most endearing.

Pig Out’s organizers have their own reason to celebrate. What began as a two-day festival in the late 70s celebrates its 30th anniversary this year with 55 concerts over six days and is expected to draw about 90,000 people.

“It’s wonderful that we’ve figured out how to keep this a free community event,” says Pig Out promoter Bill Burk, who calls the festival a “gift to the city.” Vendors cannot charge more than $8.95 for food, and event proceeds help pay for free live art and art scholarships throughout the region.

Spokane has been tagged with a number of nicknames over the years, and not all of them are flattering. However, as the city’s downtown renaissance continues adding vibrant culture and nightlife to the area’s already great outdoor recreational offerings, I’d like to add two more to the mix:

Spo-dacious:
On one night during my quick jaunt to the resurgent capital of the Inland Northwest (I’m calling it my Spo-cation), I reconnected with my inner flower child by catching Bob Weir and Rat Dog at the Martin Woldson Theater at The Fox (the restored art deco movie palace). Just a block away, David Cook, winner on American Idol’s seventh season, entertained throngs of admirers at the Knitting Factory Concert House. Yes, the Knitting Factory Spokane. The venue started out as the Big Easy before the folks who run the more famous Knitting Factory in New York bought the club and renamed it.

Spoka-licous:
On my way back to plush digs at The Davenport Hotel, I stopped by Agave Latin Bistro for a post-concert nosh. The restaurant is a collaboration between local chef Ian Wingate and Sergio De Leon, owner of De Leon’s Downtown Mexican Deli and other food shops. Wingate was the executive chef at the Davenport when it reopened in 2002 before venturing out to open his own restaurant, Moxie, across the street from the hotel. Just a few doors up the street from Moxie, Agave offers refined, modern riffs on Latin favorites through such dishes as sea scallops served with grilled polenta and jicama relish and short ribs braised in a beef stock flavored by tequila, cactus and tomatoes. Wingate’s restaurants, combined with others such as Sante Restaurant & Charcuterie and Wild Sage American Bistro, are bringing a growing reliance on sustainable, local ingredients to the Spokane dining scene. They are also giving diners from near and far more options than ever when it comes to pigging out.

If you haven’t been to Port Angeles lately, you’re in for a nice surprise when you enter the city’s business district this summer. A community-wide beautification effort is on track to restore the luster to more than three-dozen buildings in the city’s downtown core. One of the most impressive things about this municipal facelift is the wide range of people who have come together to make it happen.

For the past two months, about 200 people from across the community have participated. Interested property owners can consult with with architectural and design experts on ways to improve the appearance of their buildings. After developing work plans, the building owners are bringing on workers and volunteers to perform such tasks as pressure washing facades and repainting the interiors and exteriors of their buildings. Suppliers are donating equipment and paint, and service organizations ranging from church youth groups to senior centers are providing volunteer laborers. The local food bank and restaurants are getting into the act by preparing food for the workers.

“This is small-town America at its best,” says Kathy Charlton, the owner of Olympic Cellars winery and a key organizer of the project, dubbed “Our Community at Work.” Charlton is among the 10 or so area business owners who developed the municipal renewal plan earlier this year. They obtained the City Council’s blessing in early spring and launched their project on May 1 to coincide with the closure of the Hood Canal Bridge. The project was originally scheduled to last for six weeks. However, Charlton says the overwhelming amount of community participation is now expected to have building owners and volunteers working on sprucing up their community through the end of summer.

Project organizers are hosting a celebration on July 11 to recognize the efforts of the volunteers and showcase their city’s emerging new look. The festivities include a ribbon-cutting ceremony and public reception on Front Street, beginning at 1 p.m., and these will coincide with a number of other related celebrations taking place in downtown Port Angeles throughout the day.

The Hood Canal Bridge has been open again for more than a month now, and people throughout the northern Olympic Peninsula seem to be in celebratory moods.

Six wineries between Port Townsend and Port Angeles are hosting the Lavender Wine Tour between July 11 and July 19. For $25, visitors get to try special wines and foods, including some with lavender themes, at each of the participating wineries. Port Townsend’s Sorensen Cellars, for instance, is serving its newly released 2008 pinot gris with vanilla lavender shortbread from Outrageous Offerings.

These tastings partially coincide with the Sequim Lavender Festival, which takes place July 17-19. The annual celebration fills the streets of Sequim with cheer and encourages visitors to make side trips to the area’s lavender farms.

It seems obligatory to make it least one reference to the Twilight series of teen-romance/vampire novels when writing about the Olympic Peninsula these days, and this posting is no exception. Charlton’s winery is pouring its Sparkling Twilight, a sparkling wine made with syrah grapes, in its tasting room this summer. Olympic Cellars, which produces the popular Working Girl series among its wine labels, also hosts concerts on its outdoor stage on the afternoons of July 11 and 12 and a Saturday-night concert series that begins on Aug. 1.

Time seemed to slow down as our raft reached the top of our first rapid on the Nooksack River. Sarah, the 20-something college student in our group, and I were practically lying on our stomachs, side by side, in the front section of the inflatable boat. Our feet were securely anchored under the thwart, while our heads and shoulders extended over the bow. The two of us, and the four others sitting upright in the middle and rear of the raft, were following the instructions of our guide, Brad Falletta of River Riders, Inc., to paddle forward. As we cleared a set of rocks at the top of the foamy Class III chute, the bow plunged forward. I extended my arms as far as I could, dug the paddle deep into the water and started to pull back. After a short burst of velocity, the nose of the raft smashed into a standing wave, sending up a chilly spray that slapped us all in the face. So went my introduction to the bow-crasher, or “animal,” position.

For the next two hours, Falletta directed Sarah and I to “animalize” every time we approached a set of rapids, sending us onto our stomachs with our paddles over the bow. By the time we finished the roughly 10-mile run between Glacier and Maple Falls, I knew that rafting would never again be the same for me. Playing the part of an animal made me a new man. A better man.

Summer is officially here, and, as I learned during my recent visit to Whatcom County, there are plenty of places to play between Bellingham and Mount Baker. On one of the mornings of my visit, I tested my mountain biking skills at Galbraith Mountain. Galbraith consists of more than 3,000-acres of forested foothills east of Fairhaven. The property is owned by the Trillium Corporation, which gives hikers, horseback riders and mountain bike riders free access to the property. Trillium also struck a deal that allows the Whatcom County–based WHIMPS Mountain Bike Coalition to build and maintain trails on the land. Gravelly logging roads with gradual ascents lead to the ridgelines that stretch across the mountain and provide access to a network of single-track trails, about 40 miles in all. Over the years, the WHIMPS have installed numerous ramps, bridges and other trail enhancements throughout the park. These give serious riders a chance to expand and refine their skills, while turnout lanes give less-gifted riders—such as myself—face-saving ways to get around the obstacles—and make it down the mountain intact. As I stopped to catch my breath off to the side of one of the trails, my riding companion, Jadyn Welch, who works at Fanatik Bike Co. in Bellingham, showed me the proper technique for taking a jump. He gathered enough speed down a slope to propel himself off a ramp and stick the landing about 15 feet down the hill before casually pedaling onward.

Later in the day, I found myself paddling a kayak on Chuckanut Bay with Moondance Sea Kayak Adventures. Needless to say, an itinerary such as this did wonders for my appetite, and I was happy to dig in at the area’s hearty, down-to-earth eateries. At The North Fork Brewery in Deming, my dining companions and I feasted on pizzas with airy, flatbread-style crusts. On subsequent nights, I dug into chicken enchiladas at the revered Boundary Bay Brewery & Bistro in downtown Bellingham and then indulged on prime rib at Dirty Dan Harris’ steak and seafood house. It seemed inevitable that I would pig out on this trip. What else would you expect from someone who was feeling like an animal?

Who says you can’t have your cake and eat it too?

Besides getting to spend a few hours on the water or the links, visitors to Lake Chelan can also sample wines in an area that is quickly establishing its viticultural identity. After zipping around on a WaveRunner for a few hours, there is something rewarding about sitting on a sunny deck with a cold viognier and a panoramic view of the valley below.

The region’s status as Washington’s 11th American Viticultural Area (AVA) became effective in late May. From a technical point of view, the area’s elevation and the cooling effects of the lake itself are among the key factors that distinguish Lake Chelan’s wine grapes from those grown in other portions of the Columbia Valley. Though grapes have been grown in the region for more than a century, the area’s 15 modern wineries have all opened within the past decade. So far, the area’s winemakers are discovering success with such cool climate varietals as gewürztraminer, riesling, viognier and pinot noir. Chardonnay is also plentiful, and the leathery finish of the just-bottled malbec that I tried at Nefarious Cellars suggests that this varietal, a relatively new planting for the region, may turn out to be the most popular of the bunch.

From a visitor’s point of view, an already existing tourism infrastructure adds convenience to Lake Chelan’s appeal as a wine destination. Five wineries are located within minutes of each other on the lake’s south shore, while six others dot the landscape surrounding Manson on the north shore. In other words, quality tasting rooms are just minutes away from most of the area’s resorts (designate a driver or hire a car service), and quality dining options also abound.

At Karma Vineyards, you’ll find a crisp sparkling wine, one of the few produced in Washington, while the rieslings at Tsillan (pronounced Chelan) Cellars offer all of the delicacy one desires in this varietal without the overbearing sweetness that less adept producers leave behind. Tsillan’s tasting room resembles an Italian villa, and its restaurant, Sorrento’s, maintains the theme while offering ample al fresco dining on a patio and an expansive lawn that doubles as a concert venue. The garden bistro at Vin du Lac is the very definition of pleasant.

In downtown Chelan, the Veranda Bistro & Bar at Campbell’s Resort proves that the best tastings don’t always take place at a winery. Selections from just about all of Washington’s AVAs are represented on a reasonably priced wine list. As I dined on grilled halibut topped with spicy papaya chutney, I knew I had to save some room. There was the matter of the metaphorical cake, after all, that I knew I would be eating.

As Wenatchee’s Ohme Gardens celebrates its 80th anniversary, it’s hard to decide what is more remarkable about the nine-acre patch of foliage that forms a green oasis overlooking the Columbia River from an otherwise barren bluff.

Is it the fact that Herman and Ruth Ohme pieced the garden together during the Great Depression with native plants and trees almost entirely by hand? Or is it the knowledge that, before they installed their irrigation system, the Ohmes sustained the garden by hauling water from the river up the side of a hill in 5-gallon buckets? What about the awe-inspiring views it offers of the entire valley? Or the large number of area residents who were either married at the gardens, have parents who tied the knot at the facility, or both?

The place certainly has a rich history and a lot to offer, and there may be no better time to visit Wenatchee’s newest octogenarian than this summer. The Ohme Gardens Friends Society has put together an event series to usher the facility into its ninth decade. The fun includes a night of stargazing on May 17, a guided bird walk on May 30 and a wine gala on July 11. A weekly concert series takes place on Thursday evenings from July through August, and the facility also hosts art workshops on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons, also in July and August.

Besides letting the public know that the gardens are available for more than just weddings, the non-profit Friends group, which formed last year, hopes these events will generate funds to reinvigorate the facility, now owned by Chelan County. The group’s project list includes upgrading the facility’s irrigation system, improving wheelchair access and installing new water features and plants.

If you haven’t been to the Wenatchee Valley lately, you might be surprised by the growing number of opportunities to explore the epicurean arts throughout the region. One of the area’s hottest restaurants seems to be La Bonne Terre at Château Faire Le Pont Winery, thanks to its new owners Richard and Ashley Kitos. She hails from the Wenatchee area and met him when she lived in Los Angeles. He hails from Kansas and spent some time in Europe before moving to Los Angeles to work in restaurants and, eventually, run a successful catering company. They decided to bring their family up to apple country last fall when the opportunity to take over the winery’s restaurant proved to be the proverbial offer they couldn’t refuse.

In addition to a contemporary menu featuring dishes made with produce from local farms, Northwest cheeses and house-baked breads, Richard Kitos also leads cooking classes that might just be the best shows in town. The two-hour sessions take place on Tuesday evenings and are promoted with such titles as “My Big Fat Greek Cooking Class” and “Appetizers Once Again, but Different This Time.” Since Cinco de Mayo fell on a Tuesday this year, Kitos turned his May 5 class into a Mexican fiesta. The half-dozen attendees, myself included, sat in the kitchen and watched and learned as the chef prepared such items as salsa, ceviche, chili rellenos, a jicama and orange salad, carne asada, flan and a few others, all from scratch. Our primary duties included tasting each dish after it was prepared and sipping selections from the winery. In addition to offering infectiously enthusiastic cooking tips, Kitos also serves up tales about his past experiences in restaurants and playing pickup basketball as well as funny stories about his family. In these respects, the classes seem to be a little like having dinner in the kitchen of your most charismatic friend—assuming your most charismatic friend is also an accomplished professional chef.

The restaurant is open for lunch on Tuesdays through Saturdays and serves dinner on Wednesdays through Saturdays. You’re bound to have a good time whenever you attend, and, if you can’t get enough, spend a night at the Ivy Wild Inn. The bed and breakfast is also owned by the Kitoses, which means that you are all but guaranteed to start your day with a great meal.

As a follow-up to the post on my recent trip to Puerto Vallarta, I just received an update from the destination’s tourism commission in response to the swine flu outbreak in Mexico City. To date, there have been no confirmed cases of swine flu in the city Puerto Vallarta or the state of Jalisco, and the city has implemented the following preventive measures:

• Closure of all bars and nightclubs until May 4
• Closure of all schools until May 6
• Limited service in restaurants until midnight and a total ban on alcohol consumption in restaurants
• All cultural events in Puerto Vallarta have been suspended until May 9
• The airport authority operating Gustavo Díaz Ordaz International Airport is screening and testing passengers that present flu-like symptoms and has set up special areas to provide them with necessary assistance
• All cruise lines have temporarily suspended their Mexican port calls until further notice

Similar measures are in place in other regions throughout Mexico. We will continue to monitor the situation.

On a personal note, my thoughts and prayers are with the people of Puerto Vallarta and all of Mexico during this time of hardship. The Mexican people have been kind and generous hosts and friends to me for as long as I can remember. I can’t wait to venture back and see my friends again soon.

“Soy guerrero,” we each yelled as loudly as we could. “Soy guerrero!”

I was with a half-dozen journalists touring Mexico’s Puerto Vallarta, and we were using the Spanish phrase, “I am a warrior,” to declare ourselves “spiritual warriors.”

Dressed in our bathing suits, we stood in a circle around a small cauldron of smoldering coals with our shaman, a kind septuagenarian who bore remote resemblance to the Dalai Lama. He picked up the cauldron and walked around the circle, stopping in front of us, one by one, to let us place tobacco leaves onto the coals. After completing the circle, he directed us to pronounce our spiritual quest.

So went our introduction to the temazcal, the cleansing ritual practiced by indigenous cultures across the Americas for centuries before the arrival of Europeans. Ours was an abbreviated version of the ancient ceremony at Spa Mayahuel, which recently opened on the grounds of El Eden in Mismaloya. El Eden is a theme-park-like destination in the densely foliaged foothills about 30 minutes from Puerto Vallarta’s historic central district. Signs placed throughout the property remind visitors that El Eden was the setting for the 1987 Arnold Schwarzenegger action flick Predator. The facility also houses a popular zip-line tour operation and shaded dining areas. The spa consists of a cabana and secluded outdoor spaces on a quiet edge of the facility.

Our spiritual guide, who spoke in a combination of Spanish and English, explained that the temazcal was designed to relieve stress and bring a person into balance with nature’s four elements—earth, air, fire and water. Each portion of the ceremony focused on a specific element.

On a flat pad of sand, for instance, the shaman directed us to cover ourselves—and each other—from head to toe with silty orange mud that filled an urn. Duly slathered, we then lay on our backs, eyes closed, under unobstructed afternoon sun. As the baking clay stiffened into a second skin over our own skin, it was hard to not feel at one with the earth. After rinsing ourselves with cool water pumped directly from the nearby river, we proceeded to the sweat hut, a round, roughly 4-foot-tall domed structure with eucalyptus leaves burning in the fire in the center of the dirt floor. The building, we were told, represented the earth’s womb.

Inside, the shaman led us in an exercise designed to get us to breathe in the therapeutic smoke as deeply as possible as we sat cross-legged on mats. Another exercise required us to yell in rhythm as he pounded on a drum. Having successfully worked us into a smoke-breathing, drum-chanting frenzy, he then told us to assume the fetal position, close our eyes and enjoy the serenity of our womb du jour (my words, not his), where we remained in silence for about 15 minutes. Our version of the temazcal concluded with a soothing, 30-minute back massage. Clearly, this spiritual warrior business has its perks.

There seem to be two great misconceptions about traveling to Mexico these days, and I’m not sure which one bothers me more. One is the fear that the surge in violent crime along Mexico’s border with the U.S. makes it dangerous for Americans to visit any Mexican destination. True, you need to exercise caution and common sense when you travel to Mexico, and the U.S. State Department provides useful information in its travel alerts. However, most Mexican tourist destinations are far away from the areas where the violence is taking place. Based on accounts from other travel media sources and my own experiences, the resort areas are as safe as ever, which is to say pretty safe, as long as you follow the same types of precautions you would follow when you travel anywhere. Remaining aware of your surroundings, traveling with a buddy or two, avoiding traveling through remote areas after dark and refraining from wearing fancy jewelry are among the steps you can take to help protect yourself.

The other great misconception is the widely held belief that tequila needs to be consumed quickly in large quantities. In Puerto Vallarta, I was particularly impressed by the opportunities to learn about tequila in a manner similar to wine tasting. For example, the CasaMagna Marriott employs a “tequila sommelier” and even produces its own line of tequila. As the sommelier led our group through a tasting, she explained the differences in the distillation and aging processes that produce the three types of pure agave tequila—blanco, reposado and añejo. Mellowed by five years of aging in oak barrels, CasaMagna’s añejo, or aged, tequila possesses the type of flavors and body that make it a worthy alternative to dessert wines and single-malt Scotch.

Tequila tasting is particularly popular in Jalisco, because the province is home to the town of Tequila, recognized as the birthplace of Mexico’s national spirit (Puerto Vallarta is also in Jalisco). Word has it that tourism officials are getting ready to open La Ruta del Tequila, or the Tequila Route, in the heart of agave country. The goal of this initiative is to develop a network of inns and other tourism amenities that make Tequila’s distilleries more accessible to visitors. This sounds exactly like the type of thing that may lure away those otherwise inclined to visit Walla Walla or Bordeaux to rural Jalisco. I say just one thing about such a possibility: Make sure you designate a driver when you go.

I see the light at the end of the tunnel, but I think it’s a cliché. If I hear the overused term “stay-cation” one more time, I might explode. As economic uncertainties drag on, it’s tough for those of us whose compensation packages don’t include multimillion-dollar retention bonuses to justify pampering ourselves. Sure, there are signs of better days ahead, but for now, the few bright sides of this economic down-cycle are the variety of deals available to those traveling near or far.

These were some of the thoughts that crossed my mind on a recent drive out to Quincy to visit the Cave B Inn. The 30-unit destination resort, which sits atop multihued cliffs along the Columbia River, includes 15 Prairie School–inspired cottages set among the vineyards of the Cave B Estate Winery. The presence of a winery, fine-dining restaurant and full-service spa on the property, combined with the grandeur of its natural surroundings, have helped establish the resort as one of the most romantic destinations in the Northwest. At last check, it was leading in “Evening Magazine’s” voting for best “Girls Weekend Destination,” and the resort’s new Live! at the Cellar! concert series gives me one more reason to add it to my personal list of “Best Reasons to Leave Work Early on a Friday Afternoon.” As a quick disclaimer, this latter list is quite arbitrary, rather long and probably something that my employers should never find out about.

Live! at the Cellar brings emerging artists from across the Northwest to Cave B’s wine cellar on select Friday nights throughout spring and summer. My visit coincided with a performance by Tacoma native Vicci Martinez, a singer/songwriter whose claims to fame include opening for the likes of Sting, Annie Lennox and BB King. Other artists scheduled to appear include Massey Ferguson (April 10), Kris Orlowski (May 8), and Kim Virant (June 12). Longtime followers of the Seattle music scene may remember Virant from her days as the vocalist for Lazy Susan in the early 90s.

With low ceilings and a wall of basalt rocks carved into an adjoining knoll, the cellar doubles as an intimate, 60-seat concert hall. It is also attached to the winery tasting room, which means that you can order glasses of wine and light fare during the performances.

The setting also offers a striking contrast to the larger, louder concerts that take place next door at the Gorge Amphitheatre. Cave B’s founders and owners, Dr. Vince Bryan and his wife, Carol, opened the revered concert venue on their former Champs de Brionne winery in 1985. They sold the concert venue in 1993 but retained ownership of the land that still houses their vineyards, some planted as far back as 1980, along with Cave B’s winery, inn, spa and restaurant. The Bryans plan on building a golf course, homes, and an artists’ retreat and hilltop village on their nearly 700-acre spread, which they call SageCliffe, in the future.

From what I hear, there are more than enough lovers of fine living among rock’n’roll fans to book up Cave B’s rooms within hours after concerts are announced at the Gorge. For those interested in lower decibels, Cave B offers a variety of package deals, often available during those times when the amphitheater sits dark. The Spring Break Special, for instance, provides a 10 percent discount on your first night’s stay and a 15 percent discount for each additional night when you stay between Sunday and Thursday nights through April 30. The Dog Package includes a gift bag for your dog and a photo of your pooch with Cuvée, the resort’s resident black Labrador retriever. Cave B donates a portion of the proceeds from this package to agencies that provide medical care to rescue dogs. Try the Mood Stimulus package for a box lunch and picnic-backpack that you can carry on hikes along the trails that lead between the inn and the river. The latter package begins at $179 on weekdays and $259 on weekends. The Yoga and Wine weekend (April 24–26) combines yoga sessions with wine tastings and cooking classes at a higher price. Even if you choose one of the discount packages, however, you should be forewarned: The resort’s irresistible indulgences—slow-food dinners at Tendrils restaurant, rejuvenating body and beauty treatments in the spa and bottles of the winery’s luscious varietals—will likely compel you to splurge. On the other hand, there’s nothing wrong with investing in your own well being from time to time. You don’t even have to use the term “stay-cation.”

The growing availability of luxury amenities in popular wine destinations is creating a rather interesting paradox. Some viticultural regions offer posh hotels and restaurants that seem shipped in from urban settings. I’m never one to complain about being over-pampered, but I think that such amenities can distract visitors from experiencing the “country” aspects of a “wine country.” This is just one of the reasons why my recent visit to California’s Mendocino County provided a welcome breath of fresh air.

The name Mendocino is shared by the county that stretches along California’s northern coast, beginning about 90 miles north of San Francisco, and a tony Victorian fishing village within the county. My visit coincided with an opportunity to serve on the judging panel for the area’s annual Crab & Wine Days festival in Fort Bragg. (Technically, event organizers invited my boss, but I was more than happy to serve as the fill-in when a conflict arose with her schedule.) Mendocino County is home to more than 70 wineries and dozens of fine dining establishments, so the opportunity to help determine the region’s best crab-cake recipe and the best local wine to pair with Dungeness crab in separate contests turned into gastronomic bliss. After all the votes were counted, the judges awarded the Little River Inn first place in the crab cake cook-off and named Naughty Boy Vineyards’ chardonnay as the best Mendocino County wine to serve with crab.

When I wasn’t fulfilling my judging duties, I made sure to explore the natural wonders waiting at nearly every turn in this land of sprawling redwood forests and undeveloped coastal bluffs.

The region’s country charm is particularly vibrant at the Mar Vista Cottages at Anchor Bay. The resort consists of a dozen one- and two-bedroom cottages sitting on a roughly nine-acre spread across a two-lane highway from a quiet cove and beach. Owners Tom and Renata Dorn meticulously renovated the cottages after acquiring the property in 2000 and now provide their guests with a literal taste of country living. Each morning, guests get a basket of fresh eggs, produced by hens given free run of the grounds, and are invited to pick their own fruits, herbs and vegetables from the organic gardens in the middle of the property. I spent one evening marveling at constellations that I hadn’t seen for months as the sound of the ocean gently washing up against the nearby shore provided a soothing audio backdrop. “This is what we sell here, simplicity,” Tom Dorn told me, as he took a break from his evening rounds to chat. After a relaxing walk along the beach the following morning, I stopped by the garden to pick Swiss chard to add to the omelet that I cooked in my cottage. On my drive back up the coast, I stopped near Point Arena Lighthouse for a walk along coastal bluffs before heading inland to visit the wineries in Anderson Valley.

Hilly topography and a relatively cool climate distinguish Anderson Valley from neighboring wine regions, which include Napa Valley and Sonoma County. Here, the growing conditions lend themselves to toasty sparkling wines and complex Alsatian varietals, particularly gewürztraminer, riesling and pinot noir. My first stop was at Roederer Estate. France’s Louis Roederer Champagne house, which produces Cristal, opened Roederer Estate in 1982 (Roederer Estate’s brut rosé was among the finalists in the wine-pairing competition that I had helped judge a few days earlier). A visit to nearby Handley Cellars provided opportunities to taste pinot noirs that, despite subtle differences in their respective flavors, each greeted my palate with soft tannins.

Of the dozen or so wineries that line the main road through Anderson Valley, Navarro Vineyards stood out as my personal favorite. The tasting room is in a rustic, lodgelike structure, and the vineyards are patrolled by miniature sheep that prevent crop damage by grazing on the plants and grasses beneath the vines. I was pleasantly surprised by the tight structure of Navarro’s gewürztraminer and riesling, varietals that I don’t normally seek out (Navarro’s gewürztraminer and pinot gris finished second and third, respectively, in the wine-pairing competition). This palate-awakening experience inspired me to find out more about the versions of these varietals produced by Washington’s wineries—the next time I get out to the country.

The 2010 Olympics are more than 12 months away, but fans can see the world’s best winter athletes in action throughout Vancouver, B.C. this winter.

The World Cups for alpine and freestyle skiing, figure skating, bobsleigh, luge and other sports take place throughout the Vancouver area between now and March. These competitions give organizers a chance to test the venues that will host Olympic events in 2010.

Among the highlights:

• Jan. 24-25 FIS Ski Jumping World Cup
• Feb. 2-7 FIBT Bobsleigh & Skeleton World Cup
• Feb. 2-8 ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships 2009
• March 9-14 IPC Alpine Skiing World Cup Finals

Vancouver also marks the one-year countdown to the games with a star-studded concert featuring Canadian-born Grammy winner Sarah McLachlan on Feb. 12. The concert, at the Queen Elizabeth Theater, is part of Cultural Olympiad 2009, a series of more than 400 concerts and events that take place across the region between Feb. 1 and March 21.

Winter hotel rates and relatively small crowd sizes—compared to those expected in 2010—are just a couple of things that make visiting Vancouver for the World Cup events a fun, stress-free alternative to the actual Olympics. A recent surge in the value of the American dollar compared to the loonie doesn’t hurt, either.

As the countdown to 2010 continues, mounting Olympic fever is palpable throughout Vancouver. New hotels seem to open each month, and major infrastructure improvements are also quickly coming on line. Whistler Blackcomb Ski Resort unveiled the Peak 2 Peak Gondola on Dec. 12, and new sections of the Seawalk are expanding the promenade’s reach around the city. It’s just a matter of time before the expansion of the Sea-to-Sky Highway and the extension of the Sky Train rapid transit system linking Vancouver International Airport to the Waterfront Centre are complete.

Of course, there’s never a bad time to visit Vancouver, as I was reminded during my most recent visit in late November. For this trip, I stayed at The Listel Hotel, just a few blocks from Stanley Park along Robson Street. The Listel takes a proactive approach to the arts and the environment. Many of the rooms are adorned with original paintings or limited-edition prints from regional artists. The hotel has also earned high marks for its eco-friendly programs that include the recent installation of solar panels and an energy-efficient heat-recovery system. O’Doul’s, the hotel’s restaurant, is firmly entrenched in British Columbia’s sustainable foods movement and features live jazz every night. On one evening, I lingered in the lounge to listen to the music after a dinner that included ravioli stuffed with locally grown butternut squash. The next morning, I feasted on flavorful free-run eggs and bacon for breakfast. The hotel’s commitment to culture and conservation, combined with extremely reasonable room rates, helped me feel good about feeling good.

A 15-minute walk from The Listel brought me to the Vancouver Aquarium in Stanley Park, where I had a chance to see Tiqa, the baby beluga whale born in June. Tiqa seems pretty happy following her mother, Qila, around in the tank with grandmother Aurora close by.

In between checking out the city’s attractions and Olympic sites, I also took some time to visit local food landmarks that were highly recommended by locals. One morning, I ventured out to Kitsilano for breakfast at Sophie’s Cosmic Cafe. After walking around the city on a rainy afternoon, I settled in for a bite at The Irish Heather, a popular Gastown “gastropub.” Even casual spots such as these have embraced the sustainable foods movement. Sophie’s, a diner whose bright yellow walls are covered with kitschy collectibles that range from vintage Coca-Cola signs to a framed Village People album cover, offers free-run eggs in its omelets and gets its produce from local farms. The Irish Heather, which recently relocated to an old brick building restored with a modern vibe, uses sausage from a nearby charcuterie in its bangers and mash. In the Irish Heather’s rendition of this classic pub dish, the plump, juicy sausages are covered in gravy and share a plate with separate mounds of mashed potatoes and mashed carrots. This may not be part of the diet of many of the Olympians who will be coming to the city in the months ahead, but, in my mind, the dish deserved a gold medal of its own.