There's the Brett Favre from December 2009 we've been waiting for...

Last year, I noticed the Vikings were scheduled to come down and play at Arizona in December. I really wanted to go, but couldn't because we were completing our training exercise in the desert. So, when I was in Iraq this year, I noticed that the Vikes were AGAIN supposed to venture out to Arizona. I told Tally that would be my Christmas present and bought two tickets.

It was a crazy day. We were scrambling to get there because of one reason after another. But, we finally got there, and had a very good time, at least at the beginning. There were a lot of Vikings fans there, especially in our section. Of course, most of those in our section were pretty plastered and ridiculous, but it made for good comedy. See--look how much fun Tally was having:

Of course, then Brett Favre decided to become....well, Brett Favre. And, it didn't help that we couldn't block anyone or put any pressure on Kurt Warner. It was pretty ugly. I give the stadium there high marks. The food was good for a professional sporting venue, too.

On our way back to our car, we noticed two Vikings fans dressed in purple T-shirts with gold letters on the front. One had an "E", and one had an "R". Tally guessed that they must have been there with three others to spell out "FAVRE". We decided that they didn't pick the best night for that, but, oh well. I told her that maybe they were actually there with 10 other friends and were spelling out "INTERCEPTION". In that case, they would have been much more accurate with their cheerleading.

(Sigh.) Ladies and gentlemen, your 2009 Minnesota Vikings.

Coming up, a triathlon in December, and maybe some other stuff before Christmas.

SNOB ALERT!!!

As a public service to all loyal Tinjblog readers, I do have to mention that there are a lot of snobs in Napa Valley and the surrounding environs. Of course, there are tons of great people, but there are those who choose to be wine snobs, and those wineries where you have to (and, no, I'm not kidding) wait to be seated, at a formal table by a concierge in order to simply taste some wine. I'm going to start a winery in Napa Valley, require that much ridiculousness, then serve these folks some Boone's Farm wine. Ha!

Finally, there is the family who earned the memorial "Made Me Want to Drop My Dinner Plate on My Head Until I Lost Consciousness" Award at one of the restaurants we ate at. Luckily, they were behind me, so I didn' t have to look at them, like Tally did. UNluckily, they were RIGHT behind me, so I could hear every word they were saying. Of course, I could have been in a different zip code and still heard every annoying word and all the bragging. We got up to leave right after them, and we noticed that their table cloth was covered with different splotches of wine stains. It wasn't one big stain, but several, indicating that more than one of them probably got sauced all day at the vineyards, then sauntered on down to the local restaurant to finish off the evening by being loud, rude, and spilling wine all over. You stay classy, Napa. (from "Anchorman")

Napa Valley and San Francisco

We have wanted to make it up to Napa Valley and San Francisco since we have been in California, but just haven't been able to pull it off yet. Sooo, since we both had four days off for Thanksgiving, we decided to have our Thanksgiving meal the Sunday before (it was delicious) and travel over the four-day weekend.

It was a great trip! It is extremely beautiful in that area. Visiting in the fall was great--I think that would be the best time to go, if you're ever planning on it. Of course, I dispense that advice without having any authority or expertise to do so whatsoever. But, all of the leaves on the vines turned fall colors, along with all of the other trees. And, it was a great change for us because, even when we get out of the desert, the terrain in Southern California is very dry/brown. It was nice to see all that green for a change.

Without getting into really long explanations, these pictures are of Tally standing in the Vineyard, the two of us at a tasting room at a vineyard, and Tally outside of a cupcake store in Napa (the store did very good work)

We ate at two different restaurants for dinner, both of which were great. I won't go into it, but if you ever go, I would seriously consider Celadon in Napa and Tra Vigne in St. Helena. The food was really, really good.

On the way down to Carmel on Saturday, we swung through San Francisco. It was fun to say we drove across the Golden Gate Bridge. We drove over the the presidio and down to the beach, where we were able to get some pictures with the bridge in the background:

(I think I look the best when squinting.)

And, we then stopped in downtown San Francisco a little bit to shop and eat. It was very interesting, but pretty crowded. Of course, there were a ton of weirdos, who I enjoyed watching immensely. Too many to get into here, but, if you want to people watch, go to San Francisco.