Meeting people you know

Sophie has always loved meeting new people, and when she was very young she would ask in anticipation of nearly any outing "Will I get to meet people I do not know??" You would think blog meet-ups would be like this, but they're not. As a wise blogger once observed, you're meeting people you do know. You know what they think, how they write, what they do, and usually what they look like.

On Friday I got to meet two people I have known for a while in the blogosphere, Kerry and Lisagh! And, yes, they are as nice, funny, and charming as they are on-line. And gracious too! I offered to drive us over the Golden Gate bridge and up to Sonoma for lunch and wine tasting. I forgot to mention that my driving resembles Mr. Toad's more than anything else. Lisagh will probably never let me live this down, but they were both very good sports, if not entirely surprised and relieved that I delivered them back to their hotel in one piece. 

We started off the morning with detour to Muir Woods. And here's the picture no one probably thought they would ever see:

Lisagh the Tree Hugger! Lees, in case you did not know, does not like the out of doors. Crazy!!!!! But you can tell she is enjoying getting to know that redwood, can't you? Our trip there was brief because a light rain began to fall once we were a safe distance from the car without our umbrellas and because we had other fish to fry up in Sonoma.

After a stop for a glass of bubbly at Gloria Ferrer, we stopped by The Girl and the Fig, a Sonoma restaurant I have always wanted to try, for lunch.


It was just as I had hoped: charming without pretense, with delicious country French food. Just look at Kerry's Yukon gold potato soup:

Because we dallied so long in the woods and at lunch, we had time for only one winery after lunch, Buena Vista, allegedly the oldest winery in California. The rain made for a soggy trudge up the path to the tasting room, but it also chased away the crowds, and we had the tasting bar to ourselves for a very nice tasting that generously included several selections off the main tasting menu. 

Back in the city for dinner, we took the advice of one of Lisagh commentor's and headed for the bar at Michael Mina in the St. Francis hotel. Tres fancy, but they did not seem to mind that I was wearing jeans and hiking boots. Got to love that about San Francisco! 

We devoured two bowls of the black truffle popcorn and some of the lobster corn dogs (the first corn dog I have ever eaten), along with pomegranate cocktails that were truly amazing. 

My final dish was a lobster pot pie, which was served by a waitron who got down on his knees beside our low bar table to slice the top off the pie and spoon the contents over it on a plate. I have hardly ever had lobster since returning from the east to California (this being crab territory), so this was a particularly special treat. The brandied cream sauce and baby vegetables were a perfect complement to the sweet lobster meat, which although I know was not out-of-the-tank fresh was pretty damned good. 

But the best part of the meet-up was of course the conversation. How many times have you talked about blogging with nonbloggers and realized they . . . think you're kind of nuts? Between sights, sips, and tastes, we talked about why we do it, other people who do it (including several we wish had been there—you know who you are), and what it means to be part of a community of people, who like the three of us, would never otherwise cross paths. From our little screens, our lives are bigger and better for it.