Cahl-ee-fohrn-ya Wine Country, Santa Rosa

Did you know there is yet a place in California where you can drive for hours through rolling goldent hills gilded with live oak trees, where you can drive so close to sparkling lakes you can see fish jump? I didn't.

We drove from east to west through Lake and Mendocino Counties, headed for Santa Rosa and my sister's house in wine country. Two amazing things happened: we didn't meet any truly aggressive drivers (maybe it was the soothing scenery) and we found a Foster's Freeze in a tiny little lakeside town. Foster's Freeze is the most excellent establishment for soft serve ice cream in the world. I didn't even know how much I'd missed it until I licked my first Foster Freeze cone in about 20 years. Any idea of other soft serve ice creams disappeared from my brain. This was it--soft serve heaven! Frances became an instant convert.

We made it to Santa Rosa where I saw my sister's home for the first time. Her husband just retired, and they searched for two years to find the perfect place. It was built in 2004, just like my little home in the desert. It has a red tile roof, just like mine. The walls are painted pale mocha and doors and trim are white (just like mine). The interior of our houses are--improbably and amazingly--like sisters. Except that my whole house could fit in their basement.

My nephew and his wife and the Cutest Baby in the World came up from San Francisco for a picnic with us at Brother-in-law's favorite winery. He loves the view. He loves the wine. He is a member of their wine club, so he gets free tasting and great discounts--which he was able to share with us. Now we love the view and wine, too. Frances and I were good--we only tasted a few, ones we really thought we might like to buy. I bought my mom a nice red called "Poizin", which has a skull and crossbones on the bottle. Brother-in-law joked that nothing better happen to Mom, or the police would be all over me for bringing her Poizin. But mom is still just fine.

Back on Interstate 5, we made it to Mom's house--the house where I grew up. Women live in fear of becoming their mothers, but sometimes there's just no getting around the truth. For example, when someone takes a picture of you and your mother, and you find out you've got the same sun glasses!