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We left our hearts in San Francisco: A pandemic story
We left our hearts in San Francisco.
We had a plan: “France 2020,” we called it. The dream was that we would move to France in 2020. We did not. Instead, there was a global pandemic that shut down business as usual, including travel. We lived in San Francisco with the understanding that we didn’t know how long we’d be there, but we’d make it home nevertheless. Suddenly, days turned into weeks, which in turn turned into years.
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Tank up on experimental wine blends at Napa Valley’s Tank Garage Winery
Like a road trip’s adventures, Tank Garage Winery’s offerings are fleeting: The winery only issues single releases of their wines.
“Everything’s a one-off,” says Tank assistant service manager, Patrick Kotary.
Once Tank’s wines are gone, they’re gone. So get them while the getting’s good, and make some memories along the way.
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Essential Spanish phrases to know in CDMX: Be polite and “show your manners”
By Sara Hayden
A few phrases with a large dose of politeness and thoughtfulness will carry you far in this metropolis of tens of millions.
In a city that large, mistrust could be the standard, but in Mexico City, that’s not the case. People make an effort to be respectful.
Zócalo, Mexico City. Photo by Sara Hayden. I meet Daniel, born and raised here, who explains that a greeting and acknowledging others keeps things friendly. “It reminds you we all have a mother,” he says.
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Dive into Disneyland with toddlers: A parent’s guide to maximizing your family’s experience
By Sara Hayden
I am a self-proclaimed carnival and amusement park enthusiast. It started early: Growing up in Wyoming, I donned my little red cowgirl hat every summer and my parents toted me to the “Grand Daddy of ’em All,” the world famous Cheyenne Frontier Days. Most people go for the rodeo or country music scene. I went for the carnival rides.
My taste in fare hasn’t evolved too much since. I’m still in it for the thrills. At least, that’s what I thought—until my most recent trip with my almost-two-year-old toddler. With a convergence of special occasions, I decided now was the time to take a family trip to Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California. Here’s how to make the most of your own trip.
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Peep into Pinhole Coffee: Savor unique drinks in Bernal Heights
By Sara Hayden
There are dozens of reason to trek up the hill along Cortland Avenue in San Francisco’s Bernal Heights neighborhood, and Pinhole Coffee is one of them.
Founded by JoEllen Depakakibo in 2014, the team has since evolved their offerings through delicate tweaks and bold experimentation, ever in the pursuit of the perfect cup and environment to stimulate all the senses.
With creamy vanilla ice cream and a hard matcha shell, the matcha affogato is a revelation at Pinhole Coffee in San Francisco. Photo by Sara Hayden. Pop inside and stay for as long as it takes to savor the bevvie of your choice – say a hot macchiato (Depakakibo’s favorite) or flat white, or perhaps a sparkling Americano or cold brew.
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Healing the land: Recovering after wildfire at Pie Ranch
By Sara Hayden
Highly flammable eucalyptus trees tower over Pie Ranch in Pescadero in October 2021. Photo by Sara Hayden. In the middle of the night, my nose bleeds. I suspect it’s from all the ash.
I’d spent a warm fall afternoon at Pie Ranch in Pescadero, on unceded lands of the Quiroste Tribe of the Awasawas Nation. Between August and September of 2020, the CZU Lightning Complex wildfires burned more than 86,500 acres here, across San Mateo and Santa Clara counties, including the Popeloutchom homeland. Now, people throughout the region are seeking regeneration. Much of today’s work is about undoing the harm that’s been done, following first contact with colonizers.
“We’ve been here 16, 17 years — just a tiny fraction of time compared to the thousands of years of the Quiroste tribe that’s connected to these lands,” Pie Ranch co-founder Jered Lawson said. “Clearly, that knowledge has been lost in European management.”
Pie Ranch co-founder Jered Lawson orients volunteers for a “Euc-a-thon,” a community event to help remove eucalyptus saplings in October 2021. Eucalyptus trees added fuel to fire in 2020. Photo by Sara Hayden. This is what a group of volunteers came to grapple with for the farm’s “Euc-A-Thon,” a walk-a-thon-style fundraiser focused on pulling up eucalyptus saplings. One goal was to help remove invasive, flammable trees that propagated in the wake of the fires.
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Experience La Crema Estate: A cozy vineyard retreat in Windsor
By Sara Hayden
Hawks peacefully circle over Saralee’s Vineyard at La Crema Estate in the town of Windsor on a January afternoon.
Vineyards at La Crema Estate in Windsor, California. Photo by Sara Hayden. Little pools linger between the grapevines. Smooth as mirrors, the stillness belies flood conditions that caused staff to evacuate on a recent day as winter rains overwhelmed Northern California, including Sonoma County. After hunkering down, people are slowly coming back out in a place that wears the effects of climate change on its sleeve.
“It’s not that we have flood or fires or drought, [Fifth District Supervisor Lynda Hopkins] said; it’s that we have all three and that sometimes, we get hit by one while we’re still recovering from another. Not many other areas in the nation—let alone the world—experience that,” Sonoma Gazette publisher and editor Amie Windsor wrote in her January 2023 letter to readers.
Amid Mother Nature’s humbling conditions, the property’s cozy barn is a welcome retreat—at any time of the year, but especially after a storm.
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