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It's fall in Sonoma County and that means just one thing: Harvest. Wait, something's not right in this picture...

...Okay, better. Right about now is generally when all the grapes come in for harvest. Of course this year was one of the earliest harvests on record, and these grapes have been in for a month already. But, that's about the turn around time for our disposable cameras, so it works out okay.

"Hi, my name is Anna and I'll be your guide to Harvest '04"

"This is the back-end of a grape gondola truck. They are used to take grapes from the fields onto the freeway where they are liberally spread on blue Corollas which inevitably end up driving behind the damn things."

"This is what we call fun with hydraulics."

"And they're off! Let the 2004 crush begin!"

"All the segments dump their grapey goodness in and the grapes start their march towards zinfandel greatness."

"A little farther over there are big cylinders, and a ladder. Oh, and a forklift. These are all critical parts of the wine making process."

"And, and, this hose is placed here to show the relative size of the barrel to the, uh, spilled grapes. And, uh, the grapes can, well, stain the white container over there. Such an unfortunate color for a grape container..."

Okay, truth be told the above "tour" was narrated by me, Jordy, not Anna. She's extremely knowledgeable about the wine making process. I'm not. For impersonating a wine professional, I have been banished to the vines. Cruel, cruel fate!

For a day we vacated Sonoma County so Anna could snap the obligatory side shot of Jordy. Ah, but here's the twist: this isn't one of our cars! See, that's different. That's worthy of yet another picture of the side of Jordy's head. And there's visible traffic. Yeah.

So there was more to our sojourn to the south bay than just a picture of the side of Jordy's head.

There's a picture of a giant rubber duck in downtown San Jose!

(okay, we came down to get copies of our birth certificates, but shooting a picture of a giant rubber duck conquering San Jose just seems so much more, well, dramatic!)
Back in wine country, we had Lana, Gary, and Anna's cousin, Sasha, up for a weekend. It happened to be the annual Gravenstein Apple Festival, but before we descended on the festival we had to go to...

Yeah, Howard's.

It's in Occidental, about twenty minutes down the Bohemian Highway (I'm not making that name up, by the way) from us. And it's as great a place to have breakfast as there is to be found this side of, uh, anywhere.

Just ask any one of these folks waiting for a covetous seat in the Mecca that is Howard's.

Or, you could just admire the super cuteness that is Occidental.

"This morning's reading will be from Howard's Menu, inside flap, entree 3:10. 'Thou shalt smite the biscuits and gravy, and dine forever in heavenly righteousness on berry pancakes."

And so, properly fueled up, we headed to the No Dogs Allowed Festival. No, sorry. The Gravenstein Apple Festival.

See? Real apples! They were there! They didn't call it the Gravenstein Apple Festival for nothing.

Yeah they did. Aside from those organic apples and this booth, pretty much everything else had very little to do with apples. Lots of crafts and art, and fried foods on sticks... We had a great time.

To commemorate the occasion, Sasha had her face painted. Well, airbrushed, by this creepy guy with the weird lipstick smudges.

And what says Gravenstein Apple Festival more than a Flaming Skull of Doom? Nothing I can think of at least. Ooh, lemonade in a yard glass!

And while we poke a bit of fun at the awkwardly named Gravenstein Apple Festival, we all had a wonderful time. Here Gary, Sasha, and Jordy pose beneath the majestic, err, oak trees. But they're selling apple pies behind us, see! See! Apple turnovers, too!

Last time we began in the vineyard. This time we'll leave you here among the vines. The grapes are gone, and the leaves have begun turning, and we've got another set of pictures in hock at Costco that we've got to pick up. But until then, we's like to with you a happy harvest!