Weirdly Asian Weekend

Saturday morning, Jrex and I headed northwest. We swung through the Anderson Valley for a series of wine tastings. First stop, Peay. Jrex told me the vineyard was run by two brothers and that one of their wives was the winemaker. They'd invited Jrex to come for an open house with library wines, sausages and cheeses for lunch. I wandered through their facility while he gabbed with various other enthusiasts. Most tasting rooms are a dark vaulted space cluttered with dollies, hoses, gloves and other sundry items tucked among looming towers of barrels. At Peay, there were gleaming metal surfaces, every hose was labeled, you could have eaten off the floor. I'd never seen anything like it.

Back outside, Jrex was in line to get wine from a table with two women who were serving and discussing the wines. One was a Caucasian woman wearing a cute hat, leather jacket, knee-high boots and a funky skirt. I assumed she was the winemaker. The other woman was Asian and wore a grey sweater and jeans with a scarf looped around her neck. She was soft-spoken and gentle compared to the brusque, quick movements of the white woman.

Then, Jrex told me the Asian woman was the winemaker. I LOVE when my assumptions are turned on their head. And that really threw me. Let's face it, the wine scene everywhere we've lived has been pretty white. Cool. Also, it explained the clean facility! (which would be another one of my assumptions...)

THEN, we got up to our motel in Ft. Bragg (north of Mendocino). Now, I was up in the area back in February with two Caucasian friends. We saw one Asian man the whole five days we were there. It's a white, white area. I'd found the motel online and it looked clean and nice given our budget. As we drove in, there were four hapa boys playing in front of the lobby. When we walked into the lobby, there was an Asian woman behind the front desk. She beamed when she saw our last name. "K! My last name is K, too!" In her happiness, she upgraded our room. Then we found out that the entire motel was FULL of Koreans. Apparently they come out to harvest Abalone. The older men clustered outside smoking cigarettes while the women prepped and cooked the harvest next to the motel. They talked and laughed late into the night.

When Jrex walked outside of our room, they smiled and bowed. Then, when he was followed by a white woman, and then a black dog, they looked puzzled.

How did I find the only motel in an entire county that was filled with Koreans!? It was a fun surprise, but a bit bizarre.

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Off topic, but that basketball game last night was amazing! I don't like sports, but I caught the last five minutes of the NCAA final between a tiny liberal arts college and Duke. Wow. If ONLY that final hail mary shot had gone in!