Taking a Short Break

If you didn't know any better you'd think this photo was a stock image from one of my many trips to Scotland over the years, but in fact it's from Point Reyes this past weekend. I hadn't been up to the Marin seaboard in over a decade, so I decided to take advantage of the short Xmas break and head north to spend a few days relaxing. All I could think of while walking through the rugged terrain, however, was: "How has no one built a whisky distillery up here yet?"

Not only is the Point Reyes shoreline a magical sight, very reminiscent of Scotland with its rugged beauty and contrasts of green and grey, the small town of Point Reyes Station is like something frozen in time. As I told my wife, "It's as if the Santa Cruz I remember from the 80s and early 90s picked up, moved 150 miles north, and re-established itself elsewhere." We were simply dumbfounded. It was like being in a Hallmark movie. I was ready for Candace Cameron Bure to walk out and ask us if we wanted to get some hot chocolate. There's a kooky element as well to the commune that draws the Santa Cruz comparison. I felt so nostalgic I almost went back to the hotel and started watching The Lost Boys on my computer. It honestly felt as if the internet was never invented, methamphetamine had never existed, and time had never advanced past 1996. There were book stores, for God's sake! 

The Cowgirl Creamery is located right downtown, so we loaded up on cheese and snacks, had a delicious lunch at Stellina, then headed back over to Mill Valley before dark. 

From the deck out behind our room we could see the bay clearly over Angel Island. As we finished off our drinks and took in the view, I loaded up the rest of the addictive and shocking new Netflix documentary series "Making a Murderer". I'm not going to say a word beyond that because I don't want to ruin it for you, but if you haven't watched it yet you need to sit down and do so quickly. Not because I say so, of course, but because there's going to be a lot of media press coming out shortly that will make it difficult to stay in the dark much longer. We might be living through another "Paradise Lost" situation here. I've been glued to my Twitter feed ever since we finished watching it yesterday.

I'm back in the store today! Plenty to talk about in the final push towards 2016.

-David Driscoll