Day 4 - Sabastobol

We were really quite excited when we realised that our dates in America were going to coincide with the 4th of July holiday, but didn’t know how we were going to spend it until yesterday. Ceese had driven over to her boyfriend’s parents “ranch” yesterday and invited us and Will and Morgan to join them today to celebrate the holiday. Mid-morning we set off with Will driving and Morgan in charge of the directions. It was a nice drive and we got to see another part of California during the 3-hour drive across the valley and up into “wine country”. The first part of the drive is towards the Bay around and takes us out of the Sac valley and though what can only be described as “rolling hills”. These hills boarder the Bay and if they were green rather than golden, you’d think you were in the UK. We really start to see why people call California the “Golden State” as all the open grassy areas have turned golden in the dry summer. We try and imagine what a different state it would look like in the wetter months when they return to green. We then head inland and skirt around Napa to make our way to Sabastobol.

Zac is house-sitting for his mum and he gives us a tour of the place when we get there. The house itself is lovely and is set in a fair few acres of land. There are a few vines growing for wine and they have recently bought a pair of miniature sheep to graze around the vines without damaging them (coz their tool short!). As we are looking at the sheep Scotty manages to shock himself on the solar powered electric fence!

Zac is really welcoming and we soon all have a beer in hand. He and Ceese are enjoying playing house and have been shopping for all our 4th of July needs; beer and meat! With 60 cans of beer in the fridge Zac starts preparing spicy chicken wings and we all start snacking on dips and chips.

Ceese and Zac then introduce us to Beer Pong; their drinking game of choice. It seems that Beer Pong is an American drinking game, but Ceese, being at Uni in Europe, was only introduced to it late on. The game sees ten plastic cups set up at either end of a ping pong table in a triangle shape. You then fill only the bottom of these cups with beer (we shared two cans between the ten cups, but you can use three). Each team has a ping pong ball and the idea is that if you can throw it into one of your opponents cups, they have to drink it. There were tonnes of other rules and variations – that weren’t made up as we went along we were assured – but the game ends when one team has no cups left as they have drunk all their beer. This losing team then has to also drink any remaining beer from the other team.

I was surprised that the games went at quite a sedate pace and you had enough time to drink your beer – there was no “downing” involved. But after a few games my aim was definitely suffering! We played in pairs for the afternoon until food was ready and then started again for the evening. Zac’s friend Luke came round and he was able to make some great shots – including a behind the back shot to finish one game. Zac’s dad also came round for drinks and dinner with us, so we were all having a good time.

At about 9pm we say our goodbyes to Zac’s dad, but then are confused when he reappears 20 minutes later. It turns out we’re running low on beer and he volunteered to call into the gas station for us to re-stock! No one knows how we managed it, but getting through all that the beer was quite impressive.

It’s after dark now, so we pull out the fireworks. Zac and Luke do the honours on the drive as we stand by the garage doors. Morgan and Ceese have moved the cars a safe distance away as we try not to do too much damage. We’re all loving the fact that the sparklers are called “Morning Glory” and the jokes keep coming. Scotty and I tell everyone about the fireworks in the streets of Cairo following football matches and this inspires Luke to get himself a can of WD-40 out of the garage for some good old lighter-and-spray-can action!

Feeling weary, we decamp inside and watch the end of the Star Wars marathon whilst demolishing a piece of cheese with crackers. Snacks over, we head to bed.