Time to travel: You go, girl
This actually happened: One Sunday, my Danish friend Nanna and I found ourselves on a train bound from Madrid to Lisbon in the days before the euro. As it turned out, this was an express train (a ridiculous distinction, since it was slower than molasses – but never mind), requiring more fare than our rail passes alone.
We’d spent all our pesetas. We didn’t have any escudos. All the banks were closed for the day.
So we took the obvious course: We locked ourselves in the bathroom with some wine-in-a-box, and hoped for the best.
A couple of hours later, we got caught. And pitched off the train in a town made up entirely of one structure: the train platform.
So we hitchhiked – which was stupid and, only in retrospect, hilarious – and finally made it to the hostel in Lisbon around 1 a.m. They had us sleep on the laundry room floor.
Would any of that, in a million years, have occurred with a boyfriend or family members in tow?
I’m going to say no.
And that’s why we have girlfriend travel.
The three girls at Olympic Cellars – Kathy Charlton, Molly Rivard and Libby Sweetser – understand its appeals and they’ve launched a Web site devoted entirely to the subject.
Naturally, their suggestions revolve around the Olympic Peninsula, home to their boutique winery in a century-old barn. There they produce 3,200 cases of such wines as Working Girl, Working Girl White, Go Girl Red, Rose the Riveter and others every year. They also offer a premium label, La Dolce Vita, and a heritage and artist series called Dungeness.
The Working Girl Road Trip Web site compiles event schedules, shopping opportunities and lodging and restaurant recommendations in Port Angeles and Sequim. There’s a brief overview of the region; links to biking, kayaking, rafting and other tourist activities; and, since women typically aren’t loath to use them, they’ve included directions, too.
If you drop by the winery, you can pick up your very own Working Girl goodie bag and get your picture taken.
“I had never even heard of the term road trip until I came to the Northwest,” says Charlton, a Dallas transplant. “In Texas, you don’t get out and take a drive.”
She thinks the region is what makes it work.
“When you go to the peninsula, it’s beautiful and relaxed. You really do come back feeling a whole lot better,” she explains. “Women juggle so many balls, and it’s nice not to have to sometimes.”
You can plan a trip for yourself at www.workinggirlwines.com. Or call (360) 452-0160.
All about Eve
Before you join 24 Hour Fitness, flush your Marlboros down the toilet, organize the catastrophe that is your closet or whatever else you resolve to do in 2006, try to have some fun.
Here are a couple of options:
•At 9:30 p.m. on New Year’s Eve, the Spirit of Washington Dinner Train will chug from the Renton Depot along the shores of Lake Washington to the Columbia Winery. The trip comes complete with onboard dinner and dessert.
You’ll pull into the winery around 10:45 p.m., which leaves plenty of time to get your hands on the complimentary champagne and party favors before midnight. A disc jockey will keep things hopping, and you’ll wind up your evening back in Renton at about 2 a.m.
Dome seating goes for $119 per person and parlor seating costs $104. Visit www.spiritofwashingtondinnertrain.com or call (800) 876-7245 for more information.
•Seattle’s Teatro ZinZanni is pulling out all the stops as well.
The New Year’s Eve Gala gets under way at 7:30 with a three-hour performance of cirque (which I guess is a fancy word for circus), comedy and cabaret. Blues singer Francine Reed will also be on hand.
The five-course dinner menu, created by Chef Tom Douglas of Dahlia Lounge and Etta’s Seafood fame, includes marinated piccolo mozzarella balls, roasted butternut squash soup, watercress and Granny Smith apple salad, a choice of three entrees (lamb tenderloin, roasted chicken with goat cheese and savory apricot jam, or wild mushroom pot pie) and pear caramel charlotte.
These are the standard-issue Teatro ZinZanni components, but to make things New-Year’s-Eve special, they’ve added a midnight buffet of munchies, post-show dancing in the tent with the cast, a champagne toast and a surprise gift for each member of the audience.
If your resolution involves getting your financial house in order, this seems like an excellent last hurrah. Tickets run $250 per person; you can order them at www.zinzanni.org or (206) 802-0015.
Regional events
•100 Years of Flight: Holiday Light Display, through Jan. 2, Museum of Flight, Seattle. A half-scale Wright Flyer replica, piloted by Santa Claus and Rudolph, joins a replica of a Concorde Supersonic jetliner to show how far flight has come. (www.seeseattle.org/206-764-5720)
•Christmas Eve Festivities, Dec. 24, Big Sky, Mont. The ski resort will celebrate the season with Santa, his helpers, interdenominational services, caroling, a buffet dinner and more. (www.visitmt.com/800-548-4486)
•Torchlight Parade and Fireworks Display, Dec. 31, Marysville, Mont. Take the ski lift up and ski back down with flares or flashlights. Fireworks follow. (www.visitmt.com/406-449-3746)