The sweet outdoors: Glamping in the vineyards
If you’ve ever wanted to sleep in a vineyard, under the stars, not far from the river, among the vines and critters that roam the fields at night, here’s the perfect weekend getaway for you. Heritage Oak Winery, located along the Mokelumne off Buck Road, now offers a tent rental for “guests, friends, and wine club members.” It’s called “glamping,” or glamor camping. Kinda like Harrah’s on a tight budget. Booked through a company called Tentrr, the site includes all the amenities of home (maybe). The tent sleeps four. It has bunk beds with two queen size mattresses and comes complete with a “stove and pot for boiling water, lamps and a flashlight and a solar shower. The campsite is stocked with a Weber grill, briquettes, 10 gallons of water and a hammock. And what makes all this possible is the very cleverly designed toilet,” writes winery owner Tom Hoffman. That’s enough to awaken anyone’s animal instincts. Happy glamping!
DATELINE STOCKTON: It was Wednesday, March 4, 2009 in a Stockton Superior Court courtroom where David Paradiso was on trial for the murder of his girlfriend. Lodi News-Sentinel crime\court reporter Layla Bohm was there covering the trial for the paper. Things went terribly wrong during a break in the proceedings when defendant Paradiso pulled out a knife and began stabbing Judge Cinda Fox. Lodi police Detective Eric Bradley, who was also in attendance, stopped the life-threatening assault with his service revolver, shooting Paradiso in the head, killing him. The jury and those in attendance were stunned and traumatized. It sent shockwaves everywhere and may have been the catalyst for building Stockton’s new courthouse.
The whole event proved to be lifechanging for Layla, who ultimately left her job at the Sentinel and said goodbye to the news business. She became a marathon runner and long distance cyclist. She eventually settled in Portland, Ore., where she is now a police dispatcher for the City of Portland. Back in the middle of crime, courts and chaos, as she puts it.
COFFEE CALLING: One of the hottest new coffee shops in Lodi is tucked away around the corner from the Rocky Mountain Chocolate store on School Street, in the old Woolworth Building. The Mokelumne Brew House has only been open since August of this year and is owned by a young couple just starting out. It’s a hidden and relaxed place to sip your nitro tea with mojito mix, a fan favorite. The place has received rave Yelp reviews, if that matters to you. One of the best features are the baked goods, made by Lodi native Cindy Chappell, whose father is the late Jack Chappell. As both my readers know, Jack operated the Lodi Swim Club on Lodi Avenue for generations and was a Lodi original himself.
SIGN OF THE TIMES: Seen outside St. Anne’s Catholic School at Pleasant and Walnut: “You are tardy. Go to the office with a parent.” I think they mean it. What a concept.
ON A ROLL: You read about Kirk Wentland winning the Best in Class honors for his 1959 Persian Sand Cadillac El Dorado convertible, which he entered in the "Eisenhower Era Convertible" class at the 2018 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance car show. What makes it even more interesting is that one of the other cars entered in that same class was the actual 1953 Cadillac El Dorado Convertible used in Eisenhower's inauguration.
Billed as “the most prestigious car show in the world,” the event draws entries from all over that world. It’s Kirk’s third trip to the extravaganza, first time winning. This is the same car show where a Ferrari sold for $48.4 million, which isn’t exactly chump change, even for Kirk.
SEEING THE LIGHT: The home solar business is booming in Lodi. The City of Lodi’s electric utility already has about 750 solar customers — waaaay more than officials ever imagined there would be — out of about 26,485 accounts. But a few clouds may be gathering over the whole solar surge. Many of the discounts and incentives are gone, which could short-circuit the solar dreams of some. When the program first began, home solar customers could use what they generated and sell their excess electricity back to the city at retail rates. Nice. But since the city has met the limit on how much of that power they have to buy at full rates, future customers will be paid a lower price for those spare kilowatts, which makes the whole solar gambit flicker a bit.
MURDER, SHE WROTE: Psssst. There’s going to be a murder at Lodi’s Hill House Museum. But it won’t be real. It will all be part of a live murder mystery game produced by Lodi’s In Motion Theatre Company. It will be called, “Murder at the Hill - Live Murder Mystery Game — Murder Most Fowl,” starring … maybe you. The Company is looking for actors to play in this and other productions to be staged at the Hill House. In Motion is owned by Cami Ferry, who lived and worked in London and has training in theater, dance and opera. The production company’s focus is benefiting local charities such as the Hill House with their shows.
REFLECTIONS: We note the passing of Tom Alexander, who died Sept. 5. Tom’s civic involvement goes way back to the days when Lodi had a single-A baseball team (the Lodi Orions) that played at Zupo Field in the ‘70s, and Tom was the public address announcer calling the game. Later, Tom served as a city recreation supervisor affiliated with Boosters of Boys and Girls Sports (BOBS). He was a gentleman and very much a part of Lodi’s past.
——— Steve is a former newspaper publisher and lifelong Lodian whose column appears every other Tuesday — or whenever he feels like it — in the News-Sentinel. Tips welcome. Write to Steve at aboutlodi@gmail.com.