Eyjafjallajokull Volcano: The Gift of Calamity

Have you ever received a gift that you didn’t at first appreciate? Perhaps you didn’t even realize that it was a gift? In fact you thought it was the opposite? When a volcanic dust plume from the Eyjafjallajokull Volcano disrupted air traffic all around the world on April 15th (by affecting the busiest destinations of Europe) no one thought to call it a gift.

The plume left millions of people stranded in various countries, going to or from Europe. The ripples of disruption were felt globally by businesses (e.g., freight delays and other losses) and individuals (e.g., from day laborers in Kenya to the Swiss grocery Migros unable to receive shipments of asparagus for its peak season in restaurants). Airlines lost billions of dollars (around $20 million a day).

The Napa River Inn & Mumm’s Sparkling Pinot Noir

Neither Margaret nor I was terribly keen on joining the kids for the day at 6 Flags outside San Francisco. So we made our own plans… more sophisticated plans...plans that included quality touring and sightseeing...oh, and drinking, of course…

The town of Napa, with its newly renovated Old Town along the Napa River, lies fifty miles north of San Francisco in the heart of legendary Napa Valley—our first stop.

As we aimlessly wandered along the Old Town Napa River waterfront, we stumbled upon the former Napa Mill, an old brick building that currently houses a quaint stretch of stores, galleries and the historically preserved hotel, the Napa River Inn.

Margaret slid into a comfortable seat in the hotel’s lobby to plan our day on the wine trail, while I wandered—well, more like followed Toulouse—and found him seated by the stone fireplace with the Concierge, Renee Chaney, an intelligent woman with a weakness for wily French cats with pink necklaces. Renee described the history of the building to us: