What do you want to be known for?
Tales from a wine country tour bus:
I had a great retreat-ish vacation day yesterday touring the Napa valley in California, touring a couple of wineries and getting to enjoy some breathtaking scenery. Included on our stop was a lunch stop and town tour of this "rustic" (for California) hot springs town called Calistoga. It was a good place to retreat... some boutique wineries, great restaurants and coffee shops, and (for the ladies, especially) a number of spas fed by natural hot springs.
But what kind of name is "Calistoga" anyways? Sounds really goofy.
The story of the town's founding is that the guy, Sam Brannan, that bought up all of this land made his fortune supplying the gold rush and went into retirement, buying up this land that included these fantastic natural hot springs in the late 1880's. He had heard about the new resort of Saratoga, NY which was fed by hot springs and wanted, in his entrepenurial mind, to make this new place the "Saratoga of California." So he got everything ready and was going to announce to the settlers his vision.
Well, Sam really liked to drink, apparently, and got really lit up before taking the stage to make this announcement. So, instead of announcing that he was giving them the "Saratoga of California" he in his drunken state said "Here I give you the Calistoga of Sarafornia!" And hence the town is now Calistoga.
It's interesting how one decision or critical, visible, moment can forever brand a guy, huh? Accomplished men, who made a single move toward indiscretion, had their reputations permanently marred by a single instance that they could had probably easily avoided. It's all over history: Benedict Arnold is a traitor, Ken Lay is a thief, Wilt Chamberlin is a womanizer... not because of what they WANT to have been recognized for but eventually the scandalous took over and branded them.
And apparently, for all of his great business accomplishments and vision, Sam Brannan is now known as a lush.
What do you want to be known for?
I had a great retreat-ish vacation day yesterday touring the Napa valley in California, touring a couple of wineries and getting to enjoy some breathtaking scenery. Included on our stop was a lunch stop and town tour of this "rustic" (for California) hot springs town called Calistoga. It was a good place to retreat... some boutique wineries, great restaurants and coffee shops, and (for the ladies, especially) a number of spas fed by natural hot springs.
But what kind of name is "Calistoga" anyways? Sounds really goofy.
The story of the town's founding is that the guy, Sam Brannan, that bought up all of this land made his fortune supplying the gold rush and went into retirement, buying up this land that included these fantastic natural hot springs in the late 1880's. He had heard about the new resort of Saratoga, NY which was fed by hot springs and wanted, in his entrepenurial mind, to make this new place the "Saratoga of California." So he got everything ready and was going to announce to the settlers his vision.
Well, Sam really liked to drink, apparently, and got really lit up before taking the stage to make this announcement. So, instead of announcing that he was giving them the "Saratoga of California" he in his drunken state said "Here I give you the Calistoga of Sarafornia!" And hence the town is now Calistoga.
It's interesting how one decision or critical, visible, moment can forever brand a guy, huh? Accomplished men, who made a single move toward indiscretion, had their reputations permanently marred by a single instance that they could had probably easily avoided. It's all over history: Benedict Arnold is a traitor, Ken Lay is a thief, Wilt Chamberlin is a womanizer... not because of what they WANT to have been recognized for but eventually the scandalous took over and branded them.
And apparently, for all of his great business accomplishments and vision, Sam Brannan is now known as a lush.
What do you want to be known for?
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