Beach, wine, beach

Day two of our California trip included 5 wine tastings sandwiched between two beach trips.  Wonderful!

We hit El Capitan State Beach, north of Santa Barbara, by 9:30 am. Here I spied a clump of rocks, which meant one thing – tide pools!

Lisa and I walked among the rocks looking at the pebble-covered anemones and barnacles and caught glimpses of the mini crabs as they scurried under mussels and rocks to hide themselves from us. I couldn’t get enough – I loved all of it! We even spotted a few starfish!

We eventually wandered back to the towels and took in the sounds of the ocean and the relatively quiet beach (not too many people), we read our books and Lisa got in the water. Next we headed out for our wine tastings! 

First stop: Solvang, which is a small town in the Ynez Valley with a strong Danish influence. Here wineries are nestled among the Disney-like Danish windmills and authentic bakeries and tee shirt shops and other cute places.  Our favorite spot was the Dascomb winery – they had good wine *and* they paired it with micro-cubes of amazing cheese. Here are a few shots from our wine tasting times in Solvang:

After lunch we moved on to Los Olivos – a town that is just about all wine tasting rooms. We were challenged with how to choose among all the different wineries. We were lured into Saarloos + sons by the attached cupcake case. The wine was ok and I didn’t turn out to be attracted to any of the cupcakes, but we did enjoy this little photo booth thing they had. Here is one of the photo outcomes:

By far, our favorite stop was Refugio Ranch. The wine was good and the feel was laid back. If I could have wine from one place again, it would be here.

After this last wine stop, we grabbed some jalapeno-cheddar popcorn and a pellegrino and headed back to El Capitan State Beach. This time it was just playing in the water and laying on the beach as the sun retreated. It was so nice…

Santa Barbara (not the soap opera)

It all started with a discussion of Lisa’s upcoming 40th birthday and a failed attempt to get away together in May when her agency canceled travel due to “the sequester.” We decided that Santa Barbara, California, would be a lovely place to spend a few days. It has the beach, wineries, good weather, the Channel Islands, and more. Perfect – we booked it for the last weekend in June!

So, one sweltering June morning we  boarded a plane for the west coast. For those of you who may not have enjoyed a plane ride from Colorado to Southern California during the day, if you have a window seat, there is plenty to see. First you go over the Rocky Mountains and then you get to see the Grand Canyon! Here’s what the big canyon it looks like from this perspective:

We did arrive and safely made it to our lovely Lavender Inn room, just blocks from the coast in Santa Barbara.  We were giddy to find that the hotel provides a complimentary bottle of bubbly with real champagne flutes! I recommend this hotel – not only did we get the free bubbly and, of course, a continental breakfast, but there is also an evening wine and cheese service (complimentary) as well as tasty cookies at night. I was also impressed by the well-kept grounds full of flowers and succulents and other climate-appropriate plants.

Anyways, we spent the rest of the evening perusing State Street in Santa Barbara, getting dinner at Pierre Lafond, and watching the sunset on the beach. Here are some photos to give you a feel for our experience:

Stay tuned for the second installment of the California trip!