May 14 to 17, 2012
We decided to take a quick getaway and head to one of our favorite wine regions, the Santa Ynez Valley of Santa Barbara County. You remember that area, right? Where the movie "Sideways" was filmed?
We did not take the train up there.
But we did stop for a picnic lunch on a State beach just north of Ventura.
The ocean on one side, Amtrak and US 101 on the other!
Our regular spot, "Martini Mesa", at Lake Cachuma was
taken so we settled for site 275, leveled up and settled in.
We set up the screen room not because there were so many bugs but because we like it.
The next morning we had a hearty breakfast of leftover potatoes fried up with some bacon, eggs and stuff.
Morning sunlight
First stop was Brander Vineyard
A picturesque winery just east of Rt 154
You can see by the Swedish, American and Brazilian flags that it was a little breezy. Well, it was a lot breezy.
Not quite happy hour in Buenos Aires, dinner time in Stockholm and 11:15 in Santa Barbara - a good time to start wine-tasting!
This is the cat letting it be know that he is thirsty.
This is the cat getting a drink.
These are some of the wines we tasted!
Picnic area of Brander
Some vines and a tree. All the vines were bright green with new growth.
The wall
Another wall and more vines and trees!
From Brander, Bridlewood was just a short drive away.
Since we belong to Bridlewood's wine club we get a free tasting or glass of wine each time we stop by.
So we got a Reserve Sauvignon Blanc and a Reserve Chard and strolled down to the lake on he infield of the track.
There are still horses and an exercise track here at Bridlewood. We saw the horses and we could smell them too! Vintage 2012, I think...
That's the rail of the track with vines beyond.
A crooked tree.
Me on a crooked tree.
...a closer me on a crooked tree...
Water
Lovely Lorri Laroo
Trees and vines and water, oh my.
After Bridlewood we drove to the little town of Los Olivos. This is there.
Lots of tasting rooms in L.O.
My new plates. Just kidding - some other Hillllzzzz new plates
We had a great wine-tasting experience at Carhartt!
If you haven't been there, you must go. It's at the end of the main drag closest to Rte 154.
We sat in barrel-slat Adirondack chairs and were brought our tasting by a very nice lady named Robin.
She took our photo and brought the winemaker/owner, Brook, over to meet us and chat for a while.
She took a photo of Lorri through a wine glass! It was a fun time, their wines were good (we bought a half-dozen bottles) and the owners and pourers were very friendly and seemed to enjoy what they were doing.
We took the wine back to Lake Cachuma and enjoyed some of it with some sautéed shrimp, shallots and zucchini with fresh pasta.
Wednesday
This is what Lorri does in the morning in the van. She uses her iPhone to check email, play Words with Friends, Draw Something, and so on.
My coffee cup. See it?
We drank our coffee while walking around the campground. This is the cabin you want to reserve if you're going to stay in a cabin.
These are the three cabins. "Eagle" is on the left with the best views and closest to the boat-launching area.
The view between cabins
The boat rental area
Yikes! Yurts!
It was not a busy day at the marina.
More yurts! Actually they're the same ones but closer now.
Yurt view.
After getting our fill of yurts, we headed to the west side of the valley and stopped first at Foley.
This is Foley
This is Foley too!
This is part of Foley.
This is Foley's door mat and Lorri's feet.
This is Lorri and Angela at Foley.
This is me, my new Folay hat and Lorri. Many of you are probably wondering why Lorri is not smiling in these photos. I can't go into that here, but it's NOT because I bought another hat.
Finally finished with Foley foolery, we zipped down the street to Dierburg / Star Lane
Star Lane was the name of the original horse ranch which is now full of vineyards - no horses! Hear that Bridlewood? More vines, less horses!
They had a nice truck, so I took about a thousand photos of it.
They also had some nice yellow umbrellas that went nicely with the nice yellow hillside.
Did I mention they had a nice truck? They had nice wine too!
This awesome structure is part of the Alma Rosa tasting room.
We had a rustic picnic lunch at Alma Rosa, nothing fancy, just three different cheeses, a fresh baguette, prosciutto, rosemary roasted almonds, figs, a crispy apple and an excellent bottle of Alma Rosa Pinot Gris.
Oh, and some grapes.
Alma Rosa. It ain't the building, it's the wine.
My theory is that Alma Rosa and the grounds surrounding it were some sort of hippie enclave/commune type thing way back when.
There are a few surviving "cottages" and so on, as well as the remains of and entry gate. Peace, love and rock & roll, I say. And wine too.
We stopped at the Wednesday afternoon farmers' market in Solvang on the way back to Martini Mesa II to stock up for dinner. I tell you, those Swedes know how to spin a yarn and grow some pretty good-looking veggies!
...and flowers
Meanwhile back at the van, part of our haul for dinner.
Thursday
We had an early morning visitor. Then we left. The end.