November 19 to 28
After leaving Tallinn's party we drove up though LA to Ventura and the little town of Ojai, A first time visit for us.
Ojai
We got to the Emerald Iguana Inn just before the front desk closed and checked in to our cool retreat called the "Tree House" room. It's the only unit in the 12-unit hotel on the second floor! It's not actually in a tree.
Click here for photos of our room at Emerald Iguana
Our hotel was a few blocks off the main drag, Ojai Avenue, pictured here.
We had a great lunch on Monday at Agave Maria's.
Lorri at our outdoor table. The weather was great and would continue to be so for our whole trip!
I got the chili verde and Lorri ordered a tostada with chicken
We had dinner here Sunday night. It was OK but I didn't get any photos, so here is one I took on Monday.
We found the Ojai Olive Oil Company outside of town, down a barely paved side road. We thought Google Maps was leading us astray.
But here it is!
They have a serve yourself system of paper cups and re-purposed ice cube trays.
Monday dinner was at Osteria Monte Grappa, a great little Italian place where we luckily found seats at the bar and had a very nice dinner
It was crowded with families getting an early start on the holidays
Here we are at the bar
Selfie at the bar
After a couple days of eating and drinking, we decided to take a hike!
Luckily, there is a series of trails nearby, administered by the Ojai Valley Land Conservancy
Photos from the Shelf Road Trail:
Looking out over the valley
Passion fruit! We didn't know what it was but my iPhone ID'd it as such.
Lorri on the trail which was more like a dirt road.
The valley
The bench
The valley, again.
Lorri off in the distance, way ahead of me!
Looking south toward town
As a reward for all our hiking exertions, we grabbed a sandwich at the local market and took it to this place for lunch and a little wine-tasting
Next stop was the Ojai Valley Inn, a famous (and expensive!) resort destination, complete with a golf course, swimming pools, restaurants, and servers that bring you gin and tonics while you lounge in your Adirondack chairs overlooking the 18th fairway!
View from our Adirondack chairs
Relaxing in our Adirondack chairs
View of golf course and Adirondack chairs, also a fire pit!
Dinner Tuesday was at the bar (surprise!) at Sea Fresh Restaurant which was OK, not great.
Here are a couple Sea Fresh selfie shots. Say that five times really fast!
Wednesday morning, Thanksgiving Eve, it was time to head north to Paso Robles, over 150 miles away!
150 miles!!??? We needed a pit stop and what better place than Laetitia Winery?
The vines were turning gold and yellow and brown and so on. Winter is coming!
Laetitia, known for their bubbly, apparently repurposes old riddling racks into picnic tables! Lorri got a glass of bubbly while I opted for their Pinot Noir. What goes better with a turkey sandwich!
Another beautiful day!
We met Greg and Kelly at the Albertson's on Niblick and proceeded to our VRBO called "Refugio" just a few miles south.
Refugio turned out to be pretty spectacular! It had two master, sorry, primary bedroom suites, each with its own patio with fire pit, mini-fridge, and sitting area. The huge kitchen, where the owner teaches cooking classes, featured two cook tops, a double oven, two dishwashers, ice maker, wine fridge, and an island that would seat about ten people!
Click here for photos of our VRBO, "Refugio"
The 300 year-old oak.
Looks like we're unpacked, organized and getting ready for a great T-day celebration!
A Wednesday happy hour toast to our friends, family, and the Encinitas Yacht Club!
Stirring the risotto
Tasting the risotto
Perhaps it need a pinch of salt!
Sheet pan chicken thighs with sweet potatoes, and mushroom risotto. Sorry, I ate some of it before I remembered to take a photo!
Great dinner! Did I mention we brought a few bottles of wine!
Thanksgiving!
Utilizing both cooktops to prepare breakfast!
Our back patio from the house
Our back patio from the driveway
The weather continued to be exceptionally nice
Cheers, Greg!
The damage from Wednesday
Mid-day snack under the old oak tree
Thankful for great friends, Greg and Kelly
What a great spot!
Party time!
Light and bright kitchen!
T-day table setting included a place at each end for the family patriarchs, Galen Clavier and Jack Vierling who are no longer with us.
Dinner: Stuffing (or was it dressing?), and elevated green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, and roasted leg of lamb.
Yeah baby!
And we even had dessert!!!!
Friday
What better way to start Black Friday than to sample some of California's finest sparkling wine?
Rava's driveway!
The main tasting room has guest accommodations on the upper level
I love a good wine-tasting in the morning!
Fableist Wine Company is, like Rava, not too far from our VRBO, and was our second (and final!) winery visit of the day.
Their wines are innovative and excellent!
The grounds and surrounding area were beautiful!
The tasting room.
View from the parking lot - amazing!
On the advice of our VRBO hosts, we cruised down to Creston and had lunch at the Long Branch Saloon and were not disappointed.
Cowboy selfie.
Greg took charge of cooking Friday dinner.
Utilizing breakfast sausage and lamb
And making a ragout from scratch
Leftovers magically turned into an unbelievable dinner!
No TVs in the VRBO! You know what that means - board games! Beatleopoly!
Saturday
After a stop at Red Scooter for our "to go" lunch sandwiches, we made our way to Adelaida where had a reservation for a tasting.
Adelaida!
They had us all set up with a personalized menu!
...and comfy seats by the fireplace!
Where to now, sweetheart?
Leaving Adelaida and heading to...
McPrice Myers!
Don't know why I don't have more photos from here but we had a very nice tasting, picnic lunch, and bought a bunch of wine! We bought so much they gave us free t-shirts, and hats!
After McPrice Myers we went back through Paso and stopped at the Elks Club for a quick visit with an old friend of Greg's and Kelly's.
This is not G&K's old friend, it's a cat that jumped up on my car when we pulled into the parking lot. What the...? It walked over the hood, along the side windows, over the trunk, and went on its way. Very odd.
Outside the Elks Club.
Sunday - Last day in Paso
Our hosts, Casey (the actor) and Brigit (the cook book author) nice people and a great place to visit.
Adios, Refugio! We had a blast! And a few bottles of wine!
Solvang
With Paso in the rearview, we blasted on down to Solvang for the two-night finale of out Thanksgiving week trip.
The clock tower at Wine Valley Inn.
First stop: the bar at Mad and Vin
Selfie at the bar
Night time in Solvang
Daytime in Solvang. Watch out for trees crossing the street!
Stork's nest!
Monday
We decided to spend the day in Los Olivos. Why not? It's chock full of tasting rooms, excellent restaurants, and shops!
Tensley being one of those tasting rooms.
Tasting at Tensley
Nella is the new and highly acclaimed restaurant located in the Fess Parker Inn.
We had a great lunch
Lunch included a scallop crudo dish which was great! Unlike my photo, which get a triple "F" - Food Foto Failure.
We had a nice tasting at Dragonette and also discovered this place, a new tasting room/winery called "Donnachadh", rhymes with Hanukah!
We made it back to the hotel and got ready to hit the road the next day.
We had a very enjoyable and special time with our friends, Greg and Kelly. We discovered new places and enjoyed some old favorites.
We have a lot to be thankful for!
And that's it!