Santa Barbara County ~ Sideways

January 12 ~ 14

The impromtu trip up to Santa Barbara wine country was a wonderful move.  We find room at the Flying Flags RV Park (flyingflags.com) ( a mid-tier place that is just fine for a couple of days and they, too, bake fresh cookies everyday!) in Buellton which turns out to be where the movie Sideways was shot.  We get there early and drive into Solvang which is a very curious town.  The village was settled in 1911 by a group of Midwestern Danes fleeing the frigid winters.  Its ancestry is evident everywhere.

I frankly don't find it very appealing...a lot of shops with Danish souvenirs and about a billion pastry shops!

Wander a bit then try to find a gourmet market I've read about called El Ranchero that's supposed to have great "picnic food" as that's what we're planning on doing tomorrow at a winery.  Get a few things, but not bowled over by the selection and it's a long way out of town, so if you decide to go, drive way further than you think you should.

Fess Parker Winery (fessparker.com) near Los Olivos is the destination about noon the next day.  We decide to skip the picnic because it's a bit cool and eat at the Fess Parker Inn in the town center.  We drive through miles and miles of vineyards and though it's past harvest, it's really an incredible site.  Would love to see this when they're full of grapes.

We are greeted by James in the great looking tasting room and begin sampling.  You might recognize this room from the Sideways movie.  It's where an enraged Miles drinks from the discarded wine bucket.

 Not loving the Chardonnay, which is expected because I really do not like them at all, the Viognier is great and the reds are all really to my liking.  These are not inexpensive wines, however, and we just do not have room to store them properly.  James suggests we try the Frontier Red, an everyday wine which we like a lot.  Buy that and go to Petros, the Greek restaurant at the Inn and Spa.

Though it's chilly, the charming patio is filled with sun and is the perfect spot for luncheon.  I have one of the best sandwiches ever made....sliced roast leg of lamb with carmelized onions, wine mustard, arugula and something called manouri cheese served on an olive baguette.  Accompanied by a Fess Park Pinot Noir...simply superb.  Rick has Greek meatball sliders and they are very good, but pale next to the lamb.

Los Olivos is a charming, tiny little town of mostly cafes and retail store front tasting rooms. Stop at Epiphany, a tasting room for a vineyard owned by Fess Parker's son.  James at the winery told me if I like grenache, we needed to stop by.  Unfortunately, we were more than satiated by the previous tasting and lunch and were so full we couldn't see straight and could not possibly appreciate a special wine.

Flying Flags has a pretty extensive DVD lending library.  Rick scores Sideways which we think will be fun to see again after having been at alot of the places. Since we are still reeling from our lunch we decide to just have a mug of soup and fruit and cheese and settle into the movie.

Next day, one last stop at the Farmer's Market in Solvang, a regular Wednesday afternoon event.

Picked up some wonderful produce and fabulous, huge, yellow cut orchids.

Newport Beach tomorrow where we're hoping we can finally find a car.

Avocado Bounty & Butterfly Beach

January 11

Ocean Mesa has an unusual second resort contiguous to the RV facility called El Capitain Canyon that is a huge camping resort offering nicely appointed cottages and floored tents.  There's a pretty little market/restaurant and over 15 miles of hiking trails in the hills.

Walking to the market for an L.A. Times we find a huge grove of avocado trees laden with fruit.  The trees have been stripped of all the low hanging bounty, but rocket scientist Rick devises a tool out of a long branch that let's us get to the upper tier.

We gather about a dozen when it finally occurs to us that it's a long, steep walk back and we don't have a bag to carry all our treasures.  We improvise!

Montecito's Butterfly Beach

Montecito is a gem of a village just south of Santa Barbara...chi chi shops and glorious homes perched over the sea.  The Four Seasons Biltmore, a lovely low Spanish tiled rambling building, fronts on Butterfly Beach, a public park.  We spend hours walking in the sand, gathering sea shell gems that Rick promises will become a necklace for me and delighting in the unexpected sea creatures (real and make-believe) that we find.

Turns out Santa Barbara Fish Market has a restaurant on Stern's Wharf and we try again to have good, fresh, local seafood for lunch....this time we score!  It's a great dump of a place where unanticipated visitors meander in and out.  The food is good...my crabcake has too much filler, but the chipotle dipping sauce is to die for....Rick's fried oysters are like silk.

Tomorrow we are going to go just about 20 miles north to Santa Barbara wine country.  We were first going to do a day trip, then thought let's just move the "house" up there for a few days.  That night, Rick just can't help himself and goes avocado picking again.  When I see his harvest, I'm thinking there's a whole of guac and avocado soup in our future!

Santa Barbara ~ The American Riviera

January 5 ~ 11

Arrived at Ocean Mesa Rv Resort (oceanmesa.com) late morning since it's just a short hop from Ventura.  The  park is nice, in a rugged sort of way.  Up high on a Mesa with an overview of the ocean, nice facilities and lovely staff.  It's not a beach resort though as we had hoped and it's 20 miles north of Santa Barbara, so we'll be doing a lot of driving.

First stop, the Santa Barbara Farmer's Market (sbfarmersmarket.org) held on Tuesday afternoons from 3:00-6:30 on State Street in Old Town. (We find out later the market is actually held in different locations thoughout the area six days a week (not on Mondays). I'm in food heaven!  The biggest, most photogenic artichokes I've ever seen! Glorious orchids for a fraction of any price I've ever seen.

The find of the excursion, though, comes from Gorgita Seafood (no website that I can find).  At this small, quite unassuming stand are ridgeback shrimp, caught this morning and local to the Santa Barbara waters we're told. We head back, very anxious to try our bounty.

The shrimp vendor tells us not to do anything fancy with the shrimp,  just boil a couple of minutes and peel and eat....perhaps a little garlic butter for dipping.  It's exactly what we do and if I close my eyes, I do believe we are eating the best fresh sweet lobster, I've ever had.  BTW, she was selling these for $5 a pound!  I know already I'm going to put the leftovers in a risotto.

Spend the next couple of days taking in Santa Barbara.  It is a very beautiful, clean manicured town.  The Old Town portion, which in fact doesn't look old at at, has wide enough sidewalks to allow for beautiful streetscapes.

State Street is about six blocks of shopping....mostly mall stores plus Saks and Nordstrom's, galleries, boutiques and restaurants.  Lovely setting and no problems finding free street parking!

The Red Tile Walking Tour is about a 12 block walk through Old Town which highlights some of the city's notaable structures.  We start at the County Courthouse, a grand Spanish-Moorish structure completed in 1929.  It is quite ornate, features open loggia corridors, elaborate murals and a lovely courtyard.

Try to follow the tour for awhile longer, but frankly we had seen a lot of it by just wandering around and we wanted to go to the waterfront for lunch.

The guide books and the woman at the visitor's center tell us to eat at Brophy Brothers Restaurant and Clam Bar.....after doing so, we will tell you differently.  Granted, it's great sitting outside overlooking the marina and the staff is very friendly and accomodating....however, the food is terrible.  Rick even had to send back his fried clams. 

Run next door to the Santa Barbara Fish Market (sbfish.com) to pick up something for dinner.  They are slicing up today's catch and piling up shellfish just hauled off the boat. Decide on mussels which we'll do straight on the grill.(fabulous preparation method...just toss on very hot grill until shells open ...about 10 minutes....a garlic butter dips tastes terrific with their smoky flavor).

Think we'll spend tomorrow what I call "on campus"....been running around so much, need to regroup, get some things done and sit in the sun a bit.

Ventura Beach

January 2 ~ 4

Malibu was to be our destination, but when we arrived at the Malibu Beach RV Park we quickly changed our minds.  It wasn't only because it was not what we had hoped for, but mainly because we've never encountered such unfriendly, downright nasty staff anywhere, ever!  Apparently they don't know they are in the hospitality business! Rick got so frustrated he stormed out....I quickly and happily followed. 

Drove a bit further north to Ventura and found Ventura Beach RV Resort (venturabeachrvpark.com) where the change in attitude was a 180....nice people, who are actually trying to accomodate their guests...what a concept!  The park itself is of the mid-tier variety...perfectly acceptable, if not luxurious. 

We are determined to get to the beach and get our toes back in the sand.  The public beaches in the city of Ventura are plentiful, nice and at this time of the year, relatively empty except for the hardy surfers who show up in droves.  Fun to watch.

Rick goes exploring late in the afternoon and finds the Emma Wood State Beach (parks.ca.gov) where  RV's are allowed right on the beach....the catch is no hook-ups, but the view is priceless. We managed just fine in the Rose Bowl parking lot, but the difference here is that we are not allowed to use our generator from 8 p.m. to 10 a.m.....that controls the microwave, TV,computers, coffee pot and toaster, etc.  The lighting and the heating is not affected.  Granted this is hardly a hardship, but it felt like a big one the next morning when I couldn't make coffee!  Must admit I cheated at 9:30 and turned on the generator for a few minutes.

We just sat on the cliffs, took walks, read in the sun, chatted with a retired Air Force couple from Idaho and watched dolphins jumping in the distance.  As the sun was setting Rick felt a overwhelming need to fish!

No fish were harmed that evening, but the next morning brought a catch which was fried up for breakfast.

As much fun as this was, one night was enough for me and we're moving on to Santa Barbara....another spot where neither of us have been.

Post Parade Floats ~ Really Upclose

January 1 ~ afternoon

This is a must do if you go to the Rose Parade...all 41 floats are on display in a park several miles from the parade route.  A $7 per person ticket (which can be bought ahead from Sharpe Seating to avoid the lines) gets you close enough to the floats to better understand their construction and really take in their beauty.  Few words are needed here!

The Rain Bird entry... my personal favorite with some real close-ups.

Each entry is its own marvel.

By far the most clever and funniest were the dogs on snow boards.

Happy 2010 from the Rose Bowl Parade!