San Diego ~ Torrey Pines

January 25 ~ 27


We have three days to clean, shop and scope out the territory until the kids get here. We arrive at Campland on the Bay (campland.com) and are totally crestfallen.  We had chosen this RV park because it is on Mission Bay and had a great deal of activities for kids.  However, even though we took the best beach front site they have, it is nothing more than a glorified parking lot.  Most of the park is occupied by "extended stay" residents and even though the "resort" space where we are is virtually empty, they stick another RV right next to us in a very crammed in location....and for this we get to pay over $100 a day!  We're stuck here for the next 10 days and are terrified that the hotel we booked for Kelly and Chip will turn out awful also......we dash there for lunch....big relief, the Hilton Mission Bay Resort is lovely..whew!

The PGA Tour stop is at Torrey Pines (torreypinesgolfcourse.com) this week and I really want to walk the course so we go to the Wednesday Pro-Am. It's a crisp, but lovely day and the sights are gorgeous and sometimes a bit unusual.

We walk a good portion of both the North and South courses (pedometer way over 10,000 steps today) and see some pretty and interesting holes and really lovely views.

Pro-ams, to me, are not a good way to see good golf...but you do get to investigate places on the course where  you wouldn't be allowed during the tournament.  Like where the players who travel in RV's park.

  

And the strangest tee box set-up I've ever seen. The pros are playing from the tips....but this is ridiculous...over a dirt/gravel road at least 200 yards from the whites.....that's the tee behind me!

 

The Lodge is rustic and pleasant. The course looks fair, but challenging and very difficult to walk with its enormous hills and valleys.  Fun day, but we can't wait until tomorrow when Kelly, Chip and Ian arrive!

The Winter Wallop ~ Newport Beach, Dana Point & San Juan Capistrano

January 15 ~ 24

Trying as hard as we could, we simply could not find a car in Santa Barbara and found the dealers totally preposterous to work with.  We hope there will be more choices closer to L.A.  The search for a new car has been more complicated because there are very few that are towable behind Tor.  We would love another Jeep, but simply cannot find one that meets all our requirements.  We've now honed in on a Lincoln MKX and Rick has made contact with a dealer in Irvine that seems to have what we want on the lot. After a couple of days tooing and frooing, "Pearl" has now joined our Great Adventure.

We are staying at Newport Dunes RV Resort (newportdunes.com) which turns out to be a huge disappointment.  It's situated on a nice bay beach with great things for kids to do and a good full service restaurant, but they jam in the coaches so closely it's very uncomfortable even in January when it's not very full and it's very expensive for what you get.

Now that we've gotten the car problem solved, we're looking forward to enjoying Newport Beach, but we're thrown a couple of curves on that one!  First, I get bit, presumably by a spider, and my face looks like I've suffered through a very bad plastic surgery job.....bumps, black eye and swollen face....walk-in clinic doctor gives me peniccillin and I continue to wear my huge sunglasses everywhere at all times and there will be no pictures posted about this!

Then the "winter wallop" hits....we have four inches of rain in two days, tornadoes and flying/crashing palm trees, but are far luckier than those a bit further north that suffered dreadful mudslides and flooding. The next day looks even worse, so we pull up stakes quickly and move on to Dana Point where we are meeting our forever friends, Megan and Tod who are from Jackson Hole, but have rented a beach condo here for the month. We are forever grateful to them for giving us shelter through another four days of dreadful storms!

Mother Nature did, thankfully, give us windows of opportunity to get out for long walks and enjoy the stunning views of Dana Point....

and of Laguna Beach Park and finding all sorts of interesting foliage that we dubbed Dr. Seuss plants.

Stopped for a drink at a very lovely hotel called The Montage (montagelagunabeach.com)...gorgeous, but beware the prices are through the roof!

San Juan Capistrano

On another nice afternoon, we visited San Juan Capistrano.  The town itself is pretty touristy, but the mission is worth the visit....even without the swallows there!

The old mission had been destroyed by an earthquake in 1812 during Mass killing 40 people.  It took nine years to construct and only stood for six years.  In 1984 a new basilica was built around the corner to replicate the original mission.  It has the most gilded altar I've ever seen.

Rick  wanted to stop for a little "street eating"....found a great little hole in the wall call Pedro's Tacos....excellent fish tacos!

The remainder of our stay in Dana Point was spent catching up with our dear friends, teaching them to play the Wii and playing Gin.  Did get to dart out one night between the storms to a terrific restaurant called Thai This (thaithis.com) where we ordered a huge assortment of things to share....good find.

The storms have passed and we will leave in the morning for San Diego.  Kelly, Chip and Ian will join us and we can't wait!

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.