The Cal-look Lounge

Ah, a week of vacation... what to do??  Time to head north to the Central Coast for a little wine and good food, not to mention some excellent back-road driving and sight seeing.  Headed out Monday morning for the Santa Ynez Valley under sunny clear skies and arrived just before noon at The Los Olivos Grocery Store for a Turkey and Bacon sandwich which we took over to Beckmen Vineyards.  After tasting through some nice Rhone style reds, we hit one of the picnik tables out in the vineyard and enjoyed our lunch.  This area has an honest 80-90 wineries to visit, so there's never a shortage of places to visit.  Our next stop was at Melville Vineyards a few miles away for some really tasty Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.  Melville's tasting room and grounds are beautiful this time of year with all the vines and trees turning colors.  The Italian motif looked sharp against the blue sky.  Next door is Foley Estate with more Burgundian style wines... this place has 500+ acres under vine and a beautiful new facility.  After drinking all that juice, time for a trip over to The Hitchin' Post for a grilled artichoke.  These come with an ancho chili mayo dipping sauce and are out of this world.  Dinner at Mattie's Tavern was Horseradish Crusted Salmon and more Pinot Noir.   http://www.matteistavern.com/   The food at this place is not to be missed!

more... ;)

more... :o

dude, take it easy....   :o

Relax dude, I'm home already ::) ;D

Day two, we decided to take a "Ratto Cruise" from Lompoc up to Cambria on Hwy 1, then over to Paso Robles on Hwy 46, then south on Hwy 101 to Santa Maria before heading east on Foxen Canyon Road back to Solvang.  The day started a little foggy ::) but turned nice after we got out of Lompoc and onto Hwy 1.  It's always fun to cruise the road less traveled... Lompoc is a place that looks like a small mid-west town from the the 50's.  They have a mural program there and many of the downtown buildings have nicely painted scenes on there sides.  I can't recall too many old style theaters around these days and was amazed to see not only the Lompoc walk-in, but further up the road, the spacey looking Valley Drive-In.  The next town along the way was Guadalupe... that pink building look way out of place downtown.....

Next up was the town of Oceano... cards anybody?  Oceano is the way onto the sand dunes at Pismo Beach where you can actually still drive motor vehicles on the sand.  Sharon and I brought our first sand rail here in 1977 for Fourth of July... a trip we'll never forget.  My pictures show nobody around today, but back then, it was all you could do to get onto the beach... the crowd was huge.  You need to wait for low tide to drive out onto the sand... failure to do so could get you stuck in a jiffy and broke after paying big$$$ to get yanked out.

Next up, San Luis Obispo and a quick stop out front of the Museum.  Heading north on Hwy 1, you pass Moro Rock before arriving at Cayucos, a cool beach town with a pier to walk out on and no fast food joints to be seen anywhere.  We always stop at the Sea Shanty Inn for fish and chips but one of their huge cinnamon rolls got our attention this time as it was a little early for lunch.  Off to Paso Robles and a stop at Linne Calodo Winery for some killer juice and another quick stop at a new place called Red Soles.

After leaving Paso, we headed down to Santa Maria for a hamburger before heading out to Foxen Canyon.  This is a beautiful drive in the country and a place that keeps us coming back for more.  Dinner at Grappolo's in Santa Ynez was a fitting capper to two days of bliss.

Awesome pictures Sarge..............   :o 

you polaroid pictures look digital..................!!!  ::)

Thanks for sharing...................... car looks good by the way!!!  ;D

Yeah, how is that Honda of yours? Looks kinda OK in white.

Great trip. Reminds me of "Sideways"  :)

Cool pics Sarge, keep rubbing it in  :D Overhere the weather just plain sucks.

Looks like you had a great time. Cool pics!

--louis

I got your digital right here! ;D


Why I oughta..... ;)


It WAS a Sideways trip!  Wish you could have heard this old duffer at the Hitchin' Post bar making a pass (make that MANY passes) at two large English gals that dropped in for a wine tasting...Hahahahahaaaaaa! SICK!!


Sorry dude... lemme buy you a glass of Pinot ;D


Thanks for the props, Louis... that trip is ALWAYS fun! ;D

Nice pics, looks like an enjoyable trip.

Its fun to try and guess how much wine you've tasted by how much the pictures are tilted.   ;D :o ;D

hahahahah ;D

 :D :D

Nice trip.

Does look like a fun and well deserved trip, Sarge. That whole central coast area is rich in cool scenery and typically awesome weather year round. Mary Ann and I have a soft spot for Pismo, S.L.O, Paso Robles, and Santa Barbara. Before I made the move to So Cal in fall of 2005, we'd meet on the weekends in one of these sleepy towns and take many road trips up to Cambria, Big Sur, James Dean memorial on Hwy 46, and the metropolitan area of Parkfield.
hey look, it's the 13th.... it was 4 years ago today Mary Ann and I met for the first time in Santa Barbara.  8)

Stop typing dude.........go get a gift before you get in trouble and no car fun for us on Saturday!!!  ;D

Congrats buddy!!!  ;D

 Yeah, get busy  ::) ;D ;D ;D

Yeah, listen to what Corp says! :D

Nice trip you had & beautiful pic's.
BTW Sarge,nice white "late-looker".  ;D  ;)

Thanks, man!  Much as I love my '67, the "other" car has really spoiled me... go figure. :)

Nice trip Sarge. I've always wanted to do that. So when's the DKP ( Der Killer Pinot) wine mixed with a litlle moonshine coming out? ;D :o

nice road trip bro  ;)

Hi Speedwell,you're back  ;)

How did I guess it would involve vino Sarge  ;)

New ride looks cool too, when we get a nice day I'll sort out some pics of my new Alfa, it's the tits  ;D