My man and our Jeep in Santa Barbara. :)
Check out our travels in more detail here: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&gl=us&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=108033108227244397637.00047855c4393dd325c03&ll=34.682911,-119.020386&spn=2.588116,3.806763&z=8
The Hitching Post, as seen in the movie, Sideways.
"I am not drinking any f-ing merlot!" (disclaimer - Andy and Ali have nothing against most merlots.)
Filet mignon, hold the knife - you won't need it. This was our melt-in-your-mouth meal at the Hitching Post.
Our wine tour vehicle through Santa Ynez Valley. Yummy Central Coast wines!
Sunstone Vineyards was stop #2 on our winetasting tour.
Heaven.
Subterranean heaven.
Bridlewood Vineyards - stop #4.
Jeep, vineyards, happy good times with Andy.....I think you can understand my excitement with this situation.
Snapshot from the Jeep. Can we live here? Please?
Our traveling companions and our awesome guide, John. We love him.
Detox day! Kayaking in the Pacific.
Starfish! Also spotted: dolphins and seals. In fact, I saw dolphins every day on this vacation. I would live here too if I were a dolphin.
I tried not to go into coxswain mode.
Second half of the day - horseback riding through the hills.
That's the ocean back there.
Happy and glow-y.
Driving back to Santa Monica via a ridiculously scenic mountain pass through Los Padres National Forest (Rt. 154).
Pacific Coast Highway....ahhhh, yeah!
Wine tasting tour #2 in the Santa Rita Hills. Andy and Gilles enjoying some pinot at Foley Vineyards.
I'm holding pinot grapes...love those little guys!
....still happy and glow-y.
Melville Vineyards
Sanford Vineyards
California can't be totally perfect....so there's some snakes. Whatever! (drunk tasters and rattlesnakes...uhh, yeah. I just leave it at that.)
We did, thank you very much.
Vines! PWI: Photographing While Intoxicated....I seem to enjoy this activity.
Oh, delicious olives. I love these too.
I kiss them.
Lafond Winery - stop #4 on our Santa Rita Hills winetasting tour.
On Gilles' patio.
That's me, IN the olive tapenade. (given my dietary behaviors/preferences, I'll add this to the list of good ideas)
Joyce joined us for some wine and cheese, just like old times!
Santa Monica skatepark. Would I have killed for this when I was growing up?! (answer: yes.)
There are banana littering marauders in California too. How did they find me in Santa Monica?!
I'm not sure why we didn't take any photos during our bike ride. So instead, I give you Matthew Mcconaughey, who actually jogged past us on the beach bike path (shirt off, of course).
The beach workout area in Santa Monica. These guys were doing some crazy awesome/crazy stuff!
Yeah, like I was just going to sit back and watch!
Driving through LA - Hollywood sign straight ahead.
There she is.
Token "here we are" shot.
There he is.
View of the sign, late day, from the Griffith Observatory.
I was acting like a starlette just before this photo was snapped. Didn't quite pull it off here!
Our Hollywood ending.
The Griffith Observatory - art deco is pretty cool.
Ode to R2D2.
LA smog in the background!
Hi!
Ode to astronomers + neighboring town in Boston.
We don't have any photos of our surfing lesson because, well, we were too busy learning to surf. Instead, I give you a leopard shark - there were swarms of them in the waters during our lesson. We literally had to walk through them to get into the water. I am proud of myself for not freaking out (too much). :)
Oh my god, when does it end? Wine, olives, cheese..... Andrew, the cheeseman, was very cool - a NYC area transplant.
I've been a hankerin' for an In-N-Out Burger since my last visit to CA.
Andy was a veggie during our last visit so this is his first In-N-Out experience. (Gilles preferred not to be photographed here...haha!)
A. We didn't plan on matching our clothes with one another that day. B. We didn't plan on matching with the In-N-Out Burger employees either.
So we take Gilles to In-N-Out Burger....he takes us to Intelligentsia coffee bar for, quite possibly, the best coffee I will ever have in my life. www.intelligentsiacoffee.com
No suffering for Gilles!
Another photo of the damage. It was just THAT good.
What's this? Less than "perfect" weather in LA? We enjoyed the 2 hours of rolling fog off of the ocean anyway!
Happy/glow-y
This is The Edge! (I needed to say that) It's actually a black cork from Edge wine.
Our last dinner at Gilles'
