Back from the Wine Trail

The 4th of July weekend was a blur of days and wine, tasty meals in Los Angeles sidewalk cafes and the faces of strangers, shopping stores running together and corny car ride games played to pass the time.

A great friend from Arizona flew into LAX last Wednesday night. After a detour through the less-than-attractive portions of Los Angeles, we ended up at one of my favorite restaurants in Santa Monica. We called it a quiet night because the next day friends swung by Brentwood to pluck us up and off we were to the Santa Ynez Valley! We drove straight North on the 101 freeway, the smoke from the Goleta fires just north of Santa Barbara snarling on our right, the pretty ocean view sparking on our left. We passed by quaint towns with sleepy hotels and sandy restaurants, lonely piers leading to where ocean waters run deep and steep green mountains folded around the shoreline like long arms.

After an “authentic” pancake breakfast at a Danish pancake house (we still don’t understand the difference between American and Danish pancakes? Wider? Flatter? Tastier? Hmph. We can’t tell!) we met an Escalade at our hotel. The Escalade was accompanied by a dude named Eric in flip flops and a shirt reminiscent of Maui: our guide.

We tasted some great wines, velvety and smooth; seductive; sincere. We asked a lot of questions: Define cuvee! Where are these grapes from? Can we eat the grapes raw? Our favorite vineyard by far was Mosby, where a woman behind the counter with a raspy voice and crazy-strewn white hair talked of wine in a second-nature sort of way. In a campfire tales sort of way. She gave us an extra pour each so that we could take a proper photo of us all toasting. That’s my girl!

Back at the hotel we grew sleepy and restless. Someone fell asleep and didn’t wake even when we nudged him with our feet. I fell asleep by the pool with my sundress hiked up, only to wake to the voice of my friend yelling at me to take off my sandals so I don’t get a sandal tan line. Too late! (But what about a dress tan line?) We had a pillow fight in the hotel room. The Sleeper slept still.

The next day we took our time moseying back to the city. We played car games like a family and listened to some good tunes. When I caught my friend’s eye in the back of the car, we couldn’t help but burst out laughing.

Our trips, they are always a bit crazy and off the beaten path.