Memories and, of course, wine tasting!

Today we took drive west to Cambria and San Simeon which are about 35  miles away.  I mentioned in my last post that I used to spend my summers in this area when I was a child, so here is a little history before I move on.

When I was young both my parents worked so our next door neighbor would watch me for the day.  Obviously, at this age, these people became very close to me and were close to our family.  When I was 5 we moved from the area but stayed in touch with these neighbors.  Shortly after we left the neighborhood they moved to Cambria, California where, my uncle (as I called him), had obtained a job as a tour guide at Hearst Castle.  This would have been around the early 1960’s when California had just obtained Hearst Castle and set up tours.  So, when I was around 7, and I don’t remember how it happened, I began spending my summers with them. I would leave as soon as school let out and would not return until just before school started.  Looking back on it now I do not know how my mother allowed this, but she did.  I loved my summers in Cambria and continued going there until I was around 14.  One of the cool things was that I was able to go to Hearst Castle anytime I wanted, for free, as my uncle was a guide.  Also, at that time, during the summers, they would allow the guides to bring their family members to the castle once a month on the weekends, after the tours, to swim in the outdoor pool, the Neptune.  You can imagine how exciting this was.  To be able to swim in this amazing pool, amongst the statues and to use the dressing rooms that many famous people had used.  In addition, as the Hearst family still had access to the castle and the pool, I met many of the Hearst kids, including the famous Patty Hearst.

So, that is the history.  Now I return after not having seen the area in 20 years and am amazed to see what has occurred.  The town, which was not a tourist destination when I was there, is now an arts type town, with galleries and shops and some small cafés and restaurants.  Where the family I stayed with lived has been fully developed where there used to be vacant lots.  It still has the feel of a small town but does have more traffic and people.  It was nice to see the town and we had a great lunch at a little café recommended to us by our RV park owner.

We took a drive up the coast as we were told about the viewing area for Elephant Seals just north of Hearst Castle.  From what I can gather these seals have been stopping at this beach twice a year since 1990 to mate, birth and molt.  This time of year they are mating and giving birth.  It is amazing to see these huge mammals all over the beach.  Just as we arrived one had given birth!

As we got out of our truck I saw these two squirrels on a rock watching the seals.  I just had to get a picture.

The beach is covered with the seals and their babies.

You gotta love the face!

Mother and baby.

After lunch we drove back to Paso Robles but first stopped at two wineries.  The first was Aron Hill winery,www.aronhillvineyards.com/.  A small winery, so their prices are high but very high quality red wines, especially a new varietal we had never tasted, Primitivo.  OUTSTANDING!

Next stop was Peachy Canyon, www.peachycanyon.com.  I had previously tried one of their wines and was impressed so I really wanted to see what else they offered and to taste them.  We were not disappointed.  They produce a very good Zinfandel.

So 4 wineries down, just 249 more to go!

Wine Tasting–Part 1

We spent the weekend hanging out at our RV as it is pretty busy around here on the weekends and we do not do wine tastings with crowds (see previous post on this topic).  So on Monday we headed out to downtown Paso Robles and were a little disappointed.  Most of the tasting shops were closed and there really was not much to do.  We stopped at one tasting room, Clayhouse, and had a nice time talking with the server and tasting some fairly good wine.  Since there was not much going on we decided to drive to San Luis Obispo and have lunch at the Madonna Inn.

The Madonna Inn is a famous hotel for the area.  It has been around for something like 60 years and is known for its unique rooms and décor.  I had been there when I was young as I would spend my summers nearby in Cambria, California and when coming or going we would stop at the restaurant for a meal.  It was fascinating to see that not much had changed. 

What was funny was that I had remembered that as a kid I was fascinated by the restroom at the restaurant.  On this visit I remembered why.  The men’s restroom is made out of huge boulders and the urinal is a waterfall.  It is interesting!

We drove back to the RV park but decided to stop at a winery near the RV park for a tasting.  The winery was Robert Hall, which is a major producer and has a beautiful facility. 

On Tuesday we did chores and in the afternoon decided to visit the winery that is adjacent to the RV park, Eos Estate. The facility is just beautiful and we were the only ones in the tasting room.  Come to find out this winery was recently purchased by the Foley Family of Wines.   This is a group of wineries that we are getting very well acquainted with.  You can see a list of their brands at www.foleyfamilywines.com.  We were familiar with Wattle Creek Wine from our wine group trip to Napa a few years back.  In addition on another trip to Napa we tasted at the Chalk Hill winery.  While in Walla Walla, Washington we tasted at Three Rivers winery, which was one of our favorites on that trip.  When in the Santa Ynez Valley (Buellton, CA) we tasted at the Firestone winery and was impressed.  Now we tasted at Eos Estate and found their wines as good as the other brands.  I guess we will have to go New Zealand to visit their wineries there!

Pike’s Peak Update

Many months ago I made a post about our trip to Pike’s Peak.  I mentioned that while we were there they were filming a commercial for a new Cadillac automobile.  I am now seeing the commercial on TV so I thought I would point it out to you so you can see the road we drove and the views we had.

Here is the commercial on You Tube

More Wine Tasting

Moving again.  On Friday we moved from Ventura, California up to Paso Robles.  But before I get into Paso Robles let me wrap up Ventura and the trip up.

In my previous post I mentioned watching the pelicans fly inches above the water.  On Friday morning there were no dolphins swimming for us to view, but the pelicans were sure putting on a show.  I kept snapping pictures out our back window and think I captured their low flight.

Pretty cool!

Normally whenever we stop at an RV park I make sure to fill up the truck with diesel prior to leaving as it is much easier to do so without the trailer attached.  This time I forgot and we had just under half a tank and had to drive 160 miles to Paso Robles.  I figured we might just make it, but would stop at a station along the way.  Well, taking highway 101 north we did not come across any RV friendly stations (like truck stops), so we kept on.  About 30 miles outside of Paso Robles the low fuel indicator came on which means the onboard computer estimates you have 50 miles left.  However we had a huge hill to climb and that indicator began going down by a about 5 miles for every mile driven.  We were not going to make it.  At Arroyo Grande I exited the highway and tried to find an RV friendly station that sold diesel.  I thought I found one and pulled in only to find out I could not get to the diesel pump.  Now I was in this lot, which was a tight fit trying to get out.  Fortunately, with some maneuvering, I was able to get us out only after we had to wait for a car to get out of our way.

No station could be found so luckily, after our Colorado Springs incident, I had bought a 5 gallon container and keep it filled up.  We pulled into a K-mart parking lot and used the fuel in the container.  We made it to the RV park with probably 20 miles to spare!

We have been through Paso Robles before but have never stopped, so this is a new place for us.  Over the years this area has become a big wine growing and winery area.  There is something like 250 wineries in the area.  There are only two RV parks in the area and we first stopped at the smaller, and cheaper, one but it was not very nice and the rates were only a few dollars less than the other park, which is a beautiful resort.  So we are at the Wine Country RV Resort in Paso Robles.  It is a little expensive but the park is just beautiful and the spaces are great.  A nice feature is they have complimentary tasting coupons for many of the wineries in the area, so that will save some money.

We are here for probably 2 weeks.  I will update you on how the wine tasting goes.

Nature Watching

Second day camping near the ocean in Ventura, California.  Pretty cool to wake up this morning and open the blinds and watch dolphins swimming a 100 yards out in the water.  They were having a great old time.  I tried my best to get pictures of them but mainly only got their fins.

They were swimming by all morning then tapered off until late afternoon when a few of them appeared again.  Very fun to watch.

The  other interesting animal to watch was the brown pelican.  They circle over the water searching for food then dive bomb into the water with a huge splash.  They also fly inches over the water very fast.  Again, it was very difficult to capture all this in a picture as it happens so fast, but here is one that had just dived into the water and was now leaving.

It was a gorgeous day here in Ventura.  Not a cloud in the sky and around 70 degrees.  Definitely beats being in the snow they are getting in Naperville today.

Beach Camping

Today was moving day.  We ended our stay in Anaheim, California after three weeks and now plan on bouncing around central and northern California for the next few weeks before ending up in Arizona for our daughters wedding.

Our original plan was to go to El Capitan State Beach in Goleta, California as we had checked that campground out when we were in Buellton, but my Aunt and Uncle (previously mentioned quasi full-timers) always talk about the beach camping in Ventura, especially Rincon Parkway.  We thought we would give it a look.  Rincon is a county park which is actually just a lane next to the sea wall on Pacific Coast Highway.  They mark off RV spaces and you park parallel to the ocean and have great views of the ocean as you are 25 feet from the water.  There are no hookups and it can get pretty tight if the spots fill up  The downside is you are 6 feet from the traffic lane, though the road is not heavily used.  We took a look but when we pulled into a space our rig took up the entire space, so where do we put the truck.  We were concerned about getting jammed into a space and what to do with the truck so we went exploring and found Emma Wood State Park just down the road.  This park is right on the ocean but it does not have sand beaches, it is all rock and the spaces are back in, but the views are just as great.  The place was not very full and we found a great space.  Here are some pictures:

Our rig

View from side window

View from back window

Sunset over the ocean

Probably a couple of days here as it has no hookups then move on up the coast.  Love the California weather!

Rose Parade - 2012

A little background first.  Both Fran and I grew up in Southern California and lived in the area for about 30 years.  In all that time Fran, a lover of parades, had never been to the Rose parade.  I went once when in college and did the campout thing, which means you arrive in the early afternoon of the day before and camp out along the parade route to save your space.  It was fun, but you are so close to the floats that it is hard to see the entire thing. 

Since we had decided to spend Christmas in Southern California this year I thought it would be nice to go to the Rose parade so Fran could check that off of her “list”.  I did not really want to commit to spending upwards of 24 hours at the parade so I checked into getting tickets and learned that there are stands along the entire route where you can buy a reserved seat, plus you can buy parking in advance.  This seemed like the best way to go so we got a good view and did not miss out by searching for parking or a space to sit. 

We got the tickets and the seats were within the first mile of the parade.  Our parking was a few blocks away and very near the freeway. The information packet said the parking lot opens at 3:00am and they would like you in your seats at 6:00am.  Where we are staying is about 1 hour away from Pasadena when there is no traffic.  No knowing what to expect we decided to leave at 2:30am.  We made it to the parking garage at 3:30am and quickly saw that it was not very busy in the area of the parade at all.  We probably could have left an hour or two later, however the traffic on the highway most likely would have been heavier.  We walked Colorado Avenue (parade route) seeing all the people sleeping on the street and sidewalk.  They really do get elaborate in all the stuff they bring with them, portable heaters, fire pits, chairs and blow up mattresses.  One thing we did notice is the limited amount of portable restrooms.  We were both surprised that there were not more for the number of people that show up.  Fortunately we found out that are seats gave us access to a mall restroom facility with no line.

Here is us in our seat just before dawn.

Great seats as we were near the top.

It was fun to watch the people in the hours leading up to the parade.  They let anyone walk, run, bike the parade route until the parade starts so you get an interesting display of people either just jogging, or riding their bike.  But you all get those that are strange or wanting to give their “message”.

This was the line for the restrooms across from us. These people, around 100, were in line for 6 portable restrooms.  Within an hour this line was three times this size.

Upside to working the parade is you get to see it, downside is you have to wear a white suit.

And the parade begins

Grand Marshal J.R. Martinez waved to us and wished us a Happy New Year!

The “pooper scoopers” got the biggest applause

We had a great time and the weather was nice.  It was a little slow to get the car on the highway but once we did it was smooth sailing back to the RV park.