Posted by David Porter on October 24, 2010 · 2 Comments
Unbelievably, we find ourselves with another day of rain on our 10-Day Coastal California road trip. ACK!
Determined to have a great time in spite of the weather, and bolstered by a great night’s sleep on the lavender scented pillows here at the Bernardus Lodge, we started our day with a media tour of the lodge by Director of Sales and Marketing Sue Dreyer.
Here is a photograph of Carol sitting at the chef’s table in the Bernardus Lodge kitchen. As you can see, the wall is signed by all those who have dined at this table. The signature by the yellow marker is Julia Child, the very first signature to grace the walls of this very special table.
Undaunted by the rain, the girls proposed an activity that reigns supreme in the hearts of most of the female species: shopping!
As we were only nine miles from Carmel-by-the-Sea, off we went for an afternoon of shopping.
One of the first places to cross our paths, as we climbed up Ocean Avenue from the ocean-front parking lot, was The Cottage of Sweets. The Cottage of Sweets was voted the #1 candy shop in America in a 2009 USA Today poll.
It’s probably completely un-American to not at least sample some of the goodies in this confectionery, but with all the fabulous dining we have been doing, we all decided to pass on any sugary yummy-ness.
Note the cloudy skies!
Shopping along Carmel-by-the-Sea’s Ocean Avenue is considered the finest shopping this side of The Riviera or Rodeo Drive. Fashion, jewelry, antique, gift, and furniture boutiques are there to explore along tree-lined streets, secret passageways, charming courtyards, and curlicue-roofed shops.
By the time we made it up and down both sides of this famous boulevard, the girls were both beaming as they carried bags of new-found treasures.
As the 4:00 hour approached, the rain seemed more determined to wane the shopping spirit, so we hopped in “Babe the Blue Benz” and toured the famous 17-Mile Drive at Pebble Beach.
Here is a photograph I grabbed of The Lone Cypress. As one of California’s most enduring landmarks, The Lone Cypress has prevailed on its rocky perch for over 250 years. This icon has inspired many and is revered as the eternal symbol of the Pebble Beach Company.
We ended our day with dinner at Roy’s at Pebble Beach and then made our way back to the Bernardus Lodge to enjoy the warm glow of our in-room fireplace.
Tomorrow’s weather forecast? Rain!
ACK!
Posted by David Porter on October 23, 2010 · Leave a Comment
The last two days of our 10-Day Coastal California road trip have been plagued by rain and fog.
We have now left San Ysidro Ranch in Santa Barbara and have made our way up the coast to the Bernardus Lodge & Winery in Carmel Valley’s wine country. We still have a lot to share with you about our stay at San Ysidro Ranch and look forward to scouting out the Bernardus Lodge on your behalf.
Unfortunately, as we made our drive up Big Sur’s stunningly beautiful Highway 1 it was completely socked in by rain, fog, and clouds.
Nevertheless, I caught this beautiful view while driving and quickly pulled over to snap a photograph.
We will be driving back down Big Sur’s Highway 1 on our trip back to Scottsdale, Arizona. Hopefully we will be blessed with sunny skies.
Stay tuned!
Posted by David Porter on October 22, 2010 · Leave a Comment
Sadly, we will be leaving Santa Barbara’s San Ysidro Ranch today. We are looking forward to sharing the video post highlighting our experience here. Certainly, San Ysidro Ranch is going to climb aboard our list of magical places to spend a few days.
In the meantime, please enjoy this impressionistic photograph from my morning photography stroll at San Ysidro Ranch.
Posted by David Porter on October 21, 2010 · Leave a Comment
Santa Barbara Wine Country – Today is day #3 of our 10-Day Coastal California road trip and we decided to spend the day in Santa Barbara’s wine country.
Sideways Wine Tour Road Map
For those of you who are movie buffs, you will remember that the Oscar-winning movie Sideways was filmed in Santa Barbara wine country and was solely responsible for putting the region on the map and creating a massive interest in the Pinot Noir varietal.
From left: Sandra Oh, Thomas Haden Church, Virginia Madsen and Paul Giamatti in SIDEWAYS. Photo Credit: Merie W. Wallace
As we began our ascent into the Santa Ynez Mountains, on Highway 154, we pulled over at a scenic outlook to snap a photograph of our motley crew. From left to right: Roaming Boomers David & Carol Porter, Karen Schroeder, Bob Schroeder.
As we began our descent into the wine region, I was unprepared for the staggering beauty we would find.
Now, we’re not complete movie dorks, so we didn’t religiously follow the Sideways movie trail. Nonetheless, we did stop to have lunch at the Los Olivos Cafe where Miles, Jack, Maya, and Stephanie enjoyed a great meal and several bottles of exquisite wine.
Sideways Movie Still: Sandra Oh and Thomas Hayden Church
We enjoyed a marvelous lunch of Curried Chicken Salad, while the Schroeder’s beamed as they enjoyed a presentation of Heirloom Tomatoes.
Here is our one and only Sideways movie shot at the Los Olivos Cafe’s wine tasting bar.
After lunch, we moseyed deeper into the wine country until we reached the Fess Parker Winery.
Baby boomers will recall Fess Parker as the star of the television show: Davy Crockett.
Come on, you know the lyrics, sing along with me:
“Born on a mountain top in Tennessee,
Greenest state in the land of the free.
Raised in the woods so’s he knew every tree,
Killed him a bear when he was only three.
Davy, Davy Crockett King of the Wild Frontier.”
It took several hours for us to get that song out of our heads.
Here is a photograph of Carol and Bob modeling Davy Crockett coonskin hats.
It may look as though they had been tasting a little too much wine, but we had only one glass of wine each back in Los Olivos. Really! It’s true!
I can’t begin to explain the silly looks on their faces. I suppose I would have a silly look on my face too, if I were asked to model a coonskin cap.
Modeling Coonskin Caps at the Fess Parker Winery
Next on our trip, we continued deeper into Santa Barbara wine country until we reached the Foxen Winery in Santa Maria.
Here’s a shot of Carol and Karen with the Foxen Winery staff after enjoying a nice flight of red wines.
OK! It was time to start working our way back towards Santa Barbara, but first we had to make a stop in the magical town of Solvang.
Solvang is Danish for “sunny fields”. This town totally looks like it was picked out of Disney World’s Epcot World Showplace and plucked down here in the Santa Barbara wine region.
While in the bustling little town of Solvang we happened to catch the local farmer’s market.
Cool! We bought fresh organic strawberries, cheeses, raspberries, oranges, tomatoes, bread, and even an apple-rhubarb pie. What a fabulous dinner we had from this market, later in the evening.
Here’s Carol and Karen buying some cheese from a local merchant.
The bright colors of these flowers also caught my attention from the market.
Well, that was our day in the Santa Barbara Wine Country.
It was a wonderful day spent in a wonderful place with great friends.
We highly recommend it!
Posted by David Porter on October 20, 2010 · Leave a Comment
San Ysidro Ranch ~ Santa Barbara, California – Today, on the second day of our 10-day Coastal California road trip, we hit the coast of California and arrived at the incredible San Ysidro Ranch.
We began our day in Palm Springs and made a four hour jaunt to the Santa Barbara Municipal Airport to pick up our very good friends Bob and Karen Schroeder (pictured right).
Bob and Karen are nationally recognized builders in Lansing, Michigan, the owners of Mayberry Homes, and have been wonderful friends for a good long time.
This is our second such trip with them meandering the Pacific coast. We find that they are not only good friends, but very compatible traveling partners.
I think I feel an article stirring inside about finding good travel partners. Trust me, bad travel partners can be a nightmare directly from the pits of hell.
We piled their luggage into “Babe the Blue Benz” and made the short trip into the Montecito foothills of Southern California’s wine country where the famous San Ysidro Ranch resides.
As we pulled up the tree-lined entrance we were immediately quite enamored with the fairytale setting and the beautiful bungalows strategically set into the resorts stunning setting.
San Ysidro Ranch is owned by Ty Warner (founder of the Beenie Babies) and features forty one individually decorated private cottages, suites and rooms winding along San Ysidro’s hillside creek- and tree-lined paths. Built in classic bungalow style, most offer plush king-size beds with fine linens, fireplaces and patios. Recently renovated suites and cottages feature hot tubs on private outdoor patios with outdoor rain showers, hand-cut stone or Old World masonry fireplaces, radiant-heated bathroom floors, flat-screen TVs and hand-selected antique furnishings.
Unbelievable!
Here is a photograph of Bob and Karen’s Lavender cottage that I snagged from San Ysidro’s website.
It was a rainy day here at San Ysidro Ranch. Therefore, we used the afternoon for our friends to acclimate to the time change with a nap, while we went off to our own cottage to do some planning and writing.
Hopefully we will get some sunshine so that I can get some of my own photographs.
Stay tuned!
The Roaming Boomers
