Monday - Santa Barbara Wine Country

On Monday I woke up early to head up to Santa Barbara wine country. I started out in Santa Maria, about three hours north of Los Angeles and worked my way down the Foxen Canyon wine trail, visiting several of the locations featured in Sideways (including the winery where he drank from the spit bucket and the restaurant where she orders the "fucking merlot").


one of the wineries

I found out early on that mentioning I work at a wine bar ("in the industry") got me free tastings and a 10-33% discount on wines. I tried to buy a bottle everywhere I stopped if I found something I liked. I didn't buy anything at Firestone (or tire and "The Bachelor" fame) because their wines were pretty disappointing.

Driving through wine country was really peaceful, and everyone I met at the wineries (mostly couples touring together) was really nice. The wineries all close by 6, so afterwards I had dinner in Los Olives. Since I was tired and had spent the day wine tasting I decided to stay at a hostel in Santa Barbara rather than drive all the way back to LA. It was a decent spot and at $21 was a bargain.


bucolic roadside scenery

Sunday - Vegas to LA

Sunday morning I picked up my rental car... a hunter green Chrysler Sebring convertible with a GPS navigation system. Because I was traveling alone, I knew the GPS would save me the hassle of trying to read a map while driving, plus I could be spontaneous and go anywhere without having to plan a route.


my license plate

With the top down, I set out for LA. The weather that day (and for most of the trip) was in the high 60s/low 70s and sunny!) - a little cool for a convertible, but with the heater on, enjoyable. As you can see, even the gateway to Death Valley was temperate.



Once in LA, I heaaded straight for the LA County Museum of Art in Hollywood. It is a beautiful building with a large outdoor courtyard and several galleries surrounding it. Jody came to meet me and we went to have dinner at Toi, a funky Thai restaurant with an East Village vibe. Jody lives nearby, in Hollywood, and was nice enough to let me stay at his house.

Friday - Sunday - Las Vegas

I landed in Vegas on friday for Jenn's bachelorette party. We spent the weekend celebrating -- dancing, walking the strip, eating and drinking! There were nine girls - one is not pictured here, and I don't know why I was grabbing my butt in this picture (taken with a singer in a restaurant we thought was good)

January/February Bought/Read List

Books Bought
Here is New York by E.B. White

Books Read
Here is New York by E.B. White
One Man's Meat by E.B. White
The WPA Guide to New York CIty

So I was watching Sex and the City one night, and Carrie quoted E.B. White, who wrote "No one should come to New York to live unless he is willing to be lucky." I thought that was a great quote, so looked up where is came from, which brought me to the fabulous tribute to the city called "Here is New York." It was listed by the New York Times as one of the ten best books written about the city, so I went ahead and checked it out from the library, along with other E.B. White books and some other top books about New York City. I am enjoying reading about the city in the 30s and 40s, so much and so little has changed.